I’d intended to get this up in time for Easter, but whatever. With the new puppy in the house and a three-day weekend it was next to impossible to do much writing at all last week. So! Here we are today with some amazingly delicious homemade candy that will knock your socks off and is just the antidote for all the store bought stale sugary stuff the bunny might have dropped off over the weekend.

There is nothing I love more than a good spring cleaning. With a little bit of time and some elbow grease it doesn’t take long for any given space in my house to go from drab and wintery, to bright and fresh. Since I cook so frequently and we eat in our kitchen I am always especially conscious of cleaning the kitchen the minute it is warm enough to open the windows. We wipe down the shelves, clean out the fridge, and clear away any leftover clutter from winter.

These days I even enlist my children to help me since I live by the motto from my favorite handbook, “If you have children, you have helpers!” Getting them involved not only helps me, but creates a collective sense of responsibility for maintaining our living space. It is important for them to do their part in keeping our home spic and span. Here are a few ways I get them involved:

By Erin Gleeson

Last year I spoke with Erin Gleeson about her magnificent book, The Forest Feast. I couldn’t get enough of the beautifully illustrated volume featuring mouthwatering vegetarian recipes. It is one of a kind. This spring she followed up that book with a second volume aimed at children. It features beautiful photography and watercolors, as well as dozens of recipes children will love to make and eat. Last week I had a little chat with Erin about her latest endeavor which you can read below. And don’t forget to enter to win a copy of your very own!

Well, we’ve had temperatures in the 60’s all week and the daffodils are pushing through. I think this means that spring is here to stay! (Famous last words, now we’ll end up having a snowstorm next week!) The arrival of spring always inspires to take a fresh look at our meals. It is time to do away with the heavy soups and bring on the light meals. This also means bring out some of my spring and summer kitchen favorites:

A beautiful berry bowl is perfect for the first fresh berries of the season. (Gold Seed Craft, $154)

Potatoes are on weekly rotation in our house. It took me a long time to get to love them again after spending a semester at St. Andrews in Scotland (potatoes for every meal!), but now we’ve made peace. My favorite way to prepare them is by roasting them until the skins are crispy and the insides are nice and soft. Sometimes I even smash them, like I did here, so they turn into delicious crispy circles with creamy interiors.

Earlier this winter I took these cookies to a friend who is gluten-free. I was in charge of dessert and wanted to bring something light and easy, something to nibble on that wouldn’t weigh us down. I did a lot of research in all my favorite cookbooks and online and this recipe popped up in many iterations. The jist: it is a chocolate meringue-style cookie filled with spices and chocolate chips. They are delicious! In fact, they are so good I made them again recently to take to a friend.

This post has been updated on October 3, 2016 as part of the 5 Affordable Weeknight Dinners from Whole Foods Market project. We were able to enjoy this recipe again in a whole new way with ingredients from my recent Whole Foods Market trip.

This soup is a long-standing favorite of ours. This week it is part of our 5 Affordable Weeknight Dinners from Whole Foods Market. For this project I am sharing how I make five delicious, easy dinners for my family using one bag of Whole Foods Market groceries. I love shopping there because of their extra fresh ingredients and high commitment to quality.

When I buy frozen shrimp for this recipe, for example, I know it is sustainable, responsibly farmed, and verified. They take such care to vet their products before they sell them. I like to buy my grains in the bulk oil because it is cost effective and easy. With the ease of buying shrimp and grains at Whole Foods Market half the recipe is already done! Before I go I always check my Whole Foods Market app and sales flyer for coupons. They are so easy to use and offer terrific discounts for so many of my favorite every day staples, and the specialty items I love to try.

Taking a week off from cooking while we were in Costa Rica was good for me. I could see myself heading into a dinner rut and I needed to step out of the kitchen for a little bit. When I returned I was reenergized to get cooking again and went through my old Evernote list of tried-and-trues. (Do you use Evernote for organizing recipes? OMG, amazing!) This shrimp soup I’d had a couple of years ago at my friend Lauren’s house popped up and I knew it was the right time to make it again.

Last month we took a family vacation to Costa Rica. Since it wasn’t a work trip I didn’t go crazy documenting it on social media. But I took a bunch of non-family photos I’d love to share today. We had never been to Costa Rica and heard nothing but amazing things about it before we went. After a week there I can now say I totally understand why people love it so much. The weather is incredible, the scenery is beyond gorgeous, and it everyone we met had a fun, relaxed vibe. Here are some of the highlights from our trip:

We stayed on Playa Hermosa near Jaco. The sand in this area is black due to ancient lava flows. The beaches are known for their incredible surf brakes. Even thought we don’t surf we still enjoyed the waves and incredibly warm water.