Eating local seasonal produce as much as possible (I do live in New York, not California) has always been one of my “things”. When Ulysses brought home a bag of pears from the store the other day, I cringed. When he asks me to buy asparagus in August, I do the same and try to explain to him neither of those things will have been grown anywhere remotely close to our zip code. While I’ve begged for years to get our own garden started, outside of a few tomato plants and potted herbs, it hasn’t happened. So, while I’d love to take on the task of growing my own produce as much as possible, I’m very much reliant on buying at this point in time.

As a Silk ambassador for the year, I’ve been asked to share an inspirational project from start to finish with you guys. After joining a CSA a couple of summers ago, I knew that wasn’t something I wanted to do again (the logistics of pickup were less than convenient and the price tag seemed hefty for what we got) but the desire to eat as close to home as possible for the months where that’s feasible (spring, summer & fall) was no less strong. I decided my inspirational project would be just that; an eight month journey through farmers markets and local seasonal produce, some recipes and some informational posts that will hopefully inspire you to do the same in your area.

There’s nothing more disgusting than biting into a mealy stone fruit flown in from somewhere below the equator when it was hard as a rock or a tasteless tomato in March so here’s to 8 months of deliciously ripe, perfectly picked seasonal and local produce, the best of the best and refusing to buy into the mass marketed lack luster stuff lining our grocery store shelves.

I walked into the farm stand store where I did the CSA out of a few years ago last week and I was honestly surprised at what was in there for it being May…not much. The weather had been in the mid 80s for a week or two at that point and I guess I just thought that would mean the place would be filled with spring greens and such. There was a lot of wintered squash, onions and potatoes but not much that screamed spring at all. Except these pea shoots.

My love affair with pea shoots has been documented in this Thai pea soup and what wasn’t mentioned was how many trips I make to Trader Joe’s 40 minutes away just to buy them sometimes. So to find them 10 minutes from my house in a bag about 4 times bigger than the plastic container at Trader Joe’s was like hitting the jackpot.

I knew I wanted to highlight the entire pea in this recipe and not just the pea shoot. It’s a wonderful spring vegetable that gets overlooked when everyone is going gaga over asparagus and artichokes but it happens to be my favorite. If you think putting peas in your dessert is weird, I’ll give you that, but just wait until you taste this filling. It’s light, creamy and bursting with lemony sweet pea flavor. Layered between paleo crepes and topped with the gorgeous green pea shoots, it’s worth every minute of prep time and makes for a stunning centerpiece at any springtime celebration.

This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.