If you're feeling a little uninspired lately, you aren't alone — we call it the springtime slump. It seems to peak around dinnertime, when the contents of our fridges and pantries just look so...boring. Injecting a new recipe or two into the repertoire just doesn't seem to cut it. Instead, we're here with a whole week of weeknight-friendly dinner menus, with options for vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free eaters, too. Ready to shake up your weekly dinner rotation?

Chia seed puddings are all the rage these days, and for good reason. When stirred with water, juice, or milk, the seeds gel up and thicken, creating the most delightful tapioca-like texture. It's easy (no heat required!) and contains all the nutrition of chia seeds, which taste neutral enough that you can play with your favorite flavors. In my case, that means a sweet spring combo of strawberries, coconut, and lime. 

I love May when all the seasonal farmers markets start to open. For the next 4 weeks, I'll be visiting the markets weekly near where I live in Northern California and buy ingredients to make a simple, vegetarian dish to share with you. This week there were gorgeous rainbow carrots at the market, along with lemons from a neighboring table. A fresh veggie fettuccine was definitely on the menu.

Most Americans are familiar with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall through his well-received River Cottage Meat Book, so it may come as some surprise that he has penned a 400-page vegetable-centric tome devoted to the appreciation and cooking of vegetables.  But it makes a lot of sense that this passionate, out-spoken pioneer of local food has finally turned towards vegetables. River Cottage Veg is a lovely book, a love song to the many inspiring things you can pluck from your vegetable patch and bring into the kitchen.

It feels unnecessary sometimes to take something that's so good in and of itself and change it in any way — a little over the top, or just a waste of time. That is not the case, however, with frying an avocado. It will always be worth it. Here's why:

Where I come from, the first thing to show up at the market is rhubarb, not strawberries. So as temptingly spring-like as a strawberry rhubarb pie might sound, if I were to make one now, it would be with strawberries flown in from a faraway place. 

Besides, why mess with rhubarb? Have you had it on its own? It's edgy, indeed. Sour and bright, it needs some sweetness, but not too much. 

Simple, healthy, whole food is anything but humdrum in David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl's Vegetarian Everyday. The creators of Green Kitchen Stories blog are known for their vibrant approach and this cookbook is filled with creative flavor combinations, gorgeous styling, and colorful photography. 

There are no secrets about food in our home. Our children, if they're paying attention, know where it comes from and what it was doing before it ended up on the plate. Though we don't forbid anything, we aren't shy about letting them know the difference between that fast food chicken sandwich and the chicken we got from Mr. Eubanks at the farmers' market. Much like adults, kids will eat what they want, in spite of what they know. But we like them to know what they're getting into. Take soft shell crabs, for instance. 

Jammy pink rhubarb, coconut custard, and a honey-rose water drizzle! Who needs gluten (or dairy or nuts or refined sugar, for that matter) when you've got all this going on?!