Easy Healthy Meal On The Grill

Today we are cooking an easy healthy meal all done on the grill. On the menu is Italian marinated chicken, pasta, bell peppers (green, yellow, red, orange), mushrooms & corn on the cob.

Day Before Cooking

First you will want to take your chicken breasts and put them in a Ziploc bag and cover them with Italian dressing. If you can do this 24 hours before cooking them on the grill. If you do you will get some great tasting and very tender chicken breasts.

Day Of Cooking

Before you start cooking everything on the grill you will need to do some prep.

Bell Peppers, Mushrooms & Corn
Cut the peppers in half and remove the core and seeds from inside each of the halves. You will want to shuck the corn and the mushrooms will not need any cutting.

Once all the veggies are cut you will want to brush them with some oil and then flavor them with salt and pepper. Once this is done you can set them off to the side.

Cooking

  1. Start preheating the grill and put water into a pot and start heating it up on your side burner (if you don’t have one then you can cook it like normal inside on the stove).
  2. Once the grill is preheated put the chicken on.
  3. When the chicken is roughly 10 minutes close to being done put your pasta in the water (should be boiling by now) and put the veggies on the grill.
  4. Depending on your grill temperature the veggies will only take 5-10 minutes. Watch them and take them off if they finish before the pasta and chicken is done.
  5. Once everything is done take it all off the grill.
  6. Slice the bell peppers into smaller strips.
  7. Slice the chicken into smaller strips.
  8. Slice the Mushrooms into smaller strips.
  9. Place the bell peppers, mushrooms and chicken over your pasta and your corn to the side.
  10. Enjoy

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Prime Rib, Bacon Wrapped Asparagus & Grilled Pineapple

Today we will be cooking up some prime rib, bacon wrapped asparagus and grilled pineapple. This is the first food that we have cooked that has used a rotisserie. The prime rib cooks up great on a rotisserie. You don’t have to use a rotisserie and if you don’t you will need to manually flip it and cook it at a lower temperature since it will be on one side a lot longer.

Prime Rib

Prime Rib is actually a pretty simple piece of meat to cook. It does not need a marinade or any complicated spices to bring out flavor. When looking for a prime rib to cook make sure it still has the bones attached. This will give the meat a lot more flavor if the bones are not attached when cooking. Before putting the prime rib on the grill add some salt and pepper as seasoning. This is all you need.

Cooking time will depend on how big of a piece of meat you got and how “done” you want your meat. Cooking time is roughly 20 minutes per pound at 350 degrees. You will want to check the internal temperature as it gets close to being done. You want to shoot for about a 140 degree internal temperature. This will give you a medium-rare/medium piece of meat. You don’t want it to be brown inside you want that nice pink middle.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus has great flavor and a great way to get people to try asparagus if they have never tried it before and it is easy to cook. This is what got me to realize I actually like asparagus. Who knew?

Take your asparagus spear and season if you would like with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Wrap the asparagus in a piece of bacon. Do this for as many as you want to cook. Once done place them on the grill and let cook for roughly 10-12 minutes on medium low heat or until the bacon has reached your desired “doneness”.

Grilled Pineapple

Grilled Pineapple is another simple thing to cook on the grill that comes out looking good and tastes even better. For this you will want a fresh pineapple. Cut the outside off, core it and cut it into roughly 1 inch rings. Place these on a medium-high heat grill. Cook them on each side for 3-5 minutes or until heated through and grill marks appear. As we cooked ours we added honey on some and teriyaki sauce on others as they were cooking. You can experiment with many different flavors here.

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Easy Stuffed Burgers with “Steak” Fries

Today we will be showing you an easy way to spice up your burgers and customize them to anyone’s taste! Burgers are always a staple for everyone every grilling season. Sometimes they can get old if you just eat the same boring hamburger patty every meal. This simple recipe will give you options all grilling season long and who knows you might not repeat the same burger again!

Directions

  1. For each hamburger you will want two patties. So if you are feeding 4 you will want 8 patties. These can be as thick or as thin as you want.
  2. Take whatever you want inside the burger and place it on top of 1 of the patties.
  3. Take the other half of the hamburger patty and place it on top.
  4. Squish the sides together to seal everything inside.
  5. Place on preheated grill and cook!

