Asparagus Bundles

A couple years ago, my friend, Lindsey, made a recipe similar to this using green beans.  One of the foods I loathe in life is green beans.  She thought the bacon and sweet sauce would help me get past the green beans, but nope, I strongly disliked her dish.  I've never known whether I truly disliked the dish or whether it was simply the green beans I couldn't get past.  I am excited to be trying a similar recipe using asparagus (my favorite veggie) instead.  This little beauty came from Trisha Yearwood's cookbook.

The case:
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs fresh asparagus, ends trimmed
- 12 slices bacon
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 stick butter
- 1 T soy sauce
- 1/2 t garlic salt
- 1/2 t ground pepper

Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 450
2.  Divide asparagus into 12 bundles.  Carefully wrap 1 piece of bacon around each bundle, starting from 1/2 inch from the bottom of the tips.  Lay the bundles in a low sided casserole dish.
3.  In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter, soy sauce, garlic salt, and pepper.  Bring the mixture to a boil.  Pour the hot mixture over the asparagus.
4.  Bake for 25 minutes, or until the spears have begun to wilt and the bacon is fully cooked. 

The ruling:
Yep, it was just the green beans I didn't like!  This dish was delicious!  Michael raved and raved.  I actually only made 3 bundles since it was only the two of us and I didn't think it would be good left over, plus I wasn't sure if I would like it.  I didn't want to be wasting two of my favorite things: bacon and asparagus.  He was mad I didn't make more.  We both would've eaten several of these!  The only thing I did differently was to broil for a few minutes before I took it out of the oven to get the bacon a little crispy.