Spring is the season of celebrating. Throw your very own spring fling to start the season off right.

Now that it’s staying light later, the temperatures have warmed up, and the flowers, birds and bees are all at hard at work again, it’s time to take advantage of the best loveliness Mother Nature has to offer. That means we are all ready for outdoor entertaining again!

Whether you decide to do a casual outdoor barbecue or more of an outdoor dinner party, throw a spring fling and celebrate the season. Here are some easy DIY ideas to make your spring fling a perfectly spectacular success.

7 Easy DIY Ideas for a Spring Fling

1. Fire it Up – Whether you choose a backyard chiminea or decide to build a firepit, adding fire to any outdoor party is the way to go. The light, the warmth, and the communal atmosphere of a fire can make any party a success. Add marshmallows to make it even better.
2. Drink Station/Bar – It’s always nice to have a drink station outside, so you add your guests don’t have to keep running inside for a cold one. You could always have a tub of cold beer and bottled sodas or create a DIY outdoor bar from which to serve your signature cocktail and mocktails.
3. Flowers – A spring fling calls for amazing flower centerpieces. Turn the flowers, buds, twigs and more of the season into beautiful decorations with these easy flower arranging tips.
4. Tire Swing – If you have a large enough tree in your yard, consider adding a tire swing. Children and grown-up children both love a good old-fashioned tire swing. Learn how to DIY one here.
5. Cocktail/Mocktails – A great spring fling requires a special drink. Whether you decide to go with booze or go the booze-free route, make a decadent drink for guests to make the day more special. Anything with berries is spring appropriate!
6. Food – Peas are the perfect vegetable for spring parties. They are one of the earliest veggies to pop up each spring. Serve snap peas with hummus and other dips and make pea pesto to serve toasted baguette slices.
7. Decor – Don’t be afraid to be colorful and DIY up some fun spring fling decorations like a fabulous fabric bunting, bird silhouette place cards, or turn colorful bandanas into reusable napkins. Let your spring creativity run wild!

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Image: Empty Wooden Table with Party in Background via Shutterstock

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These 9 spring recipes will inspire an obsession with seasonal fruits and vegetables!

After a long winter, it’s hard to believe warmer days are upon us. Do you know what you’re cooking? Eating according to seasonal availability is a great way to pay homage to mother nature, respect the environment, and boost the nutritional benefits you get from your fruits and vegetables. The following 9 spring recipes are infused with fruits and vegetables that will make you fall in love with the season all over again. Enjoy!

The following 9 spring recipes are infused with fruits and vegetables that will make you fall in love with the season all over again. Enjoy!

9 Spring Recipes

1. Vegan Spring Rolls

Spring rolls are by nature very light, fragrant, and fresh– the perfect springtime sentiment. This recipe wraps rice paper around lettuce, cilantro, carrots, cucumber, and avocado and then dips the result into a deliciously zesty ginger almond sauce.

2. Asparagus & Leek Soup

Light, creamy, and dense with flavor, this soup incorporates iconic spring ingredients, including leeks, onions, and asparagus. The result is a figure-friendly dish that lets its vegetables shine.

3. Spring Pea Salad Recipe with Feta and Pistachios

Peas, parsley, feta, pistachios, and a zesty vinaigrette make for a great salad that you can enjoy as a meal or as a snack. The sweetness of the peas is accented by the honey in the vinaigrette while the feta cheese, parsley, and mustard offer an earthy overtone.

4. Vegan Gluten-Free Pasta Recipe with Kalamata Olive and Sun-dried Tomatoes

With Spring’s arrival come healthier meals, featuring homemade favorites, only with a twist. This pasta recipe nixes the regular pasta, cream-based sauce, and cheese, and it opts for brown rice linguini, a load of vegetables, and cheesy nutritional yeast.

5. DIY Cucumber Face Mist

Treat your palate – your facial one, that is – with spring flavors! This refreshing and cooling mist combines cucumber with aloe vera and witch hazel to make for a soothing, acne-busting concoction that keeps your skin clear and young all season long.

6. Vegetable Frittata Recipe with Red Onion and Radish

Wake up to a unique frittata, which features a springtime favorite: radish. The flavors balance one another surprisingly well, and like any frittata dish, you leave the table satisfied and full of protein to carry you throughout the morning.

7. Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

Who knew you don’t need cream to achieve a creamy texture or butter to achieve a buttery taste?! This soup highlights the magnificence of broccoli and its versatility as it transforms from large, hard, and bulky to smooth, soft, and sensuous. Enjoy!

8. Spicy Mango Citrus Ceviche

Nothing screams warm weather quite like mango does and spring is the perfect time to introduce some well-deserved tropical sensations into your diet. This mango ceviche is sweet, spicy, and herbal all at once.

9. Pan-Grilled Asparagus and Endive with Fava Beans, Orange and Basil

Just about all of spring’s delicacies are jam-packed into this dish, and I’m definitely not complaining. Asparagus and fava beans add the bulk while slightly bitter endive leaves, sweet oranges, and aromatic basil pique the dish’s flavors. A backdrop of a smoky, grilled essence adds even more spring vibes.

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Colorful Root Vegetables Image from Shutterstock

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I’ve been eating eggs on almost everything and anything lately. I’ll cook up a pot of beans just to have around and find myself heating them up and eating them with a fried egg on top and whatever leftover greens I have for a quick, filling meal. Brown rice and lentils also make a nice bed for a yolky, delicious egg. When you break the egg it coats everything in its own rich sauce, which tastes especially good if you use pastured eggs. I get my pastured eggs from my chicken and egg CSA at Soul Food Farm. Though my eggs and (insert a variety of items here) dishes tend to be impromptu, you could certainly plan yours out.

This Warm Fava Bean and Chanterelle Salad with Poached Eggs from Chow.com is a wonderful start. Bonus points if you foraged the chanterelles yourself.

The French certainly know what they are doing when they use duck fat to fry potatoes. It lends the richest, most addictive flavor and uses something that might otherwise go to waste. The Massa Organics duck I have in my freezer needs to be cooked this weekend. I’m going to save the fat and make these Crispy Potatoes with Paprika from Culinate.

I can’t resist posting another asparagus recipe before spring gives way to summer. This recipe For Roasted Radish and Asparagus Salad from The Kitchn is interesting because when you cook radishes, you get an entirely different flavor than you do when you eat them raw. It’s like buying two vegetables in one.

And this one isn’t a recipe but rather an inspiring post by Amy Sherman at Cooking with Amy that puts to rest the top 20 myths about cooking. Read it and you’ll find there are no more excuses for not cooking for yourself. Lots of links here to help you get started.

Image: Muffit

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Recently when I was in Portland for the IACP conference, every menu seemed to have rhubarb on it. I ordered rhubarb crisp, rhubarb compote, rhubarb this and rhubarb that. Rhubarb is one of the shortest season produce items I know, which makes it all the more special. I’ve been hankering to make something with it myself and Mother’s Day weekend seems like the perfect time. I’m going to pick up some rhubarb at the farmers market this weekend and make this Spring Rhubarb Crisp, from fellow Oaklander, Romney Steele, out of her wonderful book My Nepenthe.

And while we’re on the subject of Mother’s Day, if your mom is a pancake fan, check out these genuine buttermilk pancakes from Culinate. You can mix the dry ingredients up the night before to save time. Why not make rhubarb compote to go with?

If your Mother’s Day brunch plans are savory, as are mine, this springy golden beet salad from The Kitchn is healthy, easy and super green. No waste here since you mix the beet tops in with the roasted beets and serve them all together. I’m serving this with my leek tart.

Image: garyknight

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This past Sunday, I hosted a brunch for a group of friends. I was cruising around the internet looking for inspiration for a savory bread pudding type dish that could be assembled the night before and then leisurely baked in the morning. I found this wonderful sounding Mexican Bread Pudding on the Homesick Texan blog. I ended up creating my own savory pudding with artichokes, leeks, fontina, and feta all layered between thin slices of fluffy, eggy challah bread. It was fabulous, but this sweet pudding will haunt me until I try it. And I definitely think you should!

I couldn’t resist posting another asparagus recipe this week, as those delightful green shoots are still plentiful in the market. This Thai Inspired Asparagus Salad with Meyer Lemon is one of two finalists for Your Best Asparagus Recipe contest on the fabulous Food 52. Give it a whirl.

Finally, for a healthy, euro-style veg-centric hors d’ oeuvres, check out this recipe for Spring Greens Marmalade created by Paula Wolfert and posted on Culinate. I can’t think of a better way to use the tender spring greens abundant in the market right now.

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