10 of our favorite spring recipes

We like to try and eat pseudo-seasonally. When fall rolls around I crave warm, savory things, the winter brings a longing for the richest foods I can get, and in the summer it's all grilling, all the time. The spring, for us, tends to be about lightening things up—fresh citrus flavors and bright spring colors. All within reason, of course. We actually use our grill year round, and the crockpot, too, because it is possible to make a good, summery meal that will be ready for you when you get home from the lake, or the zoo, or wherever, and I rely on my crockpot at least once a week year-round also.

I am not the world's most inventive cook. I know my way around a kitchen well, both with the tools and the ingredients, and when pressed I can assemble an edible meal from whatever's on hand, but coming up with unique recipes is not my thing. We are adventurous eaters, though, and I love to scour the web for interesting recipes and add them to my collection. But we also have several favorites to fall back on and as we cycle through the year I find that recipes correspond to specific seasons, meaning they are requested, or I make them, more often in "their" season. These, then, are some of our favorite go-to spring meals gathered from some of go-to recipe sites.

Artichoke Heart Frittata (NYT Cooking)
Frittatas can be made into just about anything, but I love making this one when the artichokes start arriving in spring. I've made it into a crustless quiche before, too, by adding spinach, a few more eggs, feta cheese, and baking it.

Grilled salmon and asparagus with garden dressing (from Better Homes and Gardens)
Delicious on the grill, or if you suddenly find it raining, can also be done in the oven, this recipe is exactly what it says. It's the asparagus that makes it springy, but also the green garden version of tartar sauce you make too go with it. This recipe can be made a lot lighter by using Greek yogurt instead of mayo, and I've often substituted dill for the tarragon. Delicious with a side of lemon pearled couscous.

French potato and green bean salad (From NYT Cooking)
This is a beautiful salad that really has nothing to do with spring except that it feels like spring to me, and sometimes I've made it with asparagus instead of green beans. It can be eating as a side dish or as a vegetarian meal (it makes an especially good picnic lunch), or even add bacon if you'd like. Yum.

Cabbage and kale slaw (side salad from allrecipes.com)
This colorful salad combines winter veggies (kale and cabbage) with a citrus dressing. I have made this recipe without the Maple syrup and balsamic vinegar before. I have also substituted lemon juice for the lime juice, or left out the carrots, or added sliced almonds. There are lots of fun things to be done with this recipe.

5 Ingredient Lemon Chicken with Asparagus skillet (from Pinch of Yum)
They had me at 5 ingredients, and again at skillet, which usually means only one pot to clean. The title ingredients speak for this dish. It's bright like spring should, and warm like you want it to be. I have paired this with oven roasted redskin potatoes.

Asparagus, egg, and bacon salad (from Skinny Taste)
More asparagus, I know. It's a spring staple here and Jon and I love it. Calvin doesn't, however, and I have made all of these recipes subbing beans for asparagus when necessary...still pretty delicious! This one makes a good side dish or a wonderful small dinner or lunch.

Crockpot corned beef (from Skinny Taste)
Because it wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without corned beef, and because I love my crockpot. I often make this recipe without the parsnips. Even better, I'll make it as a soup, still in the crockpot.

Crockpot Caribbean pot-roast (Taste of Home)
There's nothing particularly springy about this recipe, but it's a great crockpot meal with a slightly lighter taste while still being warm and filling on a slightly colder spring day.

Spiralized Mediterranean beat and feta bake (side dish from Skinny Taste)
Beautiful spring colors make this warm, juicy, baked side dish the perfect accompaniment for a festive spring party. It's a thick, hearty dish, too, and really fills a plate with spring joy.

Summer vegetables with sausage skillet (me!)
This is pushing the boundaries of spring a bit, but the reason I include it here is that it's all the summer goodness we usually grill (bratwurst, sweet pepper, onion, or fill in the blank with your own favorites), sliced into bite sizes and sauteed inside on a rainy late-spring day. Perfect.

Back at it

Calvin reminded me this morning that by this time last year we had already logged several weekly hikes to watch nature wake up. This year we're way behind. The mild winter made chickens out of us and we stayed inside too long. But with or without us they're all coming out of hiding, the snakes, the frogs, the little things that sprout under the leaves, so we decided that we should finally join them. And late as we were, we still caught some winter-only residents before their annual trip north, plus lots of regulars who came out to say hello again.

