Friday, October 21, 2011 at 07:16 AM
On this blog, I talk a lot about food and kids. One of my goals, as a parent, has been to teach my kids about healthy eating – how to buy food in a grocery store, how to choose foods in a cafeteria or restaurant, how to recognize when they are full, and how to cook food. Writing A Better Bag of Groceries is part of my job at NuVal, but I am lucky in that the subject matter coincides with one of my personal goals.
Interestingly, I didn’t start working for NuVal until my kids were five and three years old. But last weekend, while I was organizing my photos for some archiving projects, I found two photos of my daughter that made me smile.
My daughter is only 20 months old in this photo, but already I was teaching her how to make oven roasted asparagus. To this day, it is still one of her favorite vegetables to make. She is now six.
I have two points to make with this photo.
One: Kids are never too young to begin learning how to cook. In fact, the earlier they start to learn, the more likely they will be to enjoy it.
Two: You don’t have to begin with cupcakes. Not that there’s anything wrong with making cupcakes. But it’s fun to teach kids how to make vegetables and soups and fish and other stuff.
Actually, I have a third point too.
Three: They grow awfully fast.
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Cooking with Kids
Tags: asparagus
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 07:27 AM
Welcome to Trade-Up Tuesday! Every Tuesday, I host a giveaway here on A Better Bag of Groceries. Typically, the giveaway is made up of food – high-scoring food that I’ve found along the way since learning about NuVal scores. Today, however, I’ve spiced things up a little and I’m giving away a piece of cookware.
Tracey Cullen, of King Kullen supermarkets on Long Island, is a huge fan of asparagus – just like me! She and I have talked at length about cooking methods. I even wrote a blog post for her on how I manage to steam my asparagus without it getting all mushy. That’s when Tracey told me about the wonderful asparagus steamer she received as a wedding gift. She said that the best thing about it is that it even gets the ends of the asparagus to cook just right.
So, this past weekend, when I was out doing my usual grocery shopping, I spied these asparagus steamers on sale for half off! I bought two of them: one for me to keep and one for me to give away on A Better Bag of Groceries.
This asparagus steamer is awesome!
It has a clear lid so that you can monitor cooking…
and it has a basket inside so you can easily lift your asparagus out.
Asparagus gets a NuVal score of 100, so you just can’t get enough, right?
I am very excited to try out my new asparagus steamer. While my own steaming method worked OK, it was pretty time-consuming and I never could get the ends quite right. And I am excited to share this steamer with one lucky ABBG reader too!
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky asparagus-loving commenter will win today’s giveaway. Just leave a comment below telling me how old you were when you started liking asparagus. (I’m curious because so far, my 6 and 7-year-olds aren’t eating it). I’ll choose one winner at random at 8 am on Wednesday, so don’t delay. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Incredible Vegetables, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: asparagus
Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 07:07 AM
Nothing says spring like asparagus. Did you know that asparagus is actually a member of the Lily family? You can learn more amazingly interesting facts about asparagus at the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board website.
Asparagus is one of my top five favorite veggies, if not my absolute fav. Most of the time, we roast it at high temps in the oven, or grill it with a little olive oil, and then add some lemon juice and a pinch of Kosher salt. However, in the Spring, and especially for Easter dinner, steamed asparagus seems to be in order. Recently, I asked ABBG readers what foods were they afraid to make (while confessing my own scallop-phobia), and reader Tracey from Connecticut said that her steamed asparagus always came out limp. So, I went to work in the ABBG Kitchen this past weekend, carefully noting and photographing for all of you how I manage to make non-limp, not-mushy steamed asparagus. So, here you go!
Non-Limp, Not-Mushy Steamed Asparagus
First of all, let’s talk about purchasing and storage for a moment. You need to sniff your asparagus while in the store. That’s right, sniff it. If it smells fishy, put it back. The tips should be nice and firm, not at all mushy.
When you get your asparagus home, give the ends a fresh cut – just as you would with a bunch of flowers.
Then place the asparagus in an inch or two of water in the fridge. Try to use your asparagus within 2-3 days.
When you are ready to use your asparagus, you want to give it a really good rinse. Did you know that asparagus grows in sand? And there’s nothing like a little sand in your teeth to ruin your asparagus-eating experience. So, I soak my asparagus in a cold water bath to really rinse out any sand residue.
Check the tips again. If any are mushy, just break them off.
