10 April Favorites

There are two themes that seem to cover most of my cooking in the month of April. First, since the calendar is more convinced that it is spring than much of the great outdoors seems to be, this month is kind of in between seasons. Winter cooking is out of fashion, but it’s a bit too soon for even the earliest of spring harvests (although some local hot houses are producing pretty little lettuce heads, bok choy, and kohlrabi!)

The second theme is harder to explain, but really exciting: it seems that an unusually large proportion of my absolute favorite recipes have been posted in Aprils past. Some of them were made in celebration of this blog’s birthday (I started The Messy Apron on April 16, 2009), but others were simply celebrations of the simple and delicious meals, desserts, and snacks I make often and really love.

Here is a list of 10 favorite recipes posted in the month of April, the month in which this space took form. I hope you enjoy at least some of them as much as I do.

The first recipe I ever posted was Italian Chickpeas, a simple and absolutely delicious tomato and chickpea sauce loaded with garlic and served over pasta. I still make this whenever I need a low-maintenance meal and crave its savory flavors.

Another recipe I make a lot is this Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread. I try to make a few loaves a month.

This Oatmeal Bread is also great. It bakes up lovely and the oats give it some extra-delicious flavor.

And there are 3 other oatmeal-intensive recipes that qualify as April favorites:

Oatmeal Cherry Bars, which I love!

Peanut Butter Granola, which is my favorite granola recipe.

And Apricot Almond Oatmeal Cookies, which can be endlessly varied to include your favorite add-ins.

I haven’t made many Easter-themed posts, but I always keep egg salads, like this Lemon Fennel Egg Salad, in mind for using up hard boiled Easter eggs. (This egg salad is good, too!)

 

Bananas often fill in the fruit gap for me until the rhubarb comes up and the strawberries are in. I love to make this Banana Bread when they get extra brown.

For April celebrations, like a blog birthday, I love these Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting.

And just about anything you can make for celebrations will go well with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

 

Enjoy April, everyone!