Food and Cooking

This time of year always has a way of making us long for the warm days of spring and summer. And of course with those thoughts of warm months come dreams of our spring and summer vegetable garden!

For the last couple of years, we've really made an effort to put in a substantial vegetable garden in our backyard. The children love to help pick out the seeds, plant them, water the plants, and pick the vegetables (and eat them, too), so it's a fun, educational, and tasty, experience for them. While last summer's cooler than normal weather made for mixed results, we had enough success to make us want to do it all over again this year.

Our first task of the season is always to go get our seeds. We always go the heirloom route—they're so much more fun than your plain old (ahem) garden variety vegetables—and we buy our seeds at the Petaluma Seed Bank, the West Coast outpost of the fantastic Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in Mansfield, Missouri. They stock a vast array of seeds for a wide variety of vegetables, many of which you probably didn't know existed.

In case you're not familiar with heirloom vegetables, they're the old-fashioned types, usually at least 50 years old, that have been handed down from generation to generation, and exist not because they are easy to grow or look perfect, but because they taste great! Baker Creek's seeds are also all natural, open-pollinated, and non-GMO, so they're good for your family and the environment.

Tonight is the night of the big Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco, and it's a tradition in our house to make wontons to eat while we watch the parade on TV. Wontons are easy to make, tasty, kid-friendly, and you can get everything you need at the grocery store. Furthermore, they're something the children can help make with minimal effort, and they even have a lot of fun folding the things.

So, pick up a pack of pre-made wonton wrappers and other ingredients and get ready to start your wonton party. Our recipe is for chicken wontons, although you can use pork, shrimp, or other fillings, depending on what you like or happen to have on hand.

Ingredients

The wontons

• 1-1/4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into pieces
• 1 package square wonton wrappers
• 2–3 green onions, chopped
• 1/2-inch piece of root ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• water for cooking and sealing wontons

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear. Here's Nicole's meal plan for this week.

Lavender is just one of those smells that gently suggests bliss to me. I love it in many dishes, especially ice cream, but when I ran across this recipe, I thought “Of course”—it would be just perfect with roast chicken. The French use lavender in their Provençal dishes all the time; why not make it the star ingredient. In this effortless dish, lavender transforms the chicken into something unique and will pleasantly surprise you with flavors and aromas that will make everyone run to the dinner table.

Note: Be sure to use culinary lavender found on the spice aisle of the grocery store. Also, choose a honey that is not overwhelming and subtle.

Recipe Adapted from Rachel Khoo

Servings: 8
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Inactive Time: 45+ minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear. Here's Nicole's meal plan for this week.

One of our favorite comfort foods is chicken pot pie. I have fond memories of my mom making them when I was a child. Back then, there was just chicken in the pot pie but now I think they have come a long way with the food revolution. It is possible to make a healthy pot pie without all the calories. With a few tricks such as a light crust and healthy vegetables, old versions of chicken pot pie get turned on their heads and become something everyone will enjoy.

Servings: 4 mini 4-inch diameter pot pies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Inactive Time: 1+ hours
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt