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As Spring approaches and Summer not far behind, my thoughts go to entertaining and celebrating the flavors of the season.

I’m thinking Mai Tais and Margaritas, grilled vegetables and garden fresh herbs.

This veggie burrito and cilantro and lime rice make for great al fresco dinning and go perfectly well with summer cocktails!

I love my grill and I love cooking and eating outside.

Being a vegetarian doesn’t have to mean that you don’t get play with fire anymore!

I throw everything on the grill and embrace the smokey flavors of the season on all my favorite veggie dishes.

Keeping black beans and rice, ready to go in the fridge, makes Summer dinning and entertaining easy.

Just add your main dish and and you have a gourmet meal in no time.

Ingredients

1 cup long-grain white rice
Coarse salt
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove

Cook rice and set aside.

Combine cilantro, crushed garlic, lime juice, salt and olive oil them mix into the cooked rice.

Ingredients

Whole wheat wrap
1-2 carrots
1 white onion
1 yellow squash
1 zucchini
1/2 green pepper
2-3 cloves garlic
1 Tbspn olive oil
1/4 cup manchego cheese
sweet chipotle barbeque sauce

Chop and saute ingredients in olive oil.

Add cheese and fill, generously, half of the wrap.

Fold and brush with olive oil and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

This can also be done on the stove top in a frying pan, I’ve even tried it on the grill.

Top with sweet chipotle BBQ sauce and serve with cilantro rice and black beans.

Bongos Cuban cafe was a nice suprise in Disney World’s Downtown Disney Park.

Rice Pudding and Vanilla Pudding were fresh that day and fantastic!

Grilled onions are a favorite Cuban side dish and I am addicted to these in the summer. I make them on the grill; wrapped in foil.

Black beans and rice with sweet plantaines are a Cuban staple and the dish at Bongos is very good.

Tomatoes with Cilantro pesto is light and delicious

Mashed potatoes stuffed with ground meat is not my thing but was well received by my dining companions.

But the best part of all is the fried green plantaine. Served with a garlic, vinegar sauce which was amazing; simple but full of flavor.