Fire Up the Grill: Join Me for a Spring BBQ

Spring is a season of renewal, longer days, and warmer weather—a perfect time to embrace fresh beginnings. There’s no better way to welcome the season than by hosting your first BBQ of the year and enjoying the outdoors with friends and family. I’m a sucker for a good BBQ, and when spring hits, I start planning.

Menu Plan: (Scroll down for recipes)

• Garlic Lemon Salmon
• Herby Rice
• BBQ-Roasted Asparagus
• Mint Mojito Mocktail

Decor

• Lemon Olive Candle: This candle brings a nice citrusy scent to your kitchen. Never underestimate the ambience that a good smelly candle can provide. It adds a nice glow and scent to the kitchen, even though you’ll be cooking outside
• Lemon Hand Soap: My favorite kitchen hand soap is always lemon scented. It’s not overpowering and most people enjoy the scent of citrus
• Lemon Welcome Mat: This is a mat that I bought for a spring refresh on my porch.
• Citrus Paper Plates: These citrus inspired paper plates would be a cute addition to your BBQ

Refresh Your Patio

• If you didn’t clean out your flower pots in the fall, you can do that now. I would only focus on the flower pots on your deck or patio though.

I like to leave my actual garden beds alone until the weather is consistently above 50F. This is to give the beneficial pollinators a place to be protected from late frosts.

In April you can start planting a few cold hardy flowers into your pots however. I live in Utah which has like 5 different planting zones! Salt Lake City is 7-8 planting zone.

Flowers like tulips are coming up and blooming. A lot of the flowers that bloom here in April are bulbs. Tulips, daffodils, and crocus are fall planted bulbs though. I planted a few of my patio pots with tulip bulbs. They should start to come up and bloom during this time.

If you didn’t plant bulbs last fall, don’t worry. Places like Home Depot, Lowes, and even Walmart or Costco, start selling pots pre-planted with spring bulbs.

Another good cold hardy flower is the adorable pansy. Pansies come in a large variety of colors and are my go to early spring flower. Pansies can get snowed on and still live on. They embody the hope of spring, for me. Persevering despite the cold snaps.

Millcreek Gardens is my favorite local nursery. They have some great resources on their site, for spring planting in Utah. Check them out here.

• Bring out your patio chair cushions, or uncover them. If the cushion covers are removable, I will take them off and wash them first. Then I like to take a fabric protective spray like Scotchgard and spray down my cushions. This helps make them easier to clean throughout the warmer months. Just make sure to let them fully air dry before sitting on them.

• Sweep off your patio or deck. I don’t know about you but my deck seems to get pretty dirty during the winter season.
• I also like to clean my dog door with windex, I don’t know how he does it but Ernie gets his dog door so grimy, so quick. Even with the much dreaded baths he gets from me.

• If you are planning your BBQ for dinner time, you could string up lights around your patio. There are tons of versions of twinkle lights you can find online. There are solar powered twinkle lights, if you don’t have an electrical outlet near. I have bought solar powered lanterns and placed them in my flower pots for extra evening ambience

Consider Music

• My husband has wired up some outdoor speakers for our back deck. Which we love to play music from during the warmer months. (Although we have been known to sit outside and listen to music when it’s snowing too)

If you don’t have speakers wired up outside, don’t worry. There are a ton of outdoor, portable speakers on the market. These connect easily by bluetooth to your favorite playlists.

I like to make music playlists on Spotify for different occasions. I think I must be getting older because I like to play oldies (for us millenials this is 70’s, 80’s and 90’s) I can’t even start….. how are 90’s the oldies already? It feels like just yesterday!

I find that playing music in the background, at a low enough volume that people can easily talk. Helps to create an inviting atmosphere for your guests.

Invites

• For something special consider sending out an invite. I like free websites like evite. They have a decent variety of free invitation options.
• Invites to me, make the occasion seem more celebratory. That is what I’m going for: Because I’m ALWAYS excited for spring, and BBQ weather

The Food

Now on to the food. I have created a menu below with produce that is available during spring time. I’m a big fan of buying produce IN-SEASON.

1. In-Season produce tends to taste better, because it is picked at peak ripeness.
2. Buying in season can help support local growers/farmers
3. In-Season produce is more environmentally friendly. Because they don’t need artificial growing methods to be produced.

I love to visit Farmer’s Markets when they open for the year. It always gives me the FEEL GOODS to buy directly from the farmer. So hit up a spring Farmer’s Market if you have one in your area.

Lemon Garlic Salmon

• Salmon filets (skin on one side)
• Garlic Cloves, minced
• Zest of 2 lemons
• Fresh Rosemary, chopped
• Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Mix minced garlic with lemon zest, rosemary, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
2. Sprinkle seasoning mix onto the top of salmon filets
3. Pre-heat grill to 400 F or Medium/High
4. Rub the grates of your grill with a papertowel doused with vegetable or avocado oil. This helps keep the salmon from sticking to the grill.
5. When grill is heated, lay the salmon, skin side down onto the grill. Cook for 4 minutes. Flip the salmon, carefully with a large spatula or a special fish filet spatula. And cook for an additional 4-6 minutes. Or until the temperature is between 125-140F.
6. Let salmon rest for 5-10 minutes before serving

Roasted Asparagus

• Asparagus bunch, trim the woody ends off.
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Place asparagus on top of a sheet of tin foil.
2. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper
3. Fold edges of foil up around the veg and seal down. This creates a pouch for the asparagus to steam in.
4. Cook on grill for 10 minutes, or until tender crisp

Herby Rice

• Basmati or Jasmine Rice, cooked
• Favorite herbs (mint, rosemary, dill, parsley, and cilantro are all tasty options. Pick one or use a couple together.)
• Olive oil

1. Cook the rice according to the package instructions for the serving size you want. Set aside
2. Chop the herbs of your choice, toss into the rice and stir to combine.
3. Drizzle rice with a nice tasting extra virgin olive oil.
4. Sprinkle with a flaky sea salt if you desire (optional)

Minty Mojito Mocktail

Makes 2 tall glasses.

• 1TBSP sugar
• 3 limes juiced
• Small bunch of mint
• Soda Water

1. In 2 tall glasses divide out sugar. Add several mint leaves to each glass and muddle. You can use a mortar and pestle for this, or you can muddle in a bowl with a wooden spoon.
2. To each glass add in half the lime juice
3. Fill each glass with crushed ice and top with soda water
4. Enjoy!

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