While we were in California on our book tour, Alex and I took a few vacation days between our stops in San Francisco and LA to do something very important: drink wine in Sonoma wine country. Our friends from Indianapolis flew in to join us on this very important quest. And it wasn’t just four adults: we had baby Larson in tow! At the time Larson was 14 months old, so we weren’t sure how visiting Sonoma wine country with a baby would go. However, we were pleasantly surprised that wine country is baby friendly. And really, Sonoma is everyone friendly–so if you’re not a parent of a baby or toddler, keep reading too! (We also went to Big Sur, which was incredibly worth a stop.)
Why Sonoma and not Napa?Sonoma vs. Napa: which to pick? Eleven years ago, Alex and I visited Napa Valley. We knew nothing about wine, we just knew that Napa meant “fancy wine country.” So we went to Napa: and loved it. This time around, we decided to stay in Sonoma since we heard that Sonoma wine country is less commercial and touristy than Napa has become. If we had more than 2 days, we would have also driven to some Napa wineries. However, we had more than enough things to do in Sonoma to keep us busy for weeks! We loved our stay and would heartily recommend Sonoma wine country.
Our Airbnb could win the ‘Cutest Airbnb on the Pacific Coast’ award. It’s called the Zen House and on some tree-lined land outside of the main strip in Sonoma. The entire aesthetic of the property was incredibly Zen: the architecture and design reminded me of when I was in Japan. Check out this living room! We saw both wild turkeys and deer outside the window on various occasions; it felt very peaceful and serene. (This specific Airbnb was not baby or toddler optimized, so we watched Larson constantly when he was awake. We’d recommend it for adult parties in a heartbeat, or people with very good toddlers.)
By a mile, Scribe Winery was the favorite of any wineries we visited in Sonoma. (Unfortunately Alex and Larson missed this one since Larson was napping!) We did the culinary tasting with the wines, so instead of the tasting room our tasting was at the hacienda, a beautiful old home with an expansive patio area. It was light food not intended to be a meal, but it was incredible: olives, a crisp salad with blue cheese dressing and dill, a whipped feta crostini with brocolli. It was the first winery we visited, so going from a car trip to a sunny patio overlooking a vineyard was pretty ideal. The hacienda was just lovely and we had a view right into the beautiful kitchen. The culinary tasting is a little pricey, but absolutely worth it! Nab a reservation before you go. Though Larson didn’t attend this one, there was a toddler on the patio that was around Larson’s age, so kiddos are allowed. Here are a few shots from Scribe Winery, in our opinion the best winery in Sonoma.
Of the wineries we visited outside of Scribe (so good, so good!), our favorite other wineries in Sonoma were:
Benziger Family Winery: It’s a biodynamic winery, which is a hyper sustainable way of farming (like organic, but more rigorous). It has beautiful grounds. We did a tasting, and then grabbed a lovely crisp white and munched on some cheese and crackers that we brought. Imagery Winery: This one is a sister winery to Benziger, so it was also biodynamic. We had a tasting here and enjoyed a port & chocolate tasting too. Gundlach Bundschu: Referred to by the locals as GunBun, it has lovely grounds and great wine. Here we nabbed a bottle and sat by the lake, eating wine and cheese. Gloria Ferrer: This place we came especially for the champagne tasting. It was pretty good, but the views were even better.
Toting around a 14 month old isn’t necessarily the ideal way to hit up wine country. However, yes: wine country with a baby works! And we had a fantastic time with Larson in tow. We carried him in our LILLEBaby carrier, which is very comfortable to wear (and he loves being in it). With the carrier, he was free to nap when he was tired–which at this age he refuses to do in his stroller. It was also easier than a stroller since it’s not as bulky.
Are babies allowed in Sonoma wineries? Yes. Are babies allowed in Sonoma stand-alone tasting rooms? No. We tried taking Larson to a tasting room in the Sonoma city area and got shut down. So, wineries: yes, tasting rooms: no. Having a toddler around did make things a little more complicated due to nap times. Larson had one 2 to 3 hour nap during the day, so we had him go to the Airbnb with one of us. Since we were travelling with another couple, Alex and me would trade off on being at the Airbnb during nap time and the other person would go out with our friends.
So would we recommend visiting Sonoma wine country with a baby? In our experience, it worked great–though we have a pretty well-behaved baby (or really, toddler). If you have kids that are a bit older, it might be hard to occupy them in wine country. However, we’d love to hear from any of you who have experience visiting wine country with a baby or older children! Let us know inf the comments below.
Honestly, it was hard to find good restaurants in Sonoma! We had a friend who knew the area help us with recs, and we found less than we expected to write home about. Our favorite turned out being a traditional Mexican restaurant called El Molino Central. We got takeout and ate it on our Airbnb patio and it totally hit the spot.
