Grilled Veggies

Whether you have a garden or not, grill those veggies instead of cooking them up in the kitchen.

I have fell in love with the Olive Oil that contains Lemon. There are all kinds of brands out there, but I especially like this one produced by Asti Olive Oil Company. At our local store their Olive Oil called "Meyer Lemon Olive Oil". It certainly adds a little more flavoring to your recipes. I've started using it in just about everything right now.

With the zuchini, peppers and other fresh vegetable's coming out, here is a great little recipe to grill:

Grilled Vegetables:
1 Sweet Onion sliced
2-3 Zuchini's sliced or quartered
3-4 Peppers
1 Bunch of Basil cut up
After you have sliced/cut the veggie's and basil all up, put into a bowl. Add about 1/4 C of Olive Oil (OO)--if you prefer to use plain OO, then grate about a 1/2 lemon and add to the vegetable/basil mixture. Also, do not add more than 1/4 C of the Olive Oil as you do not want a big flare up when you are cooking on the Grill.

Then sprinkle on Sea Salt, Ground Pepper. Mix all together.

I have found a great grill basket at the store which is what I use when grilling the vegetables on the Grill.

Once the grill is hot, put your grilling basket on the grill, add all of the vegetables/basil to the basket. After about 5-8 minutes, stir the veggie mixture. You do not want the veggies to burn, so watch to make sure they do not sear too much. Depending on how many vegetables you have in the basket your cooking time can vary. Continue to stir your vegetables until they are finished to your liking.

And if you feel like it, right before you serve the grilled veggies, sprinkle on a little Feta Cheese over the vegetables.

Enjoy!!!!

The Tomatoes/Peppers are Coming In

Well, it looks like we have got veggies starting to come in. For the last couple of weeks it has only been the peppers, but the tomatoes are ready for picking. At least the little ones (Sweet Golds, Sun Golds and the Celebrity 100's).

Some of the bigger ones are starting to come in but with a little heat wave we had and us being on vacation, they got a little burned on the bottoms. But they still taste good.

So I will be getting some recipes out there for you to try and hope you enjoy.

Cole Slaw with a Kick

Like Cole Slaw but sometimes you wish it had a little kick to it. Here is a recipe where you add Wasabe to your slaw mixture. You can add more if you want it a little spicier but do be careful.

Ingredients:
2 Cups of finely shredded green cabbage
1 Cup of finely shredded red cabbage
3/4 Cup of shredded carrots
1/2 Cup of thinly sliced Vidalia and/or Sweet Onion
1/4 bunch of of cilantro leaves, washed and chopped
1/2 Cup cider vinegar
2-3 Tablespoons of sugar
3/4 Cup of Mayo (Best Foods or Hellman's) or Yogurt
1/2 Cup of Milk
1 tsp of Dijon Mustard
1/4 Teaspoon of Dry Wasabi
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt and Pepper

Directions:
Slaw Dressing:
Combine cider vinegar, sugar in a small bowl and mix together. Then add Mayonnaise and/or Yogurt, milk, mustard and wasabi. Then whisk all together.

In a large bowl, add your cabbages, carrots, onions and cilantro. Mix in the slaw dressing and toss together. Add the salt and pepper, toss again then serve.

Or if you want you can make up the dressing earlier in the day (or the night before) and chill in a separate container in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to allow everything to blend. Then before you want to serve, add the slaw dressing to the cabbage/vegetable mixture and stir together.

Enjoy!!!

Make Sure Your Grill is Ready

Well, do you ever have one of those days, where you get the grill ready and it is not ready to work for you???? Maybe 1 or 2 of the burners are not working and/or partially working??? It happens and it always seems to happen when you have friends over for a barbecue and you really need it working because everything else is close to being ready and you just need the meat cooked.

So, remember, do a spring cleaning of your grill so you don't have these crisis. If you are like us and your grill is out on a deck, put lots of papers around it and remove the grills and place these on the paper. Brush out the inside, brush along the burners. If you know you have a plugged burner, you can always use a high pressure blower to clean out the plugged hole(s).

If you have one of those trays, remember to take that out and clean out the oil drippings from that as well.

I avoid using any type of chemicals on the grills. Yes, there are lots of products on the market that say they are safe and clean your grills. They may be safe, but I don't always find they clean the grills all that well. What I do, is get a bucket of warm soapy water and with a brush clean the grills as best as I can, rinse off with clean water. Then when I have the inside of the grill all cleaned out, put the grills back in, fire up the barbecue and then let the flame cook off the built up stuff burn off the grills you might not be able to get off with the soapy water and brush. Usually, I leave the grill on for about 20 minutes and before I turn it off, I take a brush and brush off the grills.

And it is always a good idea that after each time you use the grill, let the hot temperature burn off the food fats and sauces before you turn it off (if it is gas). I find that if you have a charcoal barbecue the food build up burns off the grills as it is cooling down.

How the Garden Grows

Well, the garden is doing really good. We had to replant the basil as we had a little cold spell a couple of weeks ago. The tomato's are really growing as well as the zucchini.

We have some blossoms on the vegetables, which always means I'll be seeing the cute little (yeah right) tomato worm soon.

Memorial Day--Get Going

Well, it is Memorial Day today, hopefully, you have gotten started cueing. For those who know me, know I am out there cueing in the snow, rain, thunderstorms, etc, etc. The weather out here in Northern CA is so wierd, we are having a cool wet Memorial Day weekend.

We were up in Reno on Friday and it was snowing pretty good as we were coming over the pass on Saturday. Thank goodness it hadn't started to stick and we have good tires on the BMW as we made it through with no issues.

Back to being at the Grill. Have some new pictures of how the garden is doing and well post those on the next chat.

Now as to the grilling, I am asked so many times, do you favor, charcoal, gas or electric. This is defintely a personal choice. Still believe charcoal (for a more smokey effect) gives the best taste but it takes so long and you have to keep adding the coals. At to Electric, oh my our electric bill would really be high, so I do not recommend this one. So I have been grilling on Gas (for us Propane) since we came back to CA. Now, also being up at about 2k feet addes a little cooking time as well I have found sometimes.

Getting the Garden Started

Well, I have been really bad on not updating. Been busy getting the vegetable garden ready and have planted the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zuchinni and the herbs. We have had unususal spring weather, warm then we get a cold spell. Had to replace a couple of the tomato and herbs, but they now seem to be doing better.

I'll be updating my blog as I have been getting some questions on barbecuing. Have a good day.