Easy Roasted Asparagus

Lately my weekends fly by and on Monday morning when someone asks me what I did with my weekend I really have no idea and think, “did I really watch Friends all day Sunday?”  This weekend was a refreshing opposite, although I still may have watched a few Friends episodes….  We went for a hike, took care of the leaves outside (isn’t that what everyone is doing in January?), I did some cleaning and organizing around the house that was long overdue, finished a book, worked on tax stuff (bonus points for that!) and still had some time to relax as well.   We topped off our productive weekend with some homemade soup Sunday night and one of my now favorite sides, roasted asparagus. 

I was a bit of a picky eater at my house when I was younger.  Cooked spinach and asparagus were on the top of the icky list, but the worst nights were steak nights.  I would cut the steak into little pieces and when my parents weren’t looking I’d throw it under our big wooden kitchen table.  We had a dog, however he was not allowed in that part of the house so unfortunately my habit was discovered.  For awhile I think my mom just thought I was a messy eater.  Eventually I tried swallowing a huge piece of steak whole so I wouldn’t have to chew it and ended up choking.  My aunt gave me the Heimlich and I was never forced to eat steak again.  Score for me!  Unfortunately there were still other foods around that were just plain gross and the spinach and asparagus remained in this category for quite awhile.

I’m still not a fan of cooked spinach but the raw stuff is a permanent staple in our house and I now have a special place in my heart for asparagus.  I prefer my veggies with a bit of crunch and lots of flavor, so roasting is right up my alley.

This is the easiest side dish ever.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.  You can skip that step, but it makes cleanup SO much easier.  Snap the hard ends off the asparagus and throw them away.  Lay the asparagus out flat on the baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil (don’t get carried away) and top with salt and pepper.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the tips start browning.  Usually I serve it up just like that but if you want to be fancy you can top with some shredded parmesan cheese.