BBQ - healthy or not?
 

Aside from bbqing skewers of veggies how do you all think BBQ rates as a healthy form of eating? And what types of things do you cook on the barbie? We are very unoriginal right now - frozen burgers are about the only things we haven't ruined!
Thanks,
Dagmar :cool:

I think BBQing is awesome if you cook up healthy stuff - chicken, lean steaks, lean cuts of pork - and use dry rubs rather than calorie-laden sauces. We BBQ all summer long.

As for WHAT we BBQ, I'm pretty unoriginal too. Different types of meat, & the veggie skewers you mentioned, are about it. I got DH a BBQ cookbook as a gift (he just LOVES cooking outside - which is good 'cause he won't do it inside AT ALL), so we'll see what he comes up with this summer!

We do plain things too. I like it for two reasons ... it's easy and DH and the boys actually do it. I just have to do some salad and buns or something like that.

BBQ boneless chicken breasts are great!!! Quick and easy and TASTY. I marinate them in a zip loc bag with lots of fresh garlic and herbs.

I also grill veggies like you menitoned, but not a skewer. I grill portabello mushroom, zucchini, peppers and onions.

I like keeping heat out of the kitchen in the summer.

If it is a meat, i grill it.
If it is a veggie, i grill it.
And lets not forget fruits for dessert. I grill peach halves and pineapple. Thoes are great with just a sprinkle of brown sugar and then a add some ff whip topping. YUM.

If you are cooking over charcoal, you are also increasing your risk of cancer, but I love our gas grill.

According to the the National Cancer Institute Fact Sheet titled "Heterocyclic Amines in Cooked Meats, " there is not a difference in cancer risk between gas & charcoal grills - HCAs are created not by the charcoal, but by the exposure of the meat to high heat. Using an oven or frying pan can also produce this effect if the heat is high enough. Additionally, the risk is higher for well-done meat than if you cook to rare or medium.

Ooooh - we BBQ EVERYTHING!

Lunches are regularly lean chicken burgers, dinner can be anything from eggplant to peppers, chicken breasts (we use dry rub now too - I have a FANTASTIC Lemon Pepper no-cal sprinkle!), pork tenderloin, shrimp skewers - you name it, we BBQ it!

Our neighbours in the UK used to refer to us as 'The Ones Who BBQ' - :lol:

Heather :D

Last night we had boneless chicken prepared on the grill. Tonight it will be a marinated flank steak (one of DS's favorites). I grill year around. We all love it! I always try for lean cuts of meat (I rarely buy anything but lean) and fish. I have a huge hunk of halibut to grill, but decided to freeze it because the kids don't appreciate fish and I'm not going waste it on them anyway. I triple wrapped it and put it in a freezer bag and will save it until the in laws return.

we grill lots of lean chicken breasts, and flank steaks with garlic and rubs! we also grill salmon, and add some lemon to it. so good!

Me too :D ...I use our BBQ year round... We grill everything we can think of... We love beer can chicken, salmon, beef, port, ribs, eggplant, portobello mushrooms, asparagus, peppers...

Marinades also reduce HCAs. One of my favorite marinades is low fat or fat free italian dressing.

I love BBQ chicken! I also love to BBQ pork lion and boneless pork ribs. I love bbq sauce though. I don't think it is too bad calorie wise only 60 cals per 2 tablespoons for the KC Masterpiece Honey BBQ. I do a potato foil packet, I add the red potatos, olive oil, garlic and some salt and pepper. I just love it!!! Some grilled zuchinni and maybe some corn, yummy!!! This thread makes me want to fire up my grill, I need some propane though:(!