It is grilling season!

  • The grass is greening up, the hostas are breaking through the damp earth and the birds are waking me up in the morning as they sing their song to the breaking dawn... I love spring

    We grilled for the first time this season the other night. I have been hearing others talk about cooking veggies and sometimes fruit on the grill along with the meat. Has anyone here grilled veggies like zucchini, squash, tomatoes, or even pineapple, etc? The only time I have is when I make a foil pouch and add lots of butter with the veggies.. good but not point healthy.

    At the grocery store the other day, I saw some little acorn squash (about the size of an apple.. I was thinking I could eat the whole thing. Wonder how that would work on the grill?
  • Here are 2 of my favorites for the grill!

    Feta-Stuffed Chicken Burgers
    POINTSŪ value | 5
    Servings | 4

    Ingredients


    1 pound uncooked ground chicken breast
    1 Tbsp fresh oregano
    1/4 tsp garlic powder
    7 Tbsp feta cheese, crumbled
    4 small wheat pita(s)
    4 piece lettuce, romaine
    2/3 cup roasted red peppers, sliced (without oil)
    5 small olive(s), black, sliced (about 4 tsp)


    Instructions


    Preheat grill or broiler.


    Mix chicken, oregano, garlic powder and feta together in a medium-sized bowl; divide mixture into four balls and then press them gently into patties.


    Grill or broil patties until internal temperature of burgers reaches 165°F, about 7 to 8 minutes per side.


    Serve each burger in a pita with a lettuce leaf, 1/4 of peppers and 1 teaspoon of olives.

    **Tweeked: i bought a 2 kilo bag of frozen boneless, skinless chicken breast. thawed them then sliced, diced, and used the smaller container for my blender to "grind" it as much as possible. (( the butcher wouldnt do it for me when i tried to purchase fresh, and they dont sell ground turkey or chicken here in austria. had to get creative ~wink~ ))

    3/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
    1T dried Oregano
    3/4 garilc powder

    mixed everything together in a bowl and made 8 patties.....this doubles the recipe. grilled for 7 minutes on both sides.

    i didnt use the roasted peppers or olives instead i used lettuce, tomato, and red onion. topping the chicken burgers with 2 tsp. honey dijon sauce.

    -----------
    Honey Dijon Sauce - Taste adjustable, this is just the basic recipe.

    3T Dijon mustard
    2T Honey
    1/4 tsp oregano

    combine thoroughly and serve.

    ------------------------------------------------------

    SASSY'S GRILLED SUMMER FRUIT WITH SWEET YOGURT DIP
    Makes 4 servings @ 3 points per serving

    This recipe can also be made indoors using a grill pan. To grill other, smaller types of fruit outside, use wooden skewers that have been soaked in water for an hour.

    Ingredients
    1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
    1 Tbsp water
    1 large banana(s), cut diagonally into 1/2-inch pieces
    2 items plum(s), cut in half and pitted
    1 cup pineapple, about four rings
    2 items apricot(s), cut in half and pitted
    1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
    1 cup Horizon Organic Fat-Free Cherry Yogurt, or cherry-vanilla yogurt (or other brand)

    Directions
    1. Preheat grill. Mix together sugar and water in a small bowl; heat in microwave until sugar dissolves. Brush syrup on fruit.
    2. Place fruit on a clean, medium-hot grill. Grill, basting with syrup occasionally, until slightly soft with markings from the grill, about 3 to 5 minutes. Turn fruit and grill other side until quite soft, about 1 minute more. (Note: Grill time depends on ripeness of fruit. Keep your eye on it and remove each piece as it is done.)
    3. Remove fruit from grill and sprinkle with cinnamon; serve with a small bowl of yogurt for dip.

    Yields 1/4 of fruit and 1/4 cup of yogurt per serving.

