summer

Conquering the Grill Grates

July 24, 2017

Summertime is grillin’ time, right? Actually we love to grill all year long though my husband does protest a bit when the temperature gets below 0°. He’s also not fond of dirty grill grates. He’s sure they’re going to give him cancer. And I guess since he’s already had cancer he has a right to be a little phobic about getting it again.

My husband’s solution to dirty grill grates was to buy a copper grill plate that he saw advertised on television. However, I didn’t think the food tasted as good when it was cooked on said grill plate so we were at odds every time we decided to grill. So, in a quest for marital grilling bliss, I decided to conquer the dirty grill grates.

I’d heard that if you take your oven shelves and put them in a big plastic garbage bag with some ammonia overnight you can simply rinse them off in the morning and they’ll be all clean. I figured why not try it on the grill grates? So, I found a big heavy duty plastic bag, carefully slid the grill grates, set the bag on the side of the house, poured in some ammonia, and quickly walked away. Note: if you decide to do this DON’T INHALE the ammonia. That stuff is potent!

After a couple of days I remembered the soaking grill grates and dragged them out of the bag to the kitchen sink. Amazingly enough a LOT of gunk came off. But, I was still a long way from having clean, non-carcinogenic grill grates so I stuck them back in the bag and added a little more ammonia before I had to leave home for a meeting. And, since I once again forgot about them a couple more days passed before I worked on them. As it had before some of the gunk rinsed off but they were still far from clean.

As I scrubbed with steel wool and rinsed I thought, “if only I could get more pressure out of my faucet. That would knock some of this stuff off.” I looked up and noticed the pressure washer my husband had been using was sitting in the front yard. “That’s genius!” I decided as I carried the grill grates out to the street. (Trust me, you don’t want to do this on your yard or driveway because the black stain might not ever come off.) I may or may not have looked like a crazy woman at this point but that grill gunk was simply not going to win this war although it did put up a pretty good fight. While the power washer was impressively helpful it still wasn’t perfect. At this point in the battle I was still hoping for shiny like new. Ha!

Now it was time for a new battle plan. I had noticed when I dragged the grates out of the heavy-duty plastic bag that much of the ammonia had leaked out so I found an old plastic container with a lid that was just the right size for holding dirty grill grates. I put them in, poured an entire bottle of ammonia in forgetting the DO NOT INHALE warning, and quick put the lid on before doing further damage to my lungs.

Once again, a day or two passed before I gathered the desire to attack the problem again. I pulled them out, and back to the kitchen sink. By now, I’d realized that rubber gloves would save my hands from looking like they belonged to a car mechanic. You might want to take note of that.

After some serious scrubbing for a third time, now with an SOS pad, I declared the grates “good enough.” They aren’t shiny like new but I realized that’s probably not possible unless I actually buy new grill grates which, I realized after the fact is indeed an option. But, there’s a feeling of accomplishment when you do it my way. And now, in an effort to keep them clean, I try to scrub them rather regularly so I don’t have to go through this again.

If you have dirty grill grates here’s my advice to you:
1. Skip the first two rounds in the plastic bag and go straight to the plastic container.
2. Wear a mask or hold your breath when you pour in the ammonia. Don’t do this in the house!
3. If you have a power washer, don’t be afraid to use it.
4. Wear rubber gloves
5. Protect your sink from scratches if you can. AN old towel will suffice but don’t plan to ever use it again. A rubber sink pad will work, too.
6. Once you rinse the ammonia off the grates, SOS pads work fairly well.
7. If you’re not up for the challenge and you can afford it, just buy some new ones.

Let the grilling begin . . . again!

Goodbye Summer

September 12, 2016

I’m having a hard time letting go of summer this year. It goes by so quickly, and I never feel like I’ve done everything I wanted to do. Or I haven’t done enough of it. When summer approaches I get excited about the potential it holds – lazy days sitting at the beach, riding bikes, going to outdoor concerts, etc. But when the beginning of September rolls around, I find myself bemoaning the things I didn’t get done. I saw one friend who had a “Summer Bucket List” printed out on a big piece of tagboard. As she and her family completed an activity, they crossed it off the list. Maybe I should do that next year—get my fun more organized!