These burgers turn out great and the possibilities are endless on what to put inside and tastes. This has definitely become on of my favorites now. Super easy to do and great taste.

Bonus Side: Steak Fries

A great side for this is grilled steak fries. This is also an easy recipe to do. These are a lot healthier than the alternative deep fried fry, but still taste great.

Directions

  1. Take your potato and slice them lengthwise into thin ovals.
  2. Place the pieces in a Ziploc bag.
  3. In the Ziploc add some vegetable oil, salt and pepper and shake to coat.
  4. Take them out of the bag and place them on a preheated grill.
  5. Cook them to your desired “doneness”

 

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The Last Steak Marinade You Will Ever Need

For this weeks recipe Friday I will be sharing with you a steak marinade I discovered several years ago. Ever since I tried it I use it on every steak I cook. If you use the salt trick on cheap steak that I posted earlier this week and then marinate them in this marinade overnight you may just never go back to buying an expensive steak again.

 

Ingredients

  • 1/3 C Soy Sauce
  • 1/2 C Olive Oil
  • 1/3 C Lemon Juice
  • 1/4 C Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 1/2 T Garlic Powder
  • 3 T Dried Basil
  • 1 1/2 T Dried Parsley Flakes
  • 1 tsp Pepper
  • 1/4 tsp Hot Sauce
  • 1 tsp minced garlic

Directions

  1. Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl.
  2. Pour the mix over your meat and let sit for desired time.

This is a very simple and quick marinade, but has given me some of the best flavor I have ever had from a steak. I have marinated steaks in these from only an hour up to a full 24 hours. The best flavor always came from letting it sit overnight.

Try this marinade out and let me know what you think in the comments below.

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What is Your Favorite Type of Steak?

A couple days ago I showed you how to take a cheap steak and turn it into a high quality prime steak. Everyone has their opinions on what is their favorite steak or what is the best steak. Today I wan to start a poll to find out what really is the most common “favorite” steak around. Once enough data is gathered I will work on a post for a recipe cooking this steak to perfection.

You can also vote on our Facebook page here and share with your friends.
Vote For Your Favorite Steak on Facebook

What is the best steak?

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Turn a Cheap Steak Into a Prime Steak

It’s Monday again, the weekend is over and it is back to work. Make your Monday better by going out and buying some cheap steaks and turn them into a quality steak for dinner tonight. A good meal always makes a Monday better. If you like steak and eat it a lot this is a great cost saving measure.

Go out and buy your typical grocery store steak. The ones that usually range in price from $4-$7. Nothing from behind the counter, no filet or quality prime meat needed. Also pick up some kosher salt if you don’t already have it at home.

Directions

  1. Take the steaks out of the packaging and place them on a plate.
  2. Coat the steaks with kosher salt. (Just don’t sprinkle some on, coat it.)
  3. Let sit for desired time. (If your steak is an inch thick let sit for an hour, inch in a half let sit for an hour and a half.)
  4. Rinse steak of all the remaining salt and pat dry with paper towels.
  5. Now you can cook it or prep it any other way you would like before grilling it.

What happens is the salt breaks down the protein cells in the meat. Instead of being very tough and tight they loosen and help the meat hold its flavor better. There is more science behind this, but all you really need to know is that it works and works well.

Try this method this week and let me know what you think in the comments below.

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Grilled Banana Sundae

For recipe Friday we will be going away from the main attraction and focusing on desert. According to the 2011 Weber GrillWatch Survey desert was listed as the most challenging to grill. Cooking a desert on the grill is becoming more popular each year. I found a recipe for grilled bananas and decided to turn that into a sundae. My initial thought that grilling the banana would be easy. It was not too bad, but it was fairly messy to do.

