Tis the Season for Grilling

There's a couple reasons I want to write about grilling. It's really nice out now and this makes me want to be outside. Also, I miss grilled food so much! It's not as popular here in Italy. And with all that said, grilling can be one of the healthiest ways for you to cook.

Grilling is set up in a certain way that when items cook, they can lose contents due to the drip effect. For this reason, grilling meats can become more healthy. Letting that burger cook on the grill also lets the fats drip off a bit. Same goes for ribs, steaks, sausages, etc. Be careful, because this drip effect can make your meats dry and tough. Not tasty.

What's so much fun about a grill is how it can cook almost anything. Pizza, corn on the cob, grilled vegetables, seafood, baked potatoes, toast, among all your favorite meats! Take advantage of this strategy because with it you can make a really healthy meal...all on the grill! Grill up some chicken breasts, some corn on the cob, and some potatoes and your meal can be perfect.

Don't underestimate the power of foil on the grill too. Using foil can get you some tasty foods. Wrap up one ear of corn and throw it in the grill for maybe 10 min to get awesome corn. Construct a make shift pan with a sheet of heavy duty foil to hold your potatoes over the flames. Only 10-20 min for your potatoes to get them nice and crispy (it's easy to tell when they are done just by the look of them!). You can also just wrap a whole potato and throw it in the grill, this will take much longer to cook though. At least 30-40 min. If you like anything steamed, try just wrapping it in the foil and using the grill.

One of my favorite tricks my family uses with hot dogs is to "dog" the end of the hot dog. Just cut a cross into the ends of the hot dogs with a knife. When cooking the dogs, the ends will fray and get nice and crispy. Also, the dogs won't roll around on the grill and get in hard to reach places! Great idea dad.

Have fun with it all and try to do new, different things. Be safe too, and don't leave open flames ever. Happy grilling!