My mom taught me that I should never wear white after Labor Day or before Memorial Day. While I’ve been known to ignore my mom’s advice now and again, and while I feel like this particular “rule” is fairly antiquated, I still end up putting my white capris away after the beginning of September. They just feel wrong when the sun starts setting so much earlier in the evening. And then I say good-bye to my white sandals and my summer purse. Ouch! It’s like ripping summer right out of my hands.

Here’s the funny thing though. There are lots of things about summer I don’t like—the humidity and the bugs to name a couple. And autumn is my most favorite season of all! Beautiful colors, crisp nights, cool days, and blue skies abound. What’s not to love? So why am I having so much trouble watching summer slip through my fingers? I decided I have to start thinking of the advantages of autumn to help me get over this little pity party I’m having so:

Goodbye capris – Hello comfy sweatshirts
Goodbye sandals – Hello cute boots.
Goodbye bike rides – Hello walks in the woods.
Goodbye days at the beach that I’d hoped would happen but never really materialized – Hello cozy chair in front of the fireplace.
Goodbye iced tea – Hello hot cocoa.
Goodbye outdoor concerts – Hello drives to view the autumn colors.
Goodbye summer – Hello autumn.

Let’s do this!

Got Chicken? Dinner is Practically Ready!

June 29, 2015

In the summer I don’t like to cook much. Who am I kidding? If I never had to cook at all and still have delicious meals show up on my table every night, I’d be thrilled. But summer just seems a little bit lazier. Before I even blink it’s 5:00 and I’ve not given dinner one thought. Enter my genius plan of having grilled, diced chicken in the freezer. With bite-sized pieces of chicken ready to go the dinner possibilities are endless.

Whenever we grill chicken I always throw at least two to four extra pieces on the grill. If I’m making a more Asian tasting chicken, I will marinade another few pieces in my favorite basic marinade and cook them at the same time. (More on the marinades in a minute.) After we finish our meal I cut up the extra meat and put about a cup of diced chicken into small, plastic freezer bags. For more than two people just increase the amount of chicken per bag or use less chicken per salad.

In the spirit of friendship, I thought I’d share some of my tried and true “what can I do with diced chicken tonight?” recipes with you. That’s what friends do, right? We share. I’m going to focus on salads today because they are perfect for summer.

I found this basic chicken marinade I mentioned above on the Internet a few years ago. It would work with most every one of these salads although as you read through them you’ll find lots of other options, too.

GRILLED MARINATED CHICKEN BREASTS
(AKA My Favorite Basic Marinade)

1 cup olive oil
¼ cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons Dijon Style Mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1 clove garlic, finely minced
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried sweet basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons salt (optional)
6 chicken breasts

Whisk together ingredients for marinade. Add chicken, coat well. Cover and chill for at least two hours or overnight. Drain chicken, grill 15 – 20 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. Turn and brush with marinade every 5 – 10 minutes.

My friend, Kirsten Shabaz, graciously shared the next two salad/dressing recipes with me (and allowed me to pass them along to you.) She’s an award-winning chef, Fresh Food Educator at Valley Natural Foods, and an all-around caring, loving, and generous person. (As a side note, Kirsten made over a dozen freezer meals for us when John had his transplant last year. It was such a huge blessing!)

Without further ado, here are some fun summer salads for you to try.

MAPLE-DIJON SALAD

The measurements (and even the ingredients) are up to you but here are some suggestions:

Lettuce
Diced Chicken (see marinade dressing below)
Celery, diced
Green Onions, diced
Strawberries, cut into bite-sized pieces
Nectarines, cut into bite-sized pieces
Grapes, halved
Feta or Goat cheese
Walnuts or Pecans, chopped (I used maple-glazed pecans, which I bought at the store, when I made it – yum!)