Another thing we loved was getting picnic ingredients and eating at the wineries! Most of the wineries had outdoor areas where you could eat your own food, accompanied by some of their wine. A few times we brought along a bunch of cheeses, crackers, bread, olives, chocolate, and a few premade salads: which really, is the best meal around!
What about you: do you have any Sonoma restaurant recommendations?
A Couple Cooks - Recipes for Healthy & Whole Living
Come check out our latest partnership with Able Apparel, where we’ve designed two cute summer inspired hats. 50% of the proceeds will go towards New Mom’s Chicago, a nonprofit that helps end the poverty cycle for new moms in the city of Chicago. Happy weekend, AK Fam! Tony and I just got to East Coast [...]
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This delicious and healthy baked chicken parmesan meal will please the whole family and totally satisfy your chicken parmesan cravings!
Alright. So chicken parmesan is incredible, right?
Tender chicken, vibrant tomato sauce, luscious breading. All slathered with a giant slice of mozzarella and some parmesan cheese. Ooh, baby…maybe even deep fried!
The Lacey who used to eat anything LOVED chicken parmesan. Serious.
Add some delicious low fiber and high carb noodles and I was there. Like for days.
But, then, I realized I needed to eat healthier. And cleaner.
I realized just how much junk I was putting into my body. All the extra weight I was gaining. All the fatigue I felt. All the self-doubt.
But chicken parmesan…
Okay, so how do we fix this? How do we eat healthy, maintain a clean lifestyle, AND still enjoy the foods we love…like chicken parmesan?
Is it EVEN possible??
Yes, my friends, it so is possible. And, believe it or not…it’s actually pretty darn easy to eat healthy and still enjoy your food.
And, when I say food, I totes mean chicken parmesan.
So, how do we do this? How do we make a healthy chicken parmesan recipe?
Well, first, you start with the breading. Regular chicken parmesan uses breading that uses refined all-purpose flour and white breadcrumbs.
Now, if the clean eating angel on your shoulder just whispered in your ear that those foods aren’t close to clean, give yourself a pat on the back. You rock.
Yep, THOSE foods are not clean, are not unrefined, and – thus – really don’t do much in the way of providing your body with the nutrition it needs to thrive.
So: replace it.
Super easy, right? Replace the all-purpose flour with chickpea flour – which will give you high fiber, high protein, and unrefined goodness. And replace the breadcrumbs with almond meal – which will give you even more fiber, more protein, and other essential nutrition.
See? Cooking a healthy chicken parmesan dish is so dang easy.
Next, we can’t deep fry this chicken or add a ton of cheese. It’s okay..take a deep breath – you’re gonna be okay.
Instead, we’re gonna bake the chicken and add a touch of parmesan for flavor. Baking the chicken means less hassle, less oil, less saturated fats, and a healthier dish overall.
How Long Do You Cook Chicken Parmesan?Think making chicken parmesan is hard? Think again – it’s so easy! All you need to do is:
Coat chicken with seasonings and healthy flours Cook the chicken on both sides until browned Pour over the tomato sauce and sprinkle some parmesan cheese over Cover the pan in foil Bake in a preheated oven at 500 degrees F for just 10 minutes Remove the foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes until the cheese has melted through. DEVOUR!Trust me – you wont even know it’s actually good for you and you can continue living your awesome clean lifestyle AND still enjoy your healthy chicken parmesan.
If you’d like to add noodles for old time’s sake and, well because: NOODLES, try making your own zucchini noodles with a Spiralizer, too. You can go here to see how to make zucchini noodles if you’d like (spoiler: it’s super easy).
Here are some great healthy options for what to serve with your healthy baked chicken parmesan:
spiralized veggies sautéed broccoli roasted green beans cauliflower mashed potatoes roasted broccoli a nice crisp salad roasted spaghetti squash noodlesWinner winner…healthy baked chicken parmesan dinner 😉
This delicious and healthy baked chicken parmesan meal will please the whole family and totally satisfy your chicken parmesan cravings!
Instead of the usual high carb, low fiber pasta, try serving this parmesan with steamed zucchini noodles, too! It’s a great combo.
This post contains affiliate links for products I use frequently and highly recommend.
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Considering how much we love enchiladas, it’s insane that we didn’t have a go-to enchilada sauce recipe on the blog. Obviously, that had to change.
Meet your new best friend: saucy, spicy, red enchilada sauce ready in 30 minutes. Swoon! It’s so easy. Let us show you how.
The base for this hearty sauce is sautéed onion and garlic and a mixture dried chilies.
Easy Red Enchilada Sauce from Minimalist Baker →
