asparagus & bits of bacon - French Fridays w/ Dorie

I'm hoping not to eat too much asparagus because I don't want to get sick of it as I normally do this time of year, but boy, this is a great way to eat it. Alan, who really doesn't care for asparagus unless it's roasted to a crisp thought this didn't even taste like asparagus. I used white asparagus since it was on sale and looked very pretty. I needed to peel them because the skin was very tough. However it peeled very easily with a vegetable peeler. I then cut them in pieces about an inch or so and steamed them in my Pampered Chef microwave steamer. While they were steaming I sauteed some chopped onion in a little bacon fat. I had cooked bacon earlier in the week to use in a broccoli salad and then on pizza. Really gearing up for Passover with all of it! Which is what I was thinking as I sauteed the onion and added in the crumbled bacon - at least I didn't make it right on Passover. I had some lemon cut open already from the broccoli salad and added the juice right to the onions along with a bit of walnut oil. There were so many seeds in the lemon, that made it into the pan, fishing them out was the part of this recipe that took the longest time. It was really a quick dish to throw together and the flavors all worked perfectly. Maybe next time I'll add some toasted walnuts. Another keeper!

Keeping with thinking of Passover, I found Smitten Kitchen's Raspberry Coconut Macaroons last weekend and knew i had to make them. I loved that she doesn't like really sugary macaroons and mixing in the raspberry is genius. I didn't get raspberries but blackberries instead. I used unsweetened coconut, about 3 cups, and maybe 1 1/2 cups of regular flake coconut. I stuck with her recommendation for 2/3 cup sugar and then mixed in the 1/2 pint blackberries, almond extract, and 3 egg whites. I played around with the size of the cookie and think the larger ones give more texture variation. The little ones look so cute though! My mother didn't want me to bring any to her house for the holiday because she is already planning on several desserts, but I have to share these with the family. I'll also be bringing a bunch to church for Easter Sunday. No one signed up to bring goodies, so we're all going to chip in.

sort of icky looking, but berries were very juicy

Forgot to mention the ice cream concoction Shara and I thought up together. After hearing about Ben & Jerry's Banana Peanut Butter Greek Yogurt flavor, I thought we could do the same at home. I suggested taking vanilla frozen yogurt and mashing in bananas and swirling in peanut butter. Shara did one better and suggested Nutella. Yeah, Baby! We'll make that again. And maybe play around with other mix-ins too.

toasty, crispy, berry goodness!