Summertime is Grillintime

I love grilled vegetables. When Alex and I moved out of apartments, I bought a cheap gas grill to celebrate, like a housewarming thing. For me. And it’s just perfect for summer vegetables.

Everything I grill is my favorite. I love corn, portabellas, onions, and bell peppers. Yellow squash and zucchini are good, too. And I have okra coming in my farm bin Wednesday – it’s going on the grill, and it’s all mine.

Typically, I’ll cut the veg into chunks, toss it in some canola, and season with one of those shakers with a variety of pre-mixed seasonings. It’s my shortcut – I’m not endorsing it, and I can’t remember when or why I bought it. Sometimes, though, I plan a meal.

I recently grilled kale, sweet potatoes, and Field Roast smoked apple sage sausages. I love sweet potatoes and kale together, and grilling them worked really well. I used these instructions for pre-cooking and seasoning the sweet potatoes, and I just rubbed the kale with canola and put it right on the grill.

Some of it got a little charred, but that’s okay. It was delicious.

I bought one of those vegetable trays for my grill, and I just take it inside and scrub it after each use. It’s been in heavy rotation this summer.

In other news, I’m still waiting to hear back on the job, and honestly that’s been all I can think about lately. Sometimes I try to think about what to do for my first give-away, and here’s the problem: I learned so much about how to eat by blogging and “meeting” other bloggers. Seriously. I was eating tofu and black beans and had no idea what to do way back when. So what can give my teachers? A “best teacher” coffee mug? I am going to make a decision this week – promise. And a night with my wall-scaler Alex is still a possibility.

Things in the Backyard

On a whim, I bought some leeks because I heard they were good on the grill. Actually, the tagline might have been “great on the grill!!!!” I didn’t look into how to cook them, and they weren’t good. These guys were tough and stringy. My post-grill research indicates that there are a lot of steps to grilling leeks and making them edible. I think I’ll stick to pureeing them in soups from now on. 

Everything else grills up beautifully: portabella strips, red bell peppers, corn, and – grilled separately, and first – my favorite: asparagus. I feel like someone on a cooking show trying not to make eating the delicious food look ridiculous.*

Besides grilling up the veggies, I decided to break out something I’ve had for years and never actually used. It’s a rainbow cat harness and leash. Our three cats are all indoor-only, but we treated the bravest two of them to a walk around the backyard over the weekend. Athena went first, and she overcame the indignity of wearing the harness as soon as she realized she was outside.

Twinkie was distressed that we didn’t take him out. He was less accepting of the harness, but once we got it on him, he was more eager to explore. Poor cat hadn’t been outside since he was four months old. I took this photo through the glass door while he whined.

I’m sure this is something we’ll be doing a lot more of. Yes, grilling, and taking the felines out.

*I know it doesn’t help that I’m wearing a gross t-shirt with the neck cut out. I don’t like things around my neck. This is yet another work gift, and I blurred out my company’s logo, leaving a blotch that looks like a grease stain.

This is not the Black Bean Burger I ate tonight

But I sure wish it was.

Actually, tonight and last night I didn’t cook. Last night I served at Ronald McDonald House and put out tons of food for “make your own subs” night. I’m still struggling with what to bring to these monthly dinners, even though I’ve been going for almost three years. I bet if I’d brought these black bean burgers, it would have been a hit (although I would be able to identify the locals hollering for sausage). My contribution was from a box – two packages of Suddenly Salad. Yes, they ate every last noodle. I also brought two cucumbers and two red onions, sliced quickly and thinly on my mandolin, my new favorite kitchen gadget.

Tonight I had a meeting at a popular chain family-style restaurant that I dislike immensely. After being our summer hiatus, our monthly meetings have resumed. We see each other pretty much once a month, and I’m new to the club and I have trouble remembering names. Almost everyone orders the same thing each month, though, so I remember Hamburger Girl, BBQ Quesadilla Girl, Chicken Tenders Girl, and our newest addition, Funnel Cake Fries Girl. I guess it’s not bad that I’m Veggie Burger Girl. You are what you eat, right?

I have no problem being veggie burger girl. In fact, I’ve long been seeking the perfect veggie patty recipe. I’ve had several I’ve liked, and this one from Veganomicon is a new favorite. It’s made with black beans, wheat gluten, bread crumbs (I used panko, it was all I had and it turned out fine), cilantro and dried spices, and some garlic and onion for good measure. I’m sure it’s a classic that I’m late on trying.

But the one that gets my vote for the absolute best so far is the bulgur burger I found on Epicurious. I think those win because not only do they have beans and bulgur, but they have walnuts and cilantro. My first attempt on those was crumbly but still delicious.

Not that I’m comparing. Oh, yes I am, but I still liked these so much you’ll see them twice.

I grilled these patties in foil over the weekend along with some thick slices of onion, broccoli spears, and red bell peppers. The patties were perfect with a healthy dose of my favorite condiment, smokey sweet barbecue sauce.

For dessert, a grilled peach.

Grilled Pizza, Take Two

A few weeks ago, I tried to make grilled pizza. I love making pizza at home. I love the whole bit, from making my own dough and choosing my own toppings to eating it fresh from the oven. I also love that Alex and I can each make our own pizzas and top them however we choose. In the summer, though, it’s just too hot to turn on the oven. Grilled pizza is a great alternative.