And now for the good stuff – the dressing/marinade:

Maple Dijon Dressing and Marinade

1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 small shallot, minced (If, like me, you need help finding shallots in the store, look near the garlic. The two are close relatives.)
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ cup olive oil

Dressing: Put everything except the oil into the blender. With the speed on low, pour oil in the top of the lid for the blender slowly as it’s mixing. This will emulsify the ingredients so you won’t need to shake each time you want to use it.

Marinade: The marinade doesn’t need to be emulsified but if you already have the dressing made feel free to use it as the marinade. Otherwise, just whisk all ingredients together, pour over chicken & marinate for at least 8 hours.

SAVORY BALSAMIC SALAD

(I just made up that name as I have no idea what it’s really called.) Again, the measurements (and even the ingredients) are up to you but here are some suggestions:

Lettuce
Diced Chicken (You can use either of the chicken marinades mentioned above or you can use the dressing recipe from below.)
Cucumbers, sliced and quartered
Tomatoes (I always use grape tomatoes that I cut in half.)
Celery, diced
Hard-Boiled Eggs
Green onions, diced
Feta or Goat Cheese
Cashews, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds. (Whatever suits your fancy.)

Balsamic Salad Dressing/Marinade

1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard.

CHICKEN COBB SALAD

Did you know the original Chicken Cobb salad was created out of leftovers late one night when the owner of the Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurant was famished at the end of a long day? According to Wikipedia there is some debate about whether the owner, Robert Howard Cobb or his chef, Chuck Wilson created it but either way I’m glad he did. It’s one of my favorites (with a little revision.) It was also suggested on Wikipedia that to remember the ingredients you could use the acronym EAT COBB for eggs, avocadoes, tomatoes, chicken, onion, bacon, blue cheese. I’ve also heard (though I didn’t find any evidence during my five-minute Google search) that a Cobb salad is always to be served with the ingredients lined up on top of the lettuce. It looks pretty like that but I’m more of a “throw it all in the bowl” kind of girl.

So, here’s my version of a Chicken Cobb Salad:

Lettuce
Diced Chicken
Avocado, diced
Grape Tomatoes, halved
Hard Boiled Eggs, chopped
Green Onions, diced
Bacon, crisply cooked and broken into pieces (bacon makes everything better!)
Blue Cheese Crumbles – I don’t use blue cheese mainly because I don’t care for it, but if you want it to be authentic, throw it in.

The dressing is up to you. Apparently Mr. Cobb preferred a red-wine vinaigrette but I’ve often seen it served with blue cheese or ranch dressing. I’ve also used the Zesty French Dressing found in my Taco Salad to Die For Blog Post.

When you get tired of making green salads with your chicken there are always pasta salads. Here’s one of my favorites!

CHICKEN PASTA SALAD

This is a great recipe for a crowd. It makes a LOT and it tastes good leftover, too.

2 cup or more of cubed chicken
3 tablespoons chopped onion (I usually put a little more in because I LOVE onions)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup grapes, halved
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup mandarin oranges, halved and drained on a paper towel
1 cup dry rose marina pasta OR acini de pepe pasta, cooked as directed
1 cup mayonnaise

Mix the above ingredients together the day before serving.

Just before serving add:

1 cup cream – whipped (This might be why it’s so yummy! Don’t add sugar.)
½ cup slivered almonds

As you can see, there’s LOTS you can do with just a cup or so of diced chicken. If you get tired of salads you could try my Lemony Chicken Pasta Recipe, or make some soup, barbecue chicken pizza, or a chicken salad sandwich. If you plan ahead you could grill on Sunday and use diced chicken every night of the week right up to the minute your family says, “Are we ever going to have a hamburger again?”

Like I said, “Got Chicken? – Dinner is Practically Ready!” Enjoy your summer!

It’s Grilling Time!

