I am huge fan of the meal-in-a-bowl.  This is not just the lazy parent’s guide to fewer dishes, but because I find it comforting and happy-maing in its simplicity.  In winter, a bowl of whole wheat pasta tossed with wilted greens and Bucheron cheese or warmed cannellini beans is my kind of dinner.  In summer, chopped salad (recipe to come) on the porch as the kids alternate between eating and playing baseball.  Fall is butternut squash with orachiette and roasted broccoli as I wrote about in TOO MANY COOKS.

Right now, it’s all about the bridge vegetables – those ones from winter that are still in abundance and the spring ones just coming in.  I adore Vegetable Crunch because like many of my recipes it easily adapts to what you have on hand.  Use up what you have in the fridge or freezer.  Last night I made this with shrimp for everyone else, vegetarian for me.  I’ve served it with pan-seared salmon or dotted with local goat cheese.    If you can, try and find the fantastic sunflower seeds from kaia foods http://www.kaiafoods.com/about.html

They have all sorts of nifty flavors such as sprouted teriyaki, sweet curry, and garlic sea salt.  They are nothing short of awesome.  The kids like to play a game, counting all the vegetables (we’ve gone up to 14), and arguing over a) what counts as a vegetable and b) why why why did Mummy put in peas when she knows I/we hate them so much?