Ingredients

  • 4 Bananas
  • 1 T Lemon Juice
  • 1 C Brown Sugar
  • 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
  • Ice Cream
  • Any toppings you want

Directions

  1. Preheat your grill. Low Heat.
  2. Cut the bananas in half lengthwise then widthwise.
  3. Sprinkle the lemon juice on the banana pieces.
  4. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together.
  5. Roll the banana pieces in the mixture to coat them.
  6. Put the bananas on the grill and cook on each side for 3-5 minutes.
  7. Take them off the grill and make your sundae.

Thoughts/Tips
I did not follow the recipe exactly and I just eyeballed some lemon juice on the bananas. Don’t do that. What happened with mine is I put too much on and it coated well, but quickly melted the mixture into a thick liquid.  If I just used the little lemon juice that was called for this would have cut down on that happening. This also caused a nice little mess on the grill.

Even with this little mess up they turned out very good. Serve them right away so the bananas stay warm. The vanilla ice cream with the warm bananas go perfect together.

Try them out and let me know how they turned out in the comments.

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Summer Beer Spotlight: Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy

Now that spring is in full swing brewers start pushing out their summer beers.  Summer beer is by far my favorite specialty batches of beer because there is nothing better than a specially brewed beer meant for a hot day. They also go perfect with grilling out. As I try new summer brews I will throw up a spotlight on it here.

The summer beer today is Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy. I discovered this beer last year and it quickly became one of my favorite beers. I was like a kid in a candy store a couple weeks ago when I saw the local grocery store setting up a display with it in it.

Leinenkugel’s is based out of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin and is the seventh oldest brewery in the US. Summer Shandy is a their summer seasonal beer and is available on the market from April through August. What makes this a summer beer you ask? Well it is a blend of wheat and pale barley with a splash of lemonade. When you try this for the first time make sure it is a nice sunny 80-90 degree day out. Spend a little time outside then come in and open up the refrigerator and then drink one.  Good stuff.

Have you tried Summer Shandy? Let me know what you think in the comments.

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Grill Tip: Wind & Your Grill

I just experienced this last night when grilling out steaks. It was a windy evening and when I grill steaks I like to have the internal temperature of the grill somewhere around 450-500 degrees. With the wind whipping across my grill I could only get it to roughly 325 degrees and several times the wind blew out the flame completely on my gas grill. This caused all the cooking times to be pushed way back. Nothing more frustrating when planning other dishes and the time gets all thrown all out of sync. It was pretty much impossible to get any nice grill marks on the food as well.

Grill Tip: When grilling take the wind direction into consideration. On a windy day you will want your grill to be blocked from the wind as much as possible. Wind cutting across your grill will cause it to not get as hot as needed. If you have a wide open space and there is no way to position the grill from the wind, consider adding some landscaping that can block the wind from your grilling area.

I already have plans this year to put in a living fence that should block some of the wind on those windy days.

Is your grill protected from the wind when grilling?

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The Grilled Onion Blossom: The Best Onion You Will Ever Have


Grilling out this weekend? Want a simple side that will leave your guests speechless and make you feel like Chef Gordon Ramsey? Yes you say? Read on…

This grilled onion blossom requires practically no work and turns an onion into a side dish and not an afterthought. I love onions with my steak and I am always looking for creative ways to prepare the onion and that is how I stumbled across this recipe. Now lets get to how you actually make this.

Ingredients

  • 1 large sweet onion
  • 1 1/2 T butter
  • garlic salt to taste
  • ground black pepper to taste
  • olive oil

Directions

  • Preheat your grill to high heat
  • Peel the onion and slice it into 6-8 wedges, but leave the base of the onion still intact.
  • Pull apart the wedges slightly
  • Coat the inside of the onion with the butter, garlic salt and pepper
  • Drizzle some olive oil over the onion
  • Wrap the onion with aluminum foil
  • Place on the grill and cook for 30-45 minutes.

That’s it. Very simple. This is a very inexpensive side to have with your meal when grilling out. It is also a great starting point to create your own flavor. Try some cajun seasoning, or real garlic instead of garlic salt, or seasoned salt instead of the garlic salt. There are a lot of possibilities with this. One of my favorite additions is Worcestershire sauce. Try it out, mix it up and let me know in the comments below how it was.

 

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