Asparagus Summer Salad

This has been such a busy summer.  I can't believe it's August already and we have had so little time to make our favorite Asparagus summer salad. We love this asparagus summer salad year-round but it seems especially great in the summertime.  

Asparagus Salad

When we were house hunting the one thing we have discovered, we wanted to live in an area with all four seasons.  Yes, we are those people- we missed the snow.  We love those mornings you wake up and everything is covered with snow.  It's so much fun to watch the dogs play.  And, of course, sitting in front of a nice cozy fire with an Irish Coffee is the best. So finding our house in NE Ohio has been a perfect move for us.  But it's summertime and we need our Asparagus Summer Salad before you can't get all these wonderful veggies.

Making this delicious Salad

With all the traveling we have done over the past few months it is hard to have salads.  We have four LARGE Dogs and they travel everywhere with us.  A couple of them have horrible separation anxiety so we have to figure out creative ways to travel.  Like renting an RV (check out our adventure with the RV) or Renting Cabins.  We actually "Glamp" and it is so much fun.  We tried tent camping once a long time ago and that is not fun for me.  But Renting "Deluxe" Cabins is like staying in a hotel but you grill your own food.  So much fun.  But we need to think about making an Asparagus summer salad.  So yesterday when we finally were at home and had a ton of Tomatoes - it was time to make our favorite salad.

This is so simple to make.  

I love Boston Lettuce for this salad. But any kind of lettuce can be used.  What's needed for this salad: Lettuce, Asparagus, and tomatoes. We like Cherry tomatoes, and but any fresh tomato is delicious. Ranch dressing, and if you want it spicy, a hot pepper

First step - Snap the Hard ends of the Asparagus.  The way to do this is gently bending the asparagus, it will naturally break.  Use the upper piece.  If you want, you can freeze and save the bottom hard pieces of the Asparagus for soup in the winter.

Second step - Place the Asparagus on a baking sheet.  Drizzle on one tablespoon of Olive Oil and about one teaspoon of coarse sea salt or to your taste.  Place in a 375-degree oven. Bake for about 10 minutes.  Check the asparagus it should be a little soft.  And it's done!!!

Taste the asparagus.  I love Asparagus like this.  The asparagus tastes so good with a little bit of salt.  It can replace French Fries!!!  We often cook the Asparagus longer until it is a little crunchy.  So yummy.  

Anyway, back to the salad!

Third Step - Rinse the lettuce and dry it in a salad spinner or on a paper towel.  The reason we like Boston lettuce is you can place the big lettuce leaves on the plate and everything will fit into the leaves.

Fourth Step - Slice the tomatoes and place on the lettuce.  If using Peppers chop them and put on top of the lettuce with the tomatoes

Fifth Step - place  a few pieces of the cooked asparagus on the lettuce

Sixth Step - Drizzle a Tablespoon of Ranch Dressing on top.

Final Step - ENJOY!!!!

If you are having a party this is a great salad to make.  Take a large platter and cover it with lettuce.  Put the tomatoes, Asparagus on and drizzle with the amount of Ranch Dressing you want or let every put the dressing on their own.

Oh, I would have this with a nice rosé wine!!!  Great Summer Wine!

Other fun recipes using asparagus are Sizzling Shrimp, Garlic Roasted, and Garlic herb summer salad