Chicken Asparagus Stuffed Shells Alfredo | Chicken & Asparagus mixed with a ricotta & mozzarella – stuffed in jumbo shells & baked with a simple homemade Alfredo til perfection. And it’s EASY!! Yes honey, this is what all the best dreams are made out of. 
Asparagus is probably the first green vegetable that I really, truly loved. My oldest two kids are the same way, they love it. When I cook it up with a meal, even though I cook up a couple of batches worth – there still never seems to be enough to go around. We inhale it.
Many of you know that I have a pretty large veggie garden that I enjoy tending to. Well, a couple years ago, I decided that I was going to try my hand at growing asparagus. I mean, heck – we love it so why not. I went to the store & purchased the asparagus as plants. They weren’t exactly cheap plants. The lady at the garden center told me to not harvest it for 2-3 years. Why she said – I can’t even remember anymore. I saw little asparagus pieces popping up & even though I wanted to, I resisted picking them. This year, I was SO excited at the possibility of harvesting my own fresh asparagus…. but much to my dismay (about my absolute zero knowledge about growing it) my asparagus has decided they are no longer asparagus. They would like to be ferns instead. Very homely, lanky ferns at that.
So, I’ve decided that I’ll just stick to the things I know how to garden (I can grow a beautiful ‘mater!) & leave the asparagus growing to the experts at Michigan Asparagus… who unlike me, actually do know what they’re doing.
Michigan is the nation’s leading asparagus producer (just recently pulling ahead of California & Washington). 120 family farms harvest approximately 20 million pounds of asparagus on 9,500 acres of land. And the kicker? That asparagus is hand harvested. Since asparagus stalks continue generating new growth (as much as 10 inches in one day under pristine conditions), harvesters may make 25-35 trips across each field to harvest the complete crop. This year’s Michigan Asparagus season is delayed due to unseasonably cold temperatures in April – but that just means that the asparagus season will continue on into June this year! Speaking of June… the National Asparagus Festival is held in Oceana County, Michigan (the asparagus capital of the world) during that month each year. Many of you know that I quite enjoy taking road trips to food festivals (and finding little antique stores along the way!) so the Asparagus Festival is definitely on my radar!
They sent me a box full of just harvested asparagus & I couldn’t have been happier. My son set to work slicing it up & I set to work creating a recipe that I’ve had in my head for a little while, which is actually kind of a new spin on my Cheese Lover’s Stuffed Shells.
Chicken & Asparagus Stuffed Shells Alfredo
And y’all, is it delicious or what.
SPOILER ALERT! There’s a HUGE giveaway at the bottom of this post!
