Seasonal cooking: five of my favorite spring recipes

photo taken from the smittenkitchen.com

What are you eating this spring? I’m not the type of person that sticks to seasonal cooking, but I do find that seasonal ingredients are usually on sale, and I usually end up buying them when they are. Some of my favorite spring time fruits and veggies are: asparagus, spinach, carrots, strawberries, and mango.

Below are some of the recipes that make me look forward to spring every year. Along with the warmer weather, sunshine, dresses, sandals, and overall happiness etc. haha.

Asparagus Egg and Bacon Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette-this is our all-time favorite spring recipe. Its so yummy, healthy and filling. And it’s super easy to throw together in a hurry.

Strawberry Avocado Spinach Salad-this salad has been on rotation for us for the past five years. The creamy avocado, with the sweet strawberries, and tartness of the vinaigrette are just magic all together. Definitely not a boring salad.

Shaved Asparagus Pizza-I actually haven’t made this pizza in a couple of years. But we used to make it all the time, I’m so happy I just rediscovered it! The ingredients list is so simple it was so easy to put together, and the taste of the finished product is literally to die for.

Mango, Pineapple Green Smoothie-such a great and easy green smoothie. It tastes so fresh with the perfect amount of sweetness.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting-ok, these cupcakes are amazing. We have a lot of carrot cake cupcake lovers in this house, we’ve tried a lot of different recipes. But, these ones take the cake, haha, see what I did there?

Also, I need some inspiration! What are some of your favorite springtime recipes? I’d love to hear in the comments below. 

 

 

 

A weekend in sunny Kanab, UT

A couple of weekends ago, the boys and I headed down to Kanab to visit my brother and his family, while Nick was on a work trip in Texas. The boys love love being around their cousins, and we don’t get to see them much, so it was such a fun trip!

Also, can we all agree that southern Utah is the most magical and beautiful area on the planet?

We started our visit with a quick hike to the “K” on the mountain. I love how there are so many little trails all around Kanab, they are so accessible and fun. The kids loved getting to run around and not have their legs crammed in a car seat.

The next day we visited the Pink Coral Sand Dunes and holy cow, this place was gorgeous. We walked over the hill to see the sand dunes, and it literally took my breath away. We all took turns running down the first hill, and it was just so fun and freeing. We all got covered in sand, and had sand falling out of our clothes for the next two days, which was pretty funny. For sure, that was Charlie’s favorite stop of our whole weekend! It was like one giant sandbox to play in and explore.

We followed the sand dunes with a visit to the Kanab bakery, where they have all sorts of yummy French treats. A pool trip followed, which Jay loved! He was so giddy and silly and excited to be in the water. It’s been so long since we’ve taken him swimming.

In the evening we had a delicious bbq with homemade burgers and then roasted marshmallows for s’mores in their backyard with the most gorgeous views of red rocks, and canyons.

On our final day in Kanab, we went on a hike to some dinosaur footprints, also just at the edge of town. Jay’s mind was totally blown, he’s been talking about them ever since. The hike was a solid two miles, and Jay’s legs were getting so tired (Charlie was in my baby carrier). But he did good, with the help of a couple uncle Taylor shoulder rides, haha.

It was the best weekend, and completely refreshing. We loved the good family time, the outdoors, and hearing the kids laugh and play. I have the best memories with my cousins growing up, and I’m so happy my kids are getting to have those special friendships too.

SaveSave