success

so back to pinterest i went- and saw this photo of penne pasta with roasted asparagus and balsamic butter (doesn't that just sound so yummy?)

Source: foodandwine.com via Lisa on Pinterest

and realized i had all of the ingredients, i went to work. everyone liked it! i put a little twist on it by adding ground beef because i had some in the fridge that needed to be cooked or i would have to throw it out in a day. i also did not roast the asparagus because i did not have fresh asparagus on hand, only frozen. i'm sure it would have tasted even better with fresh, roasted asparagus, but hey, it wasn't bad at all.
here is my version

i got a little happy with the parmesan.  the sauce was really good.  my girls were in the kitchen while i was making the sauce and they thought it smelled way to vinegar-y.  but with the butter and brown sugar, they couldn't taste it at all to their surprise.
i would make this again, just not sure how soon...it would mainly be to get the kids to eat more asparagus since no one here really eats it on the side, but they liked it as part of the main dish.  and that's a huge success just right there!