Fancy (& Easy) Shaved Asparagus

I know it probably seems like I run a restaurant when it comes to dinner time at our house since I post so often about different recipes.  I do love to try new things & I really do enjoy changing it up but to be honest most of the time we have the same things on rotation. 

Asparagus is usually one the veggies we always have.  In hopes to change it up this week I changed the shape of the asparagus by shaving them with a vegetable peeler - other than that the flavors of olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper are usual suspects at our dinner table. The best part is this recipe/method (I'm not sure you can even call it a recipe) is simple & cooks really quickly all the while making your dinner table look fancy without trying hard at all.

How do you jazz up your regular dishes?

Carrot Curl Salad

My mom makes this salad with blanched carrots cut into long rectangular pieces. I haven't mastered these long rectangle shapes & I'd rather skip cooking (a salad) all together in the summer. So my spin on this flavorful salad is to skip the cooking and just stick with making carrot curls with your veggie peeler (you have to peel the carrots anyway so just keep going!). The curls are thin enough to make them easy to eat and they give the feel of pasta so it's a satisfying salad texturally too!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb carrots (wash, peel & peel again!)
• 1/2 large onion (cut into strips)
• 1 cup fresh basil (chiffonade)

Dressing:

• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 4 large garlic cloves (grate these if not using a food processor or blender)

Make it!

1. Blend the dressing ingredients together in a food processor or blender. 
2. Toss dressing, carrots, onions & basil together. 
3. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.