While this month is still a bit of transition to Spring, there are still a lot of delicious dishes to make.

Plus I’ve got recipe ideas for your Easter brunch and dinner menus!

If you enjoy cooking more seasonally, I highly recommend Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden. He walks you through all of the ways to enjoy vegetables from early-Spring through Winter. This book has given me so many new ideas on how to cook different vegetables during this time of year.

And speaking of vegetables, I’m currently planning what to plant in my vegetable garden! Growing your own food is absolutely so satisfying. Once we’re in the midst of the summer I love being able to go outside and pick what I need for the recipe I’m cooking.  This year I’m going to try a few different types of radishes and some of our other favourites like beets, carrots, lettuces, jalapeno peppers and tomatoes.

What’s In Season in April

Though the weather in April can still be a bit up and down, the produce at the markets and grocery stores is definitely bright and fresh for the Spring season.

• Arugula
• Asparagus
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Leeks
• Lemon
• Mushrooms
• Radishes
• Rhubarb

Recipes to make in April

Breakfast & Brunch

Swiss Chard, Goat Cheese & Leek Frittata

Easy French Toast Blueberry Breakfast Bake Recipe

Healthy Crustless Veggie Breakfast Quiche Recipe

Salads & Side Dishes

Blueberry Basil Green Salad with Goat Cheese

Market Spring Vegetable Salad

Brussels Sprouts Salad with Apples, Dates & Hazelnuts

Sauteed Savoy Cabbage with Bacon

Sheet Pan Roasted Carrots, Brussels Sprouts and Potatoes

Roasted Cauliflower with Orange Tahini (side dish)

Spring Dinner Recipes

Leek and Pancetta Pasta

Easy One Pan Spring Salmon with Potatoes & Asparagus

One Pan Creamy Lemon & Garlic Chicken Gnocchi

Sheet Pan Hot Honey Chicken with Brussels Sprouts

Spring Minestrone Soup with Herb Ricotta Topping

Easy 30 Minute Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta Recipe

Spring Cocktails

Lavender French 75

Grapefruit Lavender Spring Blossom Cocktail

Minty Cucumber Gin Spritz

Rhubarb French 75

Sweet Treats

Easy Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Lemon Blueberry Blondies

Coconut Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Easter Brunch & Dinner Menu Recipes

Bacon, Mushroom & Spinach Quiche

Mushroom Tart

Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes

Easy Baked Croissant French Toast

Easy Herb Drop Biscuits

Honey Butter Roasted Carrots and Radishes

Quick & Easy Gnocchi With Mushrooms

3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Eggs

Easy Mini-Egg Fudge Recipe

The post 30 Seasonal Recipes to Make in April appeared first on Cooking in my Genes.

There are so many green vegetables that come to mind to cook with.

But let’s not forget we start to see rhubarb and tomatoes at the market too. Let’s get cooking!

While March is more of transition month in terms of seasonal ingredients, we really start to see more delicious Spring fruits and vegetables in April.

I am all about fresh, crunchy salads, adding vegetables to pizzas and using fresh fruits and vegetables as a topper to a built-up toast. There are SO many ways to enjoy seasonal ingredients!

Do you know what else is lovely this time of year?! FRESH FLOWERS! When I’m at the market shopping, I love to grab a bouquet of seasonal flowers too. Place them on your dining table or maybe it’s the breakfast bar where you generally eat. Flowers add such a lovely, bright touch in the Springtime too.

Two recipes that I’m sooo looking forward to making are this Loaded Vegetable Pizza from What’s Gaby Cooking AND these Rainbow Peanut Chicken Wraps from Whole Beet Kitchen. If you haven’t heard of these blogs I HIGHLY recommend checking them out for even more recipe inspo!

And from my archives, here are my fav recipes to make in April:

Apples – Apple Cheddar Toast

Cucumber – Minty Cucumber Gin Spritz

Leeks – Leek and Pancetta Pasta

Lettuce – Market Spring Vegetable Salad

Microgreens – Spring Toast with Radishes, Pea Shoots and Feta

Rhubarb – Rhubarb Cake

Tomatoes – One Pan Baked Chicken with Tomatoes & Oregano

If you’re in the baking mood, here are a few delicious recipes I’m looking forward to trying:

• Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins
• Lemon Chiffon Cake
• Healthy Blueberry Crumble Bars

I hope you’ve found some inspiration for lunches, dinners and desserts – I’d love to know what you’re going to make first!

Personally I would go with the Rhubarb Snack Cake (if you can get your hands on some rhubarb) or the Spring Toasts for brunch on the weekend.

Enjoy!

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

The post What’s In Season – Recipes to Make in April appeared first on Cooking in my Genes.

I love this time of year; going to the farmers market to see all of the bright and fresh produce and of course using it in my cooking.

Spring also brings a sense of freshness and inspiration to me, so here are my favourite things from this past month including cookbooks, recipes and florals to brighten up your day!

March went by in a flash but I’ve definitely spent some time enjoying two new books from the library. First, I’ve been thoroughly loving Modern Lunch by Allison Day. The recipes totally shake-up what you ‘think’ lunch should be with some seriously delicious flavour combinations. What I really enjoy about the book is the ‘mix and match’ sections that give you a ton of ideas for using different recipes together for delicious lunches!

The second book I cannot get enough of is The Cook’s Atelier. Simply put, you are transported a French cooking school and culinary boutique in a town in France. With beautiful photos, recipes and stories from their cooking school, it’s absolutely a divine read!

