The Shaker of Salt

~ A pinch of this and a dash of that ~

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In Memory of Dad

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Happy Father’s Day Dad
The most inspirational man in my life was my dad, and today I pay tribute to him. If you started following me lately you missed me telling you what a remarkable man he was. He was a friend to many, a husband, grandfather, brother, uncle, friend, even Santa. As important as these things were to so many he played a much bigger part in my life. I was daddy’s little girl.
He taught me so many of life’s lessons without saying a word. He taught me to be a giving person by watching his generosity. It could be a helping hand or it could be a physical object, if he had it he would give it.
Ever since I can remember I tagged along with him. He shared his love of cars with me. Often by putting a piece of sandpaper in my hand and putting me to work. He shared his love of the water with me by bringing me out on his boat to scallop, or just to go for a ride.
Father’s Day is often celebrated with cookouts. I can’t count the number of my Dad’s Father’s Days that were. Many of my fondest memories of my Dad center around a grill. He was the person who instilled the love of cooking out in me. When we was little we would pack up a cooler and go for a picnic down to Seawall, A local part of Acadia National Park. As I got older we started going to my aunt and uncle’s camp on the weekends. Our huge family would gather there and my dad could always be found stationed at the grill. I still laugh when I remember the time he went to light the grill and something went wrong. He looked up at us with all the hair on his face singed off. All he did was laugh and tell us grilling can be dangerous. He Joked about teaching someone else how to do the grilling so he could retire. When someone else tried he would let us know the food was nowheres near as good as his.
TY Dad for all you have given to me. Today I will grill in your honor, even though the food can not compete with yours.
Inspired by:
#grillinghappiness #sears
That Shaker Of Salt

To Grill of BBQ : What’s the Difference ???

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Have you ever wondered what is the difference between BBQing and Grilling? Have you thought involved the sauces or rubs used??  If so your not alone, this is a common misconception. In fact the difference has nothing at all to do with this, but is instead the length of time and the amount of heat used. Let me explain:

Barbecue
Cook it long, low and slow. When the low cooking temp is combined with longer cooking time the food has a chance to absorb the flavors of the rubs or sauces you are using. This slow cooking results in a moist/tender piece of meat. Some good meats for the BBQ would include ribs, Pork roast or brisket.
Grilling
This is the method of cooking that most people use. Using this method you are using a fast direct cooking.most grilling is done outdoors, using charcoal, propane or wood. The food is cooked quickly using a direct radiant heat. Foods often grilled would include Seafood, Burgers, Hotdogs, chicken and even fruit and vegetables.
This post inspired by:
#GrillingIsHappiness #Sears

That Shaker Of Salt

Grilling in Foil

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(Picture used from Reynolds Wrap website)
Sorry for the absence, have been dealing with a tooth infection. Today I would like to talk about meals foods you can cook in Aluminium foil. I love these as they are quick and easy. The good thing about cooking in foil is that it lets the flavors of the food to blend without losing the juices down through the grill. There a a couple ways you can use the foil. One is to make a sort of pan by folding up the sides to create a sort of pan and the other it to fold the foil over the food and roll up the sides creating a sort of closed pocket.
I think the pan method works well for fish and other quick cooking foods that you want to keep a close eye on while the pocket works well for most others. You can cook all courses of a meal in foil, right down to dessert. Who doen’t like S’Mores? Yum.
I have a few recipes I would like to share with you that are my favorites, and as always, I don’t even remember where I got them so if you ever come across them let me know were. I love to give credit where credit is due.
Yummy Grilled Potatos
1/3 cup oil, I use olive
2 LBs baby red potatos cut in 1 inch pieces
2 tlb wine vinegar
1 clove crushed garlic
1 tlb Rosemary
1package onion soup mix
In a large bowl combine soup mix, vinegar, garlic, rosemary and oil. Add Potatos and stir til coated.
Make a pocket with the foil and add potato mixture.
Grill for about 40 minutes turning over once in awhile.
Grilled Sweet Potatos with Pecans
(love these, so yummy)
5 med. sweet potatos peeled and sliced
1 large Vidalia onion sliced thin & separated
3tlb olive oil
1/3 c softened butter
2 1/2 tlb brown sugar
1/4 ts cinnamon
1/4 cp toasted pecans, chopped
Stir potatos and onions in olive oil until coated. Cook on the grill for about 30 minutes. While cooking combine butter, sugar, and cinnamon, mix well. Stir in pecans. When potatos are done top each with equal portions of the pecan mixture.
Fish and Veggie pockets
4 Halibut Fillets ( you can use other fish but make sure it is firm)
1 carrot, I use veggie peeler to make thin strips
1 piece celery sliced very thin
1 med. onion sliced very thin
1 small zucchini sliced very thin
1 small Summer Squash also sliced very thin
1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/2 cp Italian dressing
Place a fillet on 4 seprate pieces of foil. Top with veggies and cheese evenly. Drizzle each with dressing and make into foil packets. Let sit about 15 to 20 minutes for the dressing to marinate. Grill for about 15 minutes.
I have come to realize that with foil cooking, as with any grilling, don’t be afraid to try something.
Post inspired by:
#Sears #GrillingIsHappiness
That Shaker Of Salt

Grilled Vegetables

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Today’s guest post comes to you from Larry of Janis Gardens Cooking Companion Hope you are enjoying the guest posts this week.