If you recall, the first grilled pizza I made got a little burnt on the bottom because I cooked the crust first, then brought it in to top it, and then returned it to the grill to heat the toppings. I thought that it would be better to top the raw dough and just grill it once.

Alex topping his pizza, and mine up front with homemade salsa, seasoned black beans, sautéed mushrooms, and Follow Your Heart Monterey Jack.

I transported the pizzas to the grill on an old cookie sheet and attempted to lift and slide them onto the heat. Don’t try this at home! My beautiful pizza fell apart and I lost some of my tasty toppings to the flames. We had better luck with Alex’s, probably because my dough was getting soggy from the tomatoes while he was still building his.

The pizza that wasn’t sacrificed to the flames was really good, though. It’s not pretty, but it tasted delicious. Hey, at least the bottom crust didn’t burn. The part that remained on the grill cooked nicely, leaving a crisp crust and I’m very happy with my choice of toppings.

No, this is not half-eaten pizza. This is what I salvaged during the pizza tear of 2010.

I did have to go out to the grill after supper to scrape away my charred toppings. Next time I’ll either grill the crust for a shorter time, or I’ll try to get some sort of grill-safe pizza stone for transport. Maybe both. Yes, this is something I’m going to do until I get it right!

Quick and Easy! Smokey Tempeh, Sweet Potatoes, and Kale

This supper came together in a matter of minutes, not including time to marinate the tempeh. But that’s not active cooking time, so it doesn’t count. I’ve just started using tempeh more, and I’m loving it.

This is Smokey Grilled Tempeh from Veganomicon, along with steamed sweet potatoes and kale with raisins and pine nuts.

This is the kind of supper I was hungry to have; it’s been busy here and quick meals don’t always feel this good. I mentioned slinging beers, and last night I served dinner at our local Ronald McDonald House like I do the first Monday of every month. I made a variation of my stuffed zucchini: whole wheat pasta with crushed tomatoes, cannellini beans, basil, and grilled zucchini. I even topped it with some Almesan. Those flavors are so good together, and this makes for a delicious pasta dish. But it’s still a rush to get there and have the food prepared immediately after a busy day at work.

We don’t always serve pasta – usually we’ll do soups, breakfast foods, Mexican, sandwiches, etc., but this happened to be “Italian” night. If you’ve ever offered to serve at RHM or in a similar situation, you understand that they discourage bringing pasta, well, because it’s cheap and easy and too many groups do this. Don’t worry, these folks ate up these cheesy, meaty casseroles with no complaints. And they dug into my dish, too. There was a line for half an hour!

I’m taking the rest of this week easy. It’s time to enjoy summer before it’s cold again.

If you haven’t already entered, check out this giveaway from vegan and so forth. Good luck!

Grilled Pizza and Homemade Pesto

In the summer heat, I decided to grill a pizza so I could have homemade pizza without having to turn on the oven. I adapted Ina Garten’s recipe and used only whole-wheat flour, yeast, warm water, and olive oil and rolled it into two pies. I followed her directions and cooked the dough on the grill first, a few minutes per side, then Alex and I each topped our own.

I think next time (and yes, there will be a next time!) I would start with the toppings on the crusts. The only drawback I can see is that it might be too difficult to transport the fully topped raw dough to the grill. The dough puffed up, and by the time I was trying to heat my toppings, the bottom was close to burning.

I pre-cooked my toppings on the stovetop: red bell pepper, onion, and cremini mushrooms. I also made a pesto from my homegrown basil plus almonds, olive oil, roasted garlic, and salt. This was a delicious base for the pizza. Finally, I topped it with some pitted calmata olives.

This was a delicious pizza, and I think you can see in my photo how crisp the dough was. I rolled it out thinly, but I am still perfecting my circle formation. Tastes the same, though.

I’m ready to grill pizzas again, and soon! What are your favorite toppings? I think I want to do one with black beans and salsa next.

Garlic-Cardamom Grilled Vegetables

Is anybody else out there a huge NPR nerd? I listen frequently, and although I don’t always find time to listen to The Splendid Table, I heard it this past Sunday. They discussed a recipe I found so intriguing that I tried it just a few days later. I made Julie Sanhi’s Grilled Vegetables in Garlic-Cardamom Marinade. When I heard the story, I already had an eggplant and zucchini that I planned to grill, and this marinade sounded so tasty that I got a few extra ingredients and put it all together.

Several of the ingredients here are foods I’ve never used before, including fennel and cardamom. I’m so excited to try new things. One other new thing I’ve done this week is to pull out my serving dishes and use those (some for the first time, ever) even when it’s just two of us.

Eggplant, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, red onion, fennel, and scallions

The marinade was light, but bright and fresh because it was mostly lime juice, cilantro, and garlic, plus some other spices and oil. I put in a whole chopped jalapeno, but I didn’t get any heat at all. I was a little worried that I’d find all the jalapeno bits in one bite, but thankfully I didn’t!

These vegetables were delicious. While I grilled, Alex went to our neighborhood Indian place and got a takeout dish and rice to go along with the vegetables.

So far, I’m doing pretty well on my pledge to use the grill more frequently. Up next? Grilled pizzas!