And, I always like trying out other bloggers’ recipes, like these Baked Teriyaki Meatballs with Roasted Broccoli from The Modern Proper. I made this as a ‘build your own bowl’ kind of dinner for family and they absolutely LOVED it!

So, what are we cooking as we head into April? Here’s some inspiration for you!

Almonds – Almond Butter Squares

Grapefruit – Grapefruit Lavender Spring Blossom Cocktail

Leeks – Leek & Pancetta Pasta

Peas – Easy Pea Soup

Radishes – Spring Toasts with Radishes, Pea Shoots & Feta

Spinach – Bacon, Mushroom & Spinach Quiche

So, what’s your favourite Spring ingredient!? Is there a recipe you’d love to see on the blog?? I’d love to hear from you!

I’m also making a list of DIY projects because I am in the mood to create! I’m going to try my hand at these DIY Watercolour Cloth Napkins to use in an upcoming photoshoot so stay tuned to see how those turn out.

And, I’ll have some highlights from a trip to Arizona to share with you too!

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

The post What’s In Season – Monthly Favourites appeared first on Cooking in my Genes.

Scott and I have been to Maui together but never to Kauai so we were really excited to check out a new island.

Let me start by saying that in general Kauai is very magical. From beaches to rainforests, canyons and waterfalls, and a ton of delicious food, Kauai is full of gems to discover!

We stayed in the South part of the island in Poipu; it turned out to be the sunnier part of the island and we really took advantage of the sunnier days.

On any trip we go on one of my favourite things to do is find a great coffee spot and Little Fish Coffee was exactly that.

Not only did they have wonderful coffee, I became obsessed with their fresh breakfast bowls that were filled with fresh fruits, smoothies, yogurt and granola in a variety of different combinations. Our personal favs were the ‘Little Fish Bowl’ which had greek yogurt, fresh fruit, coconut flakes and coconut condensed milk and ‘Shippy’s Bowl’ which had a base of acai then topped with greek yogurt, bananas, pineapple, coconut flakes and granola. SO much yum!

Needless to say we stopped at Little Fish Coffee a couple of times, especially the mornings we headed out on various adventures.

Kayaking was first up and it was a cloudier day so I didn’t feel like I was missing out on beach time 😉 We kayaked the quiet Hule’ia River and then strolled through the jungle, enjoyed lunch by a beautiful waterfall and then made a stop at a rope swing which was a ton of fun! The river and secluded rope swing pool have been used in various movies such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Our next adventure took us high into the sky for a helicopter ride! There are parts of Kauai that you can only really see by air so we knew this was a must-do on our list.

The views of the island from the helicopter were STUNNING and honestly here I have to let the photos do the talking.

In between adventure days we took to the beach!

My favourite was Kiahuna Beach – it was perfect for relaxing, playing in the waves, walking the shores (and spotting some fish) and we even had some Monk Seal visitors one day!

Our next adventure was to Waimea Canyon where we hiked up to witness the most spectacular views.

Each way you turned you got a completely different perspective – from a rocky canyon, to waterfalls, to lush greenery.

On our drive back from the canyon we took a little detour to grab some cold drinks but ended up sitting down for a piece of Macadamia Chocolate Pie!

Filled with fresh coconut, chocolate and macadamia nuts, it was a serious bite of heaven.

Oh and because we hadn’t eaten quite a real lunch, we took our kayaking guide’s recommendation and pitstopped at what he called ‘the best food truck ever’ towards the end of our drive back from Waimea Canyon.

Located at Warehouse 3540, a community marketplace, we enjoyed Fried Brussels Sprouts from Roots in Culture and then the Waygu Steak Sandwich from Kickshaws.

You guys, both dishes were UNREAL.

The brussels sprouts were mixed with crunchy macadamia nuts and beets and the waygu steak sandwich is the most tender meat I have ever eaten, accompanied by arugula and aioli, goodness gracious!

We bookmarked this spot to come back to for their Saturday event where we tried even more food and did a little shopping too!

We sort of alternated between a mix of foodie adventures, outdoor adventures, beach time and delicious dinners and I probably would do things pretty similarly next time.

Another must-do if you’re a coffee-lover like me is check out Kauai Coffee!

They give free tours of the grounds AND tasters of MANY of their coffee blends, pretty much coffee heaven.

Two of our other favourite dinners were at Merriman’s Fish House and Tidepools; both places served ‘fresh-catches’ of the day which was perfect for trying out a variety of Hawaiian fish. And, we had the most simple but tasty dessert at Tidepools, a coconut sorbet with a squeeze of fresh lime. It’s hard to describe the flavour combination; the lime adds this wonderful citrus note to the coconut and I’m telling you I’ll be using this as a go-to dessert from here on out!

The North Shore is pretty spectacular too; we didn’t spend too much time there but we did hike where we captured some wonderful views.

The weather can be different as you go from different parts of the island and given Kauai is not that large, you can easily drive to find the sun if you’re missing it in the part of the island you stay.

I would totally stay in the Poipu area again as it was really easy to get around, there’s quite a few beaches to choose from and you can walk to various amenities too!

We capped off our trip with a dinner at the Beach House, the perfect spot to watch the gorgeous sunset and take in those Kauai views.

I hope you enjoyed coming along this foodie travel adventure with me; I’d love to know which places you love to travel to (for food!)

If you loved this food & travel post, you might also like my Portland Travel Diary or Foodie Adventures in Nashville.

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

The post What’s In Season – Kauai Food & Travel Adventures appeared first on Cooking in my Genes.