Now, just place your asparagus in a skillet with about a 1/2 inch of water.
And have a good pair of tongs on hand. These tongs are one of your secret weapons against mushiness.
As the asparagus on the bottom of your skillet turns bright green, bring it to the top. So, rotate the greenness.
In the meantime, get your 2nd secret weapon ready: a big bowl of cold water with ice cubes in it.
The asparagus is done when you can pierce it with a fork. It looks like this.
Remove the asparagus spears from the skillet and submerge them into the cold water bath.
This is important because without the cold water bath, the asparagus would continue to cook itself, even away from the heat source.
Just let the asparagus cool down enough to stop the cooking process (it doesn’t have to be freezing – too much time in the bath can cause mushiness). Five minutes should do it.
Then, remove the asparagus from the bath and let it dry.
You will need to help it along – or guess what, you will get mush. So, pat it dry with some paper towels.
And when it’s nice and dry, put it on a microwave-safe, yet pretty, plate.
Now you have lovely, tender but not-mushy, not-limp asparagus. It is also cold. So, right before serving, you zap it in the microwave. It is still lovely and tender and not mushy and not limp. But now it is also warm. You can serve it plain, or with a little fresh lemon or with a traditional Bearnaise sauce on the side. Your choice.
So, if all you’ve got is a skillet and a large bowl, try my steaming/cold bath method. Alternatively, you could invest in one of these:
This All-Clad Stainless Steel Pot from Williams-Sonoma ($59.95) promises to cook your asparagus evenly because it holds the stalks upright.
Either way, you win because asparagus is an Incredible Vegetable and it scores a perfect 100 on the NuVal scale!
Question of the Day
What is your favorite vegetable?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Dinner Recipes, Incredible Vegetables
Tags: asparagus, Easter
Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 07:24 AM
I love asparagus. I mean, I really love asparagus. As in it goes in my shopping cart every single week. And with a NuValscore of 100, why wouldn’t it? While I do eat this stalky green vegetable year-round, asparagus is just synonymous with Spring, don’t you think? And since Spring is right around the corner (woo hoo!!!!!), I thought that today was the perfect day to share my asparagus tips (oh, what a clever play on words!) with all of you!
Tip #1: Smell your asparagus
That’s right. Give it a whiff when selecting your asparagus at the grocery store. Does it smell fishy? If so, put it back. Asparagus spoils quickly so you want to feel the tips to make sure they are firm and make sure that it smells fresh.
Tip #2: Treat asparagus like a bunch of flowers
You know how when you come home with flowers, you need to give them a fresh cut and get them in water right away? Same holds true for asparagus. Chances are the stalks have sealed up along the bottom, so give them a fresh cut and place them in a container of water. Store them upright in your refrigerator for no more than 2-3 days.
Tip #3: Steam, then blanch.
Steaming is one way to cook asparagus. It is a great cooking method for Spring when you want to really taste the freshness of your vegetables. But there’s nothing worse then over-steamed, mushy asparagus. So, if steaming is your method of choice, steam it until the stalks just turn green and then remove them from your steamer or from your boiling water and place them in a basin of ice water. You could invest in one of those fancy-schmancy asparagus cookers, but I find that steaming it in a skillet with about a 1/2 inch of water works just fine.
Tip #4: Grill it or roast it
This is my favorite way to cook asparagus, probably because the leftovers are great on a salad the next day. On most busy weeknights, the asparagus goes right into a very hot oven (like 425 degrees). First, I submerge it in a basin of water to make sure all the sand or dirt comes off. There’s nothing worse than gritty asparagus. The, I dry it with paper towels. Next I lay it out on a cookie sheet lined with Parchment Paper. Then, I lightly coat it with olive oil using my Pampered Chef oil mister. It’s a great way to add just a small amount of oil.
Roast it until it turns bright green (about 10 minutes). Remove from oven and sprinkle with Kosher salt and lemon juice. Yum!
Instead of the oven, you can also place your lightly-oiled asparagus right on the gas grill. It does tend to come out a bit crunchier this way.
So there you have it, my Asparagus Tips! Find some non-smelly asparagus at your market today and try it out!
Question of the Day
What is your favorite Incredible Vegetable? Do you know the NuVal score? You might find it on this blog, Tina’s blog or on the Nuval website.
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Incredible Vegetables
Tags: asparagus, Incredible Vegetables
