If you’re like me, you enjoy spicing things up in the kitchen. I often get inspiration from cooking shows. I like to adapt recipes based on my tastes and what I have available in the kitchen. Recently, I saw Trisha Yearwood make some bacon-wrapped asparagus. It looked delicious and since I hadn’t had those in a while I decided to make them.

You will need:

• Fresh asparagus
• Bacon
• toothpicks
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• pure cane sugar
• pepper

Preheat your over to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Once you’ve washed your hands, and your veggies, you’re going to want to trim the asparagus. The stalks get tough and woody as they reach the bottom. What I do is I grab one spear and bend it until it snaps. I then cut the rest to match that length.

Now you’re ready to wrap the asparagus with the bacon. I wrapped 3-4 stalks with one strip of bacon. Secure with a toothpick and place on a cookie sheet. I lined mine with a silpat but you can use foil and some Pam instead.

Once you have all of your bundles you’re going to want to spoon some sauce over them. This is optional. If you’d prefer you can drizzle a little olive oil, salt, and pepper instead.

For the sauce: mix a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add sugar and pepper to taste. I find balsamic vinegar to be a little sweet already so I only use a spoonful or so of sugar. Mix well and spoon over the bundles.

Bake for 25 minutes. The asparagus will be wilted and the bacon crispy.

You can serve this as a side dish, or as a main dish. I think it would be delicious with couscous, brown rice, or even orzo along with a small salad.