A whole meal, cooked on the grill!

I've been thinking for a couple of weeks about if it was possible to do an entire meal on the grill. Not a grilled veggie kabobs and grilled chicken type meal, because of course that can be done. I was thinking of a more complete meal - one where I would normally use my oven.

As I posted a few days ago, I simply LOVE zucchini fries now. But with temperatures in the upper 90's today, I did NOT want to turn on my oven. So I decided to try "baking" them on the grill.
















My grill has three burners - so I lighted it up, and turned the left and right ones down to low grill, and turned the middle burned off. I have a thermostat on the front of the grill, so I was hoping for approximately 400 degrees.

Meanwhile I prepped the zucchini - cut it into match sticks, dipped it in a beaten egg (which turned out just as well as the whipped egg white - so don't bother with the beaters), and then in the mixture of panko crumbs, flour and spices. These went into a greased disposable aluminum pan. Onto the top shelf of the grill they went, and I left them there to cook for about forty five minutes.

Meanwhile, I decided the rest of the menu would be potatoes, steak, salad and strawberry shortcake.

For the potatoes I almost followed my recipe from June:














After I put the potatoes on the grill, I made up the batter for strawberry shortcake:

1 cup Bisquick
1/4 cup melted butter
3 Tablespoons sugar

Mix these together, and then add milk until it is a thick dough consistency.



I then spooned the batter onto a sheet of aluminum foil, and put them on the grill. They probably cooked 30 minutes total.





(this was after about fifteen minutes)







I turned the right side of the grill up to high, and went back in to prep the steaks. I normally use a rub from Penzeys called "Chicago Steak Seasoning". I cooked the steaks about three minutes per side, and then took it all off the grill. It worked great!

















To make the strawberry sauce, I melted 1 cup of low sugar strawberry jam (that I canned in May), and added about 10 sliced strawberries. Serve with whipped cream:

so simple, so good: fruit smoothies

We're having a heat wave here in Philly. Sometimes a big meal just is NOT what you want when it is hot, especially if you are also packing and moving boxes, as we are this weekend.

So this is just a little public service announcement, in case you too tend to forget about the wonder of fruit smoothies.

Things I add (not all at the same time!)

- strawberries
- frozen strawberries
- blueberries
- frozen blueberries
- banana
- frozen banana
- watermelon
- canteloupe
- honeydew
- peaches
- cherries

other additions:
- orange juice
- plain yogurt or greek yogurt
- vanilla yogurt
- soy protein powder (not if I'm serving it the Southerner - it doesn't agree with him)
- vanilla ice cream
- ice

my favorite combos to throw in the blender:

Watermelon, blueberry, vanilla extract and soy protein powder for breakfast

strawberry, a few ice cubes, vanilla ice cream (obviously this is a dessert)

milk, banana

Today's selection:

two bananas, chopped and frozen for a few hours:

about a cup of chopped canteloupe and a handful each of blueberries and raspberries:

four large strawberries

about a cup and a half of orange juice and six ice cubes:

... blend all together and pour into glasses!

Three Berry Pie

I think this is officially a "deep dish" pie, because I only put a top crust on it. But this would actually be a "shallow dish" pie if there was such a thing - it probably is only enough for four people. Because I have yet to remaster the art of making pie dough (I could in my teens, but lost the touch), and I only had one roll out pie dough in my refrigerator.

Combine:

1 pint blueberries - they were a bit old - when they start to look like raisins

5 large strawberries

about 3/4 cup of frozen raspberries

mix together:

1/2 cup sugar

4 teaspons cornstarch

Mix the sugar into the berries and pour into a pretty tart pan. Top with pie crust - I cut mine into long strips and made a lazy man's lattice.

Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes, then turn down to 350 and bake another 30 - until the juices are nice and bubbly and the crust is starting to brown.

Serve with vanilla ice cream!