    (( Strawberries are great too!! Use your imagination! ))


    ---------------------------------------------------------------

    When I am grilling veggies in foil, I always toss in a couple of ice cubes to keep them from scortching. That worked so well that I now mix fresh with frozen broccolli, or cauliflower, or carrots. Another thing I do is open a package of fajita mix and top my veggies before sealing... Talk about yummy!!
  • wow -- I just fired up the grill the other night, and threw some zukes on there -- just brushed some red wine vinegar, salt and pepper on them, and threw them on (I know nothing about grilling) and they were awesome!! made some chicken and rice, too, but the veggies carried the meal. those recipes above look awesome, though...I gotta try them out!!
    good luck!!

    s
  • Wow... I think I have some new stuff to try!

    I have seen ground turkey, but have never tried it, but have wanted to - I had heard it was terribly dry. I don't like a lot of meat but do like it on the grill. I believe I will try to locate some ground chicken or will use turkey to try that recipe.

    I went to all recipes and searched for grilled veggies and found this

    http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Grilling...es/Detail.aspx

    We have two wild asparagus patches and one that we planted about 7 years ago that produce like mad. I have enough to eat during the season, plus plenty to freeze for the winter months. One of the first things I am going to try is cooking them on the grill when they start.

    I am wondering if, even the veggies I don't care for, will taste better on the grill.... here is to experimenting!
  • I probably like grilled veggies better than any other way of preparing vegetables. Something about it, maybe the smoke lends them an earthy flavor, or maybe it's just because everything tastes better on the grill

    If you want to do asparagus I think you'd need a veggie basket (or a fish basket) so they don't fall through the grate. Usually I'll just brush some EVOO and vinager or a ff salad dressing (Newman's has this lime dressing which works wonderfully as a vegetable marinade) and toss em on the grill for five minutes or so.

    Potatoes are easy, so are squash, but they need a little more time. My dad will wrap potatoes in foil and nestle them amongst the outside of the coals while the meat cooks.

    My favorite thing is to make veggie kebabs... Toss any kind of vegetable (and pineapple would work too) on a stick, brush with a dressing, marinade, or some EVOO with s+p, grill em for 5 minutes, turn them, grill for another 3 or so, and there you have it! Perfect grilled vegetables.

    I've seen recipes for grilled tomatoes, but that seems really easy to mess up since they're so delicate...

    I sure am glad it's grilling season again too
  • Slice the zuchinni, yellow squash, eggplant, etc. length wise into 1/4 " slices, spray or brush with olive oil lightly, grill.
  • I love grilled vegetables more than any other kind too! Especially grilled asparagus and peppers with some olive oil and some balsamic vinegar put over them after they come off the grill.
  • Thanks for the tip on Newman's lime, I keep seeing that dressing and wanting to try something with it, grilled veg w/lime dressing sounds great. I love grilled veg, my dad does that slice/brush with something and grill with zukes, he also does the foil bag with fish and veg on the grill with some fresh herbs/veg.

    They grew fennel last year and really enjoyed it, if anyone's a gardener.
  • Quote: ..... My favorite thing is to make veggie kebabs...
    That's my favorite way to fix them on the grill, too. Mmmmm.
  • I had always heard that about turkey as well, that it would be dry. :bleck:

    When living in the states I used to take my fresh chicken breasts to the meat department and asked the butcher ( ever so sweetly ) to grind it for me.

    If they are grinding turkey they will grind your chicken. But they wont if they dont. They cant grind poultry in the beef grinder due to cross contamination. They just dont have time to thoroughly clean all the parts of the grinder to switch back and forth like that.
  • Our shopping trip yesterday yielded not only the ingredients to make those chicken burgers in a whole wheat pita, but also a new grill! Our old one was getting pretty rusty and we had to get a new burner thingie (hubby gave me the name of the part which I promptly forgot). Anyway, he is out putting the thing together and I am making plans on grilling today for dinner!

    He also picked up some wood chips, roast rack, metal kebabs, some sort of thing that you can put a whole chicken on or a turkey to smoke and a rotisserie! No more heating up the kitchen during the summer . He got me a jar of pickled asparagus too.. he looked at the label and everything said 0 on it so he said I could eat them for free.. I think, by how he handed me the jar, that he was trying to appease me for spending so much on the grill stuff... gotta love him.

    So, tonight - chicken burgers on whole wheat pitas, grilled vegies and baked potatoes! (and pickled asparagus.. lol