Grilled Vegetables

Grilled vegetables make a wonderful way to showcase the bounty of your garden. They are also an excellent addition to any meal be it a family get together in the patio, a more formal sit-down dinner, perhaps next to a warming campfire in the wilderness or tailgating at the local sports arena parking lot. Grills are very portable making grilled vegetables available almost anywhere you choose. Even electric grills do a credible job of grilling vegetables.

When grilling a large quantity of vegetables, I use grilling foil and find it works very well and clean up is a breeze.

Larger vegetable slices can easily be done right on the grill grate. We need some help, however, with smaller pieces so they wont fall through the grate and into the fire. Perforated woks and pans are made especially for grilling small foods, including vegetables and sea food, and they work excellently. I use mine frequently.




Preparation: 30 minutes Life Experience Recipe


Platter serving
Some Suggested Ingredients:

Zucchini
Eggplant
Sliced yellow or red onions or pearl onions
Mushrooms – buttons or sliced portabello
Broccoli florets
Corn on the cob
Spaghetti suash
Yellow Squash
Bell peppers – all colors
Asparagus
Tomato slices or cherry tomatoes
Thin carrot slices
Fennel
Red and green Anaheim chilies

Procedure



Lightly salt and pepper vegetable slices. A little practice and you will learn to slice the slower cooking vegetables thinner and the quick cooing vegetables in thicker slices. Drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat evenly. If, using perforated wok or pan, cook over high heat stirring frequently. If cooking on grill foil, cook over medium-high heat stirring occasionally. Cook until vegetables are tender and are nicely browned. Remove from heat, sprinkle with lemon juice or herbed vinegar.


If using prepared grilling foil, it already has a non-stick side. If using a grill wok, heat the wok over the fire, remove from flame before spraying lightly with non-stick spray.


With chicken, turkey or pork, a sweeter dish might be appropriate. Mash a clove of garlic and add to ¼ cup of a red wine. Set aside. Prepare vegetables and cook a before. A few minutes before vegetables have completed cooking, mix reserved garlic and wine with ¼ cup of honey. Drizzle over cooking vegetables while stirring. The alcohol will flare – stand back and be careful. Remove from heat as soon as done – the sugar in the honey will burn easily. Or, as an alternative, try adding some slices of pineapple or slices of other favorite fleshy fruits to sweeten the dish.


The vegetables can be marinated before grilling if you wish. A flavorful marinade can be made of 1/2 cup of red wine vinegar, to which a lightly crushed clove of garlic, thyme, basil, rosemary and oregano have been added. Slice vegetables, place in bowl, add marinade and toss. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Drain marinade and then grill vegetables until tender.

Substituting soy sauce for salt can add flavor and a hint of the orient to your vegetables.
Vegetable cooking times vary wildly depending on the density, structure and size of the vegetable pieces. There are three tacks that you can take. One is to vary the cooking time. The second is to vary the cutting thickness, making the denser vegetables thinner. And the third is to parboil the longer cooking-time vegetables. Away from home or camping, I start cooking the denser vegetables (cut thinner) first and, at intervals, add the other vegetables according to their cooking time. At home, or at least when I bother to plan ahead, I make uniform vegetable pieces and then parboil, or blanch, the denser vegetables to make cooking times for all the vegetables about the same. You can parboil the vegetables the day before and store, covered, in the refrigerator. Parboil each vegetable separate and scoop the precooked vegetables into iced water to stop cooking and preserve the color.


Some vegetables, like onions, peppers and tomatoes, require no blanching:
Onions: 1/4-inch slices, grill 10 minutes (half onions 15-20 minutes)
Peppers: ½-inch rings or slices, grill 10 minutes (whole peppers 15 minutes, turning all sides)
Tomatoes: 1/4-inch slices or cherry tomatoes, grill 10 minutes


Some blanching suggestions are:

Broccoli: Cut stalks in half lengthwise. Blanch 2-3 minutes. Grill 4-6 minutes.
Corn: Remove husks. Do not add oil. No blanching. Grill for 10-12 minutes.
Eggplant: Slice into 1 1/2 inch wedges. Blanch 2-3 minutes. Grill 12-15 minutes, turning once.
Potatoes (thin-skinned, sweet, russet): Scrub well or peel. Cut length-wise into 1 inch wedges. Blanch 4-5 minutes. Grill 8-10 minutes.
Squash: Cut in half length-wise. Blanch 2-3 minutes. Grill 8-10 minutes.


