Peas were one of the first foods I made for our daughter, and it was the first food she refused. She just wouldn’t have any of the beautiful, bright green puree. I added a pinch of some finely shaved Parmesan to the warm peas and all of a sudden, she couldn’t get enough of them.

When she was a little older, we took video of her trying so very, very hard to pinch a single pea between two fingers to pick it up. When she finally got it, she dropped it with her hand only halfway between her highchair tray and mouth (that’s where the camera gets shaky and I cringe a little when I hear myself laugh on video).

We started peas from seed (er, peas) in mid-February. Three months later, the Texas heat has finally taken its toll and declared pea season most definitely over. The seed packet read, “prolific.” That was an understatement. Once the first pods were ripe, I removed handful after handful (after handful!) of sweet pea pods every couple of mornings.

We blanched peas and dumped them by the handful onto her highchair tray at lunchtime. Far more coordinated now, she quickly picked up pea by pea, one at a time, and popped them into her mouth. And because toddlers shouldn’t get to have all the fun, we tossed them with chicken, lemon, and couscous for a perfectly light spring dinner.

We sauteed them with a little bacon and topped them with Parmesan for a Foodie Groom-approved side. I made mom’s pea salad, a Sunday dinner (that means “lunch”) staple growing up. There is nothing like fresh peas!

A little bittersweet, I pulled up the pea plants this morning and replaced them with pinto beans, her favorite non-green food. After planting the pinto beans, I quickly realized why those were the seed of choice in elementary school science experiements – they germinate in under 48 hours. In 4 days, we had 6-inch tall plants.