Asparagus Bacon Linguine and Spring Jello Pie

We have been busy busy these last few days, Easter was wonderful, we had a very nice morning at church, the kids enjoyed their Easter basket goodies, and we had a very yummy Easter dinner.  We didn't have company over for this Easter, and enjoyed some nice family time, the kids hid eggs for each other, and we all had fun with the new "Just Dance" video game that was one of our Easter treats, a very fun way to burn off those extra holiday calories. :)

My hubby and son surprised me with this pretty Easter Lily.

I thought I would share with you one of my favorite Easter/Spring recipes that I love making.

When Easter arrives, it opens up Jello season for me in the kitchen, I love the multiple, easy, light and refreshing desserts that one can make with Jello, and always find some yummy Jello dish to make for special spring and summer meals.  For Easter, I like a lighter tasting dessert to complement our Ham and salads meal, years ago I found a wonderful recipe from a Kraft cookbook for an Easy Spring Pie made with Jello and Cool Whip.

This year I made a lime jello pie and a raspberry jello pie.  The recipe is very simple.

You need two regular size boxes of Jello or 1 large box in any flavor you want.  In a bowl mix all the Jello with 1 1/2 cups boiling water, stir until completely dissolved.  Then measure out 1/2 a cup of water along with enough ice to equal 1 1/2 cups water, and add that to the Jello and mix until the ice cubes have melted.  Remove two cups of the Jello and chill in the fridge for about 5 minutes until the Jello just ever so slightly starts to set up, the recipe says like the consistency of egg whites.  While that is chilling, mix in two cups of Cool Whip to the remaining Jello until Cool Whip and Jello are completely combined.  Chill the whipped topping mix for about 10 minutes or until it is set up enough to mound on top of the pie.

Remove two cups of reserved jello from the fridge, and pour into a graham cracker crust, chill until topping is ready, carefully add the topping layer, then chill for about 3 hours or until set up completely.

Here is the first layer of the pie, with the two cups of reserved Jello poured into a graham cracker crust.

Here is the second layer of the Cool Whip/ Jello mixture mounded on top of the Jello layer.

Here is what the pie looks like when chilled and sliced, I love how pretty the layers look!

The complete recipe can be found at Kraft's Easy Spring Pie, this recipe calls for an additional dollop of whipped topping to serve on the pie, but I prefer it without the extra dollop, the pie is delicious as it.

This is such an easy recipe, and it is always a hit, this year I think I will make a pie with the berry blue and cherry Jello for fourth of July.

Another of my spring favorites that we enjoyed on Easter was Asparagus, for Easter I served the asparagus steamed with a little melted butter.  Last night I was in the store, and couldn't pass by some beautiful bunches of asparagus.  I decided to make some into a simple pasta toss for our dinner tonight.

Here is my recipe for Asparagus Bacon Linguine.

Steam a bunch of asparagus that has been chopped into 1/2 -3/4 inch pieces, steam long enough so asparagus is tender, but not so long that it is falling apart. Heat up a can of Fire Roasted diced tomatoes, with a few dashes of Italian herbs and half a teaspoon of dried minced onion, simmer for about 5 minutes.

(This is one of my new favorite pantry staples)

Cook about 5-6 pieces of bacon and crumble when cooled.  Cook a package of linguine and drain.
In a bowl toss linguine with steamed asparagus, tomatoes and bacon and a drizzle of olive oil.

Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.

Great simple dinner for a busy evening.

I hope everyone had a nice Easter celebration!