April 28, 2014

I have patiently waited ALL winter to share this recipe with you. We pretty much grill all year round at our house except when the temperatures go below about 10 degrees. Of course, here in Minnesota it was exactly one of those kinds of winters: bone chilling cold and long. We’ve just recently resurrected the grill so it’s finally time to share with you one of our favorite quick, easy, and, believe it or not, vegetarian dinners.

If you don’t like mushrooms you should probably just stop reading now (although there’s a funny story coming) because that’s what this recipe is for – Portobello Mushroom Sandwiches. I’m staring to drool just thinking about them.

Let me start with the funny story and allow the mushroom haters to sign off before I torture them with the details. The first time I tried this dish my husband was skeptical, VERY skeptical. I handed him the mushrooms sitting in the marinade and asked him to please cook them five minutes on each side. He looked at the mushrooms, then up at me, and our conversation went something like this.

John: “What’s the main course?”

Me: “Those mushrooms are the main course.”

John: “No, I mean, what kind of meat are we having to go with them?”

Me: “We’re not having meat. I’m making portobello mushroom sandwiches with them.”

John: “Hmmm . . . “

I think at this point he was planning his escape to the closest Subway for a real sandwich when all was said and done. But, he was pleasantly surprised to find out I really knew what I was talking about. I like to think of Portobello mushrooms as “Poor Man’s Steak” though to be honest, I’m not exactly sure how much they cost. I’m a horrible grocery shopper. Anyway, back to the recipe.

Portobello Mushroom Sandwiches – Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

2 – 3 Portobello Mushrooms – One or two for each person
¼ Cup Balsamic Vinegar
¼ Cup Olive Oil
3 – 6 Cloves Garlic – minced (you can never have too much garlic in my opinion)
1/4 teaspoon of salt (or to taste, which I always think is a funny thing to say because really, who’s going to taste it at this stage in the game?)
1/8 teaspoon of pepper (or to taste)
Spinach leaves or mix of dark leafy lettuces
1 Medium Onion – sliced
Fresh Red Peppers OR Marinated Roasted Red Peppers
Hamburger Buns (For gluten-free you can either get a GF Bun or just go without which, as you can see by the picture, is what I usually choose to do.)
Mayonnaise, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Garlic Hummus, or Guacamole

DIRECTIONS:

Wipe off top of Portobello Mushrooms with damp paper towel.
Place mushrooms, smooth side down, into large plastic or glass container.
Mix together balsamic vinegar, olive oil and garlic, salt and pepper in small bowl or measuring cup. I just use a two-cup measuring cup to save myself washing an extra bowl.
Pour mixture over top, cover and marinate for at least 1 – 3 hours. (If you’re one of those people who plans ahead and preps your dinner in the morning feel free to marinate longer; it’s your life.)
Grill on low heat for five minutes per side.
That is the basic recipe for cooking the mushroom. Now for the “toppings.”
Sauté sliced onions in a fry pan using butter or olive oil (you decide how healthy you want to make this – I won’t judge.)
Red Pepper options:

Option 1 – Deseed and slice a fresh red pepper. Cover with olive oil, salt, and pepper and using aluminum foil create a “packet” to cook your peppers in on the grill. You’ll need to start them five to ten minutes before you start the mushrooms because they take longer to cook. Flip once during the cooking process.
Option 2 – Add fresh sliced red pepper to the onions in the fry pan and cook everything until it’s limp and onions are translucent.
Option 3 – Use Marinated Roasted Red Pepper straight from the jar. At first glance these look little bit disgusting but they make a fantastic addition to lots of different kinds of sandwiches. Dry them off with a paper towel and add to the sandwich toppings as you build it.

If you are making this as a sandwich, toast the bun and add Mayonnaise, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Garlic Hummus, or Guacamole. If you aren’t going to use a bun, I suspect that fresh avocado would be delightful addition though I’ve never personally tried it; because I just now thought of it.
Top with spinach or leafy lettuce (Unless you’re not using a bun, then put the lettuce on the bottom. It’s just prettier that way.)

Serve with a side of fresh fruit and you have the perfect summer (or spring) meal. Enjoy!