Barbecued Vegetables

Yesterday we spent the day outside, so a BBQ seemed appropriate. Just sausages and veggies-simple and fast.

We love BBQ'd veggies in this house, and have them usually once a week in the summer months. We BBQ in the winter as well, just not as often. We tend to roast them in the oven more in the winter.

I took some pics of the sausage as well, but they were not as...um... macro friendly, if you catch my drift.

We tend to do different variations of these veggies depending on what we have, and what spices are right there when I open the cupboard door. Garlic, S&P, red chili pepper flakes and basil are the standards, but Italian seasoning, parsley, paprika, thyme and rosemary make regular appearances as well. Seasoning salt would be fine by itself in a pinch. Sometimes is just the spices and EVOO and other times I add some balsamic vinegar as well.

You can also so a southwest version by substituting cumin, coriander, chili powder or any of those types of flavours.

Any veggies will work, just cut them up to the same size so they cook evenly. We often use zucchini, onion( usually a red onion, or vidalia but anything is fine), red peppers (or whatever colour pepper you  have/like), mushrooms ( usually cremini or portobello), asparagus, yellow squash and sometimes tomatoes. 

Eggplant also works well.

Sometimes we top the cooked veggies with fresh grated parmasan or romano, or crumbled goat or feta cheese, or sometimes shredded mozzarella. But lots of times we don't top it at all.

Basic recipe-

Cut up your veggies of choice into approximately same size chunks. I use one of each of the bigger vegetables and about 10 or so mushrooms.

Mince some fresh garlic according to your taste. You could also use whole cloves, just smashed with the flat side of a knife a little to release the flavour.

Put the veggies and garlic in a large bowl, or large zip lock bag and add your S&P, seasonings of choice (I am going to guess at about 1 tsp of each? [except the hot stuff]) I usually add more basil, cuz I love basil, and about 1-2 Tbsps of Olive oil. You don't want too much olive oil. Just barely enough to coat most of the veggies. And if you want to add some Balsamic vinegar do that here as well. Not much. maybe a teaspoon? lemon juice or white wine is a good alternative as well.

Toss that around in the bowl or bag, then dump that all into a BBQ grilling basket, ( we have one like this but anything like this will do) or if the tines on your grill are close enough together you can put it right on the grill. Our BBQ is archaic so we need the basket. It takes about 10 minutes, stirring regularly. 

If you want to put it in the oven throw them on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil, or any shallow pan, and roast in a 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes, stirring twice.

Super yummy and delicious.

Thanks for looking!

Enjoy!

~Pam

Let's see what we have in the fridge....

Tonight's dinner was made up of whatever I could put together from whatever I had already. I had a few steaks that I had taken out yesterday, and didn't get to cook so we grilled those, BBQ'd some potato packets, and I made a veggie concoction.

Potato Packets:

I peeled and sliced up some potatoes, sliced some onion (I think it was a sweet onion?) and tossed that in a bowl with  some melted butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder, rosemary, parsley and some fresh thyme. I mixed that all up in the bowl and put single serving portions in some aluminum foil and wrapped it up and threw them on the grill first.

Veggie concoction: (I started this about the same time as we threw the steaks on the grill)

I used some zucchini I had (that had actually seen better days but we won't talk about that),  half an onion, two plum tomatoes, garlic and (sort of) fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and red chili pepper flakes and some goat cheese. It was actually super delish. I sliced the zucchini into 1/4 inch thick circles, then cut those into semi circles, diced the onion, minced the garlic, seeded and chopped the plum tomatoes, tore up the basil and crumbled the goat cheese. (I do that by putting it into a small bowl and using two knives to slice it up.)
First I heated up some veg oil and butter in a non stick skillet, and sauteed the zucchini, onion and garlic with S&P,  until they started to get some colour. When they were browned to my liking, all at once I tossed in the tomatoes, basil, red chili pepper flakes and about 1 TBSP of balsamic vinegar, and stirred that for less than a minute. I served it with some goat cheese sprinkled on top.

I didn't do anything special for the steaks. Just a sprinkle of steak spice and grill them on super high heat for about 3-5 mins a side, (depending on how you like them done. I like them med-rare) then we let them rest on the kitchen counter for a few minutes to let the juice distribute itself all over the steaks.

Simple and delicious.

Glazed Brussels Sprouts

These little gems turned my daughters boyfriend on to brussels sprouts.

4 cups fresh brussels sprouts, with the ends trimmed ( I have also used frozen sprouts in a pinch)
1 TBSP olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

3 TBSP balsamic vinegar
3 TBSP maple syrup

Pre-heat oven to 425. Wash and trim the Brussels sprouts.  Toss them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet with  lined with sprayed foil.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until tender. Transfer to a serving bowl. Combine vinegar and syrup in a small bowl, and drizzle over brussels sprouts and toss to coat.

* I have also just steamed the brussels sprouts as usual and combined the vinegar and maple syrup with salt and pepper and a tiny drizzle of olive oil and mixed it with the steamed sprouts.
Super tasty

per serving:
171 Cal
4.4 g fat
0 Chol.
30 g Carbs
8 g fiber
9 g protein

Corn Pudding

I know what you are thinking. Ok not really but I can guess.
"um this does not sound appetizing"
I know but it really is good. Its fattening and rich but add it to Thanksgiving dinner and beside the gravy and cheesecake it looks like a hero. Hmm maybe I need to find some gravy and cheesecake.....



1 can creamed corn

1 can whole corn with liquid

1 cup sour cream

1 box corn muffin mix (Jiffy)

4 eggs

stick melted butter


Combine the above ingredients and pour into buttered casserole and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.


**I cook mine a bit longer and do not add the butter called for.