Ready for a Lazy Weekend?

Are you preparing for a lazy weekend?  I know that I could sure use one!  The above picture is how the Texas Tornado does lazy.  She lays on the dirty laundry pile in her nightgown with her sister's soccer socks and cleats, binky in hand and in mouth, and watches the laundry spin.  Yes, when the Tornado takes a momentary break from destroying everything in our home, this is how she rests.

Don't you worry, she'll be back to wreaking havoc in a minute.  This is just her recharging her battery.

Today, I want to share with you a yummy and healthy breakfast option for this weekend.  It'll be ready in under 10 minutes, so this allows you to get right back into lazy and relaxing quickly.  I actually saw a picture of this on Pinterest, and I found it to be "pinteresting."

For today's recipe, I blanched some asparagus and topped it with a poached egg, some shredded parmesan cheese and some cracked pepper.  It's delicious.  It's surprisingly filling.  Even better, you can knock a vegetable off of your daily 5 requirements at breakfast!  Yeehaw!!

 
Ingredients

• a handful of asparagus
• an egg
• a sprinkling of parmesan cheese
• a crack or two of fresh pepper

Before you do anything else, fill a saucepan halfway with some water and crank it up high.  The water can be heating while you get out the ingredients and prep everything.  

Next, wash your asparagus and trim the ends.  I'm less fancy, and I just crack the ends off with my Herculean strength.  I find that if you put your two thumbs on the asparagus, it will naturally break off where it needs to.  Be my guest and remove the ends however you please.

The next thing you'll do, is to add the asparagus to the pot of boiling water.  The asparagus will only cook for 3 minutes, so during this time you need to prepare an ice bath.  I use a glass bowl and I fill it with cold water and a handful of ice cubes.  Once the asparagus has cooked for a few minutes, it will turn a pretty green.  Remove the asparagus with tongs and toss them into the ice bath.  Then remove the the asparagus from the ice bath with tongs and lay them on a paper towel to dry while you poach your egg.

I know this may be gross, but I used the same asparagus boiling water to poach my egg.  Why dirty another dish?  It's the weekend, and I'm lazy.  It didn't affect the flavor at all.  Poach however you please.  Nonetheless, you will need a pot of boiling water.  

Once again, I'm not super fancy.  I like a ragged and rustic looking poached egg.  If you have an egg poacher, be my guest.  If not, crack your egg into a small ramekin.  Then gently, yet quickly, slide your egg into the boiling water.  The egg will cook/poach for 3 minutes.  At the end of the 3 minutes, remove the egg with a slotted spoon and lay it to rest on the paper towel next to your asparagus.

Get excited, because it is almost time to be lazy again!  Lastly, you assemble your asparagus and egg on a plate.  Then sprinkle it with the cheese and crack the pepper.  Grab a fresh cup of coffee, ignore what the children are doing to your beautiful home for a moment, and enjoy a little low calorie-high YUM breakfast.

Enjoy!!

***A big "THANK YOU" to the United Fresh Produce Association for asking me to present at their 2012 convention in Dallas this week.  It was fun and DELICIOUS!  It has inspired me to create so many new, healthy recipes.  Thanks again for the inspiration and the FUN!***