Hi friends! I hope you all had a glorious Easter weekend. The weather here has been beyond perfect the past few days, and the trees are at their pastel peak right now. I'm sure I must look a little crazy lately, walking around my neighborhood tripping over the sidewalk because I can't stop looking up at the flowering trees and the cloudless sky. That's what spring does to me...makes me look up. Spring brings back my sense of wonder. It makes me dream again and hope again and marvel at the sheer artistry of God's creation.

But alas, in the midst of all of this beauty, real life continues. The busy-ness continues, and the emails keep pouring in. (Thus the fact that I'm just now writing Monday's blog post!) We did a massive spring clean-out this weekend and got rid of about half the contents of our closet, gave away bags and bags of stuff to Housing Works, sold books to Strand Book Store, and threw out piles of junk that had sneakily piled up over the past few years. We're not totally done, but it feels good to get a fresh start.

Shaved-Asparagus

Lately, I've been craving light, spring-y things: asparagus, peas, salads, and especially this simple naan pizza. Clearly I'm on a naan pizza kick (Exhibit A and Exhibit B) but I think this one is my favorite combo yet. I recently discovered the wonders of shaving asparagus with a veggie peeler, to make a lemony raw asparagus salad. It then dawned on me that it would make a delicious pizza topping, with crispy whole wheat naan and fresh ricotta. It turns out that yes, indeed it was! (NOTE: Make sure to use nice thick asparagus for this, not the skinny ones - they won't shave properly and you'll end up with a stringy mess. I learned this the hard way...)

I've since made this dish several times, most recently for my small group girls last week. I had them over for a last-minute dinner (as in, the invite went out the morning of) so I needed to make something super-simple. I doubled this recipe, everyone helped out and drank rose, and we had a fantastic meal on the table in 30 minutes. That night was so fun – all the laughing and story-telling and prayers around the table literally made my heart overflow with gratitude – and it reminded me once again that dinner parties do not have to be an ordeal! My house wasn't perfectly clean, dinner wasn't ready when people arrived, but nobody cared - everyone was just happy to be together.

Naan-Dinner

(Funny story: one of my friends liked these asparagus pizzas so much that she went straight to the grocery post-party and bought ingredients to make another one at home...that night! At 10 pm! Hearing that was the best compliment I could ever receive.) Hope you enjoy these - and the spring weather - as much as I have.

xo, Anna

(Photos by Signe Birck)

[recipe:best-naan-pizzas-shaved-asparagus-salad-recipe]