Delicious Days Of Summer: Foods You May Not Know You Can Grill
When it comes to cooking meals in the summertime, it's often tempting to just order take-out, as using the stove or the oven in your home can make the inside temperature just too hot to handle. But eating out all the time is not only unhealthy, it's also incredibly expensive in a season where you're already paying extra to cool down your house. Enter your grill: a perfect place to cook food on without raising the temperature of your home. So if you're looking for a few less common ideas for foods to cook out on your grill, then here's what you need to know.
Salad
It may seem crazy, but grilled salad is a good way to ensure your lettuce leaves stay crisp and gets a little bit of a smoky, delicious flavor you can only get on the grill. Take hearts of romaine and cut them in half long-wise while your grill is heating up. When your grill reaches the proper temperature (somewhere around medium-high), carefully brush both sides of your hearts of romaine with vegetable oil and place them on the grill. The leaves only need to roast for 2 or 3 minutes at the most, so make sure to pull them before they start burning. Once your leaves are toasted, you can create salad the way you normally do (or follow this recipe for a great grilled caesar salad).
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes, that is. Baking a potato in your oven would be way too hot -- so do it on your stove for a meal that's slightly sweet and definitely delicious. Brush the entire outside of a whole sweet potato with melted butter, then place it on a medium-hot grill for 45 minutes (or until the skin is brown and slightly crispy and the sweet potato squishes in when you poke it. You can either simply cut the sweet potato across the top like a regular baked potato, or you could even cut it into strips to eat with an extra coating of butter and some brown sugar sprinkled on top.
Watermelon
It may seem counter intuitive, since watermelon is mostly water -- but you can grill it, and if you want a slightly smoky but still sweet and tender fruit, you definitely should try to prepare watermelon on the grill. Cut your watermelon into flat, triangular pieces, then sprinkle a tiny pinch of salt on both sides and let drain in a (clean!) draining rack for 20 minutes while your grill comes up to temperature (it should be set to high). Then press firmly (but not hard enough to crush the fruit) to get extra moisture out, and brush them with a touch of olive oil before placing them on the grill. Leave them on there for two minutes per side, then serve -- plain, on a kebab, or even as a refreshing part as a salad.
Talk to local businesses that have propane grills for sale so you can get started on your summertime grilling adventures.
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