Spring poems, by Calvin

The sun comes out, 
Its heat penetrates the snow
To the grassy layer below,
The clouds grow thin,
A blue sky beind,
Spring has sprung anew.
 

The springing spring is bouncing in,
With birds and foxes alike,
It fills the winter white with warm,
And melts the snow to slush,
And takes its place where spring should go,
With flowers and grasses alike.
 

Spring wakes up,
Pushes aside its bedcovers,
Rambling out of bed,
Into its dayclothes it goes oncemore,
Never to sleep for three months,
Goodbye winter, hello spring! 
 

S(pr)inging

I'm getting over a cold, or maybe the flu. It started with Calvin, whom I'm sure brought it home from one of his increasingly frequent activities and generously shared. He wouldn't want me to feel left out (his father, on the other hand, has so far remained unscathed). It was a doozy, which came on with a vengeance and has since petered out in the most uncompromising manner: a slow trickle in the nose, an annoying tickle in the throat, an unshakeable tiredness. My only real complaint about this winter rite of passage, though, is that it's just a little too springy outside for me to want to be curled up inside nursing a stubborn virus. 

It was so beautiful this weekend, in fact, that on my run I communed with robbins, squirrels, cardinals, titmice, woodpeckers, and even a few humans in the mix. They are all coming out of winter hiding. And while I know we will likely see another onslaught of snow and/or ice, I can't help but feel that some shift has taken place and that, on a whole, we have turned the corner towards a warmer season. 

After Cinderella yesterday and the delight of a day and evening spent with beloved friends, today was a day for serious performance—the first Boychoir performance of the new semester/season/year. And as Saturday saw us driving an hour east to Detroit, Sunday saw us driving an hour west to Battle Creek for a church's wine and cheese happy hour. The performance was wonderful. Calvin has grown so in his singing over the past two years. He auditioned into a spot in a small group choir that I got to hear for the first time this afternoon as well, something I hope he is proud of for the time and attention he has dedicated to it. 

I did not partake in either wine or cheese, but I can say that the afternoon performance was worth the trip. Not that I'm biased at all.

The first hike of spring

It's getting to be that time of year when this blog will start to resemble a birding guide. I just looked back through some of our more recent exploits/posts and realized that pretty much all of them were outside (finally!) and bird related. Other bits and pieces of nature will edge in as they appear, too, but right now the only real signs of life out there are the birds flitting through the still leafless trees.

Spring is a great time for birding, especially here in Michigan. It's this time of year that the birds are giving up their winter habits and are getting frantic about territory, nests, and mates. For some species that means long migrations, and over the next couple of months we'll be seeing birds return to our area from their winter homes, and we'll also get our one chance to see all those species who are just passing through on their trips farther north.

Back in January Calvin and I started a new species list, keeping track of "first sightings of the year" by date. So far our list includes only 18 species, but it's growing more rapidly now. Just this weekend we were able to add the return of Killdeer and Sandhill Cranes to our neighborhood.

And, inadvertently, we added another tradition or routine to our busy lives. Over the past week, with the return of our neighborhood path thanks to melting temperatures, we were getting out almost every day for short walks—short because we were fighting off colds. But this weekend we were feeling more sprightly, and we resolved to visit one of our favorite hiking spots for the first time this year. The morning was dreary and dull, but the minute we got in the car the sun came out as if to give us further encouragement. The air was still chilly and there were still patches of snow and ice. The forest seemed largely to be still asleep, but as we walked we started to notice just a few signs of life: that patch over there was little greener than its drab surroundings, and the grass at the river's edge was already perking up. And if the tulips that are just pushing their way up in our front yard weren't evidence enough, the frenetic bird activity deep in the woods was definitely another sure sign. Such a cacophony, such a fluttering, such a frenzy. We didn't add any species to our list, but we had such a great time looking for life that we decided to come back next week to look for progress.

And then we realized that we had taken our first trip back into those woods on the first Saturday of spring, just one day after the equinox. That settled it. This will be our new science and nature project for the year: we will visit these woods once a week for the next year, charting her changes. It's a rather large undertaking, but what a great plan it is, and what a splendid accomplishment it would be. It's spring, after all! Time to think big!

Redbellied Woodpecker

Looking for green

The bluebird of happiness looks kind of grouchy

Here we decided the deer have been having forest tea parties. "Clean cups, clean cups, move down, move down, move down!"

Tufted Titmouse