You can add this easy-to-prepare salad to your Healthiest Way of Eating in a matter of minutes. Not only is it an excellent source of health-promoting vitamins A, C, and E, but it provides 16% of your Daily Value for folate. Enjoy!

Prep and Cook Time: 15 minutes Ingredients: 1/2 small onion, cut in half and sliced thin 2 TBS light vinegar (rice, apple cider, or white wine) 1 cup hot water 1 bunch asparagus 3 TBS low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth 7-1/2 oz jar of roasted red bell peppers, drained and slivered (or 2 medium red bell peppers, sliced thin) 1 TBS balsamic vinegar 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Slice onion and place in a small bowl with vinegar and hot water while preparing rest of the ingredients.
2. After about 10 minutes, remove onion from hot water and squeeze dry.
3. While onions are marinating heat 3 TBS broth over medium heat in a stainless steel skillet.
4. While broth is heating, snap off the woody bottom of asparagus stems, then cut the spears into 2-inch lengths. Cutting them into short pieces of equal length ensures quick, even cooking.
5. When broth begins to steam, add asparagus. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. The outside will be tender and the inside will be crisp. Thinner spears will take about 3 minutes.
6. Mix together roasted peppers with marinated onion, asparagus, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Marinate for 4-5 minutes and serve warm.

   Optional: If you use fresh red bell peppers, Healthy Sauté them for 7 minutes and toss with rest of ingredients in place of roasted peppers.

Serves 4

Nutritional Profile

Introduction to Recipe Rating System Chart

In order to better help you identify recipes that feature a high concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Recipe Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the recipes that are especially rich in particular nutrients. The following chart shows the nutrients for which Warm Asparagus Salad is either an excellent, very good, or good source (below the chart you will find a table that explains these qualifications). If a nutrient is not listed in the chart, it does not necessarily mean that the recipe doesn't contain it. It simply means that the nutrient is not provided in a sufficient amount or concentration to meet our rating criteria. (To view this recipe's in-depth nutritional profile that includes values for dozens of nutrients - not just the ones rated as excellent, very good, or good - please use the link below the chart.) To read this chart accurately, you'll need to glance back up to see the ingredients used in the recipe and the number of serving sizes provided by the recipe. Our nutrient ratings are based on a single serving. For example, if a recipe makes 4 servings, you would be receiving the nutrient amounts listed in the chart by eating 1/4th of the combined ingredients found in the recipe. Now, returning to the chart itself, you can look next to the nutrient name in order to find the nutrient amount it offers, the percent Daily Value (DV%) that this amount represents, the nutrient density that we calculated for this recipe and nutrient, and the rating we established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings, we adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for Nutrition Labeling." Read more background information and details of our rating system.

In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Warm Asparagus Salad