Now that it's spring we're starting to see a trickle of fresh, new spring fruits and vegetables at the farmer's market. My local market ran through the winter mostly with cold-weather staples like apples and squash. And I'm sick of them! I'm so done with potatoes and butternut squash soup. Anyone else?

We're still a few months away from the full farmer's market bounty you get in the summer (except for you lucky people in warmer climates). Spring is more a time for planting than for harvesting. But this is still a fun time to check out what's new and cook with the little gifts of spring. Here are five meal ideas you can make with your kids.

It's almost St. Paddy's Day, and you know what that means? Well, for me it means shamrock shake season. Last year we did a taste test between the McDonald's classic and our homemade version. You'll have to read the post to find out which shake won. BUT -- in case you want to make your own, we found the ULTIMATE shamrock shake recipe. Top Secret Recipes reverse-engineers popular fast food and other favorite foods. Their recipe makes enough for two shakes, so if you're making this for kids you may want to double the recipe.

Notice that their recipe calls for mint extract, but not peppermint extract. Also, I'm not sure why they use "low fat milk" rather than whole. Maybe it's to get the right consistency? I figure you're already making this with ice cream so you might as well go all the way and use whole milk. But that's just me. I'm decadent like that.

Ugh, it's March -- such a tricky month. On one hand, it feels hopeful because you know spring is right around the corner. On the other hand, it's still chilly and windy, and so blah! And what's to eat? By now I'm sick of heavy winter food. But on the other hand, I'm not exactly ready for grilling and salads, either.

It's funny, I was just thinking about March food this morning when a friend of mine posted the same exact question -- what do you eat in March?!? Foods that are still warm and cozy, but a little lighter. Foods with a lot of flavor and maybe even a little spice. Don't you think? Here's five recipes to liven up dinner this month.

You can have your chicken noodle soup for the soul. With the flu and about 40 million different colds running loose in the world, I just want chicken soup for my immune system! Want the most powerful, comforting, winter-warrior chicken soup we can possibly come up with? Comin' right up!

Let's throw in some immunity-boosting garlic, sweet potatoes, coconut milk, and lemon juice. Add in some soothing ginger and a little bit of chili paste to burn off congestion. Put it all together and we've got your ultimate, Thai-inspired flu-fighting chicken soup.

When it comes to dinner these days, I'm all about the soup. Even though it's still not exactly cold in Florida where I live, there's still something soothing about a nice, warm, comforting bowl of soup this time of year. And this southwest chicken chili is one of my all-time favorites that I make repeatedly.

From Simply Scratch, it's easy to make, but incredibly flavorful. It's full of all kinds of good, healthy ingredients that all blend together in one amazing dish. I love to serve it with all sorts of toppings like cheese, avocado chunks, tortilla chips, and green onions. It's perfect if you're hosting a Super Bowl party, or for dinner any night.

When it comes to Christmas cookies, they have to be cute. Of course, they also have to be tasty enough to tempt Santa himself, but they reeeeeaaally have to be cute. That's practically the whole point of Christmas cookies.

Unfortunately, cranking those suckers out is easier said than done. Particularly if creating those cute cookies include making dough from scratch, rolling it out to the perfect thickness and generally making sure the snowflake and Christmas tree-shaped scraps turn into non-burned cookies that still resemble snowflakes and Christmas trees. And don't even get me started on the decorating process! That's why I love these adorable Reindeer Cookies from Pillsbury. They're super-easy (you can use refrigerated rolls of dough!), there's no frosting involved ... even the shapes are tough to mess up! Guaranteed cute, and the kids can help.

It's not your mother's Christmas dinner. Nor my mother's. Nor mine. Because I don't have $200,000 to shell out for the world's most expensive Christmas dinner for four cooked by British chef Ben Spalding. But looking at the menu makes me wish I'd won that Powerball jackpot a few weeks back, mostly because I think this is the only time I've ever seen anyone offer to make anyone a Wagyu beef heart.

Spalding is cooking one Christmas dinner and selling it through luxury e-commerce site veryfirstto.com. What's on the menu? I haven't even heard of some of these things before, but some of it sounds absolutely delicious. Some of it though, seems pretty weird.

If there's one thing I'm always thankful for come Thanksgiving Day, it's my Crock-Pot. While I love prepping and preparing for the big meal, I inevitably run into one problem -- lack of oven space.

That turkey can take up a lot of room, and then there are all of the sides. Even with a double oven, it can be challenging to get everything on the table hot at the same time. But with a little help from a skow cooker (or two?), it's much more manageable, and it's amazing all of the delicious dishes you can make in there. Here are five of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes to make in the Crock-Pot.

What slow cooker recipes would you add to this list?

Image via CarbonNYC/Flickr