This recipe and the techniques are just suggestions as there is no right or wrong way, method or assortment of vegetables. Times vary with the heat of your grill and whether you are on the grate, in a wok or on foil. Use this as a starting point and then develop your own favorite way of making and enjoying grilled vegetables. You will be pleased with the results and glad that you tried grilling your veggies.

Oh, by the way. Now that you have mastered vegetable selection, preparation and blanching and mastered the grilling, I’d like to tell you how my sister, Pattie Sue, grills her vegetables. She doesn’t mix items on the skewers. She put all the same item on each skewer and everything on each skewer cooks in the same amount time. She says that even though the skewers don’t have the color mixture and presentation of the more familiar shis kabobs, it is quicker and easier without having to think about thick and thin slices and parboiling.

Inspired by :
#GrillingIsHappiness, #Sears

http://www.flipgrillman.com/


That Shaker Of Salt

Host a Kabob Party

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Another guest post from Robyn’s Online World Thank you Robyn!
Host a Kabob Party

This past Sunday we went to my parent’s house again, this time for my nephew’s birthday party and our monthly game night. My nephew asked to have kabobs again for the meal (the birthday person picks the food). Last year they pre-made the kabobs, this year my mom decided to do a make-your-own-kabob party which I thought was great! I have done this at my house with things like pizza, tacos, etc., but had never thought of doing kabobs.

Before everyone arrived Mom did the prep work. She cut up the meats and marinated them; she did beef and chicken. Then we had all types of veggies like cherry tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, squash, red peppers, green peppers, orange peppers and even pineapple which is fabulous grilled. She had some metal skewers but also soaked wooden skewers ahead of time since there were so many people.
My suggestion would be to have everyone pick the items they want and put them on their plate and then make their kabobs. This way you don’t have to worry about cross contamination with the meats and the other items. If you have guests who are squeamish about raw meats offer to make theirs for them. As the guests complete their kabobs they go out to the grill.
My dad was the chef at our party. He grilled the kabobs as they came out. In addition he made some hamburgers and hotdogs for those who didn’t want kabobs. Make sure that you place the cooked kabobs on a clean plate for your guests, not on the same one they brought the raw kabob out on – again to avoid contimination from the raw meats.
The marinades can be anything you want. I personally prefer beef kabobs and have found a ton of great recipes for them on Beef It’s What’s For Dinner.
We are, sadly, without a grill right now. Hubby’s nice gas grill has died so we are saving up for a new one. This means all BBQ invites are accepted right now LOL!
So are you a kabob fan? What is your favorite marinade or combo for kabobs?

#Sears #GrillingIsHappiness



That Shaker Of Salt

Grilled Lobster 101

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It wouldn’t be right for me not to include grilled lobsters in my grilling 101. Grilled lobster is not as hard to prepare as one might think. Follow these steps and you will be eating like a king in no time.

Step 1 Picking out your lobster: You want to make sure the lobster you choose is lively. The more they are snapping their tail and flailing their claws the better. Your lobster should weigh between 1 1/2 and 2 Lbs.

Step 2 Killing your lobster: Step by step directions for this process can be found here. Caution, if you belong to Peta you should look away 🙂

Step 3 Cleaning the lobster: Split the lobster down the length of it. For Presentation do not completly cut in half, butterfly it. Scrape out the dark green, This is the stomach & intestine. The yellowish green stuff is the liver, or tomalley some people find this delicious and leave it in. If you happen to find a long reddish orange strip of roe, or eggs these also can be left in. Remove the claws from the point that connects with the body. Split the largest section of the claw by slamming a large knife down on it.

Grilling the lobster:
Add a bit of salt, I prefer Sea Salt, to the meat part of the lobster body and place on the grill. Place the claws, still in the shells, with the body and grill for about 3 minutes. Turn over and cook for About 4 minutes more, or until the meat is white and firm and the shell is a bright red. Do not over cook.


For a different flavor you can brush with one of the following before grilling:


1 tablespoon lemon juice


1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Whisk together
Brush on Lobster and grill


Margarita Lobster
1/2 cup Margarita mixer
2 tbl Tequilla
brush on
Stir together and brush on Lobster
Grill


#GrillingIsHappiness #Sears
 FlipGrillman.com

That Shaker Of Salt

Marinades 101

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To me there is nothing cooked on the grill like a nice piece of meat that has been well marinated. A marinade is either a sauce or a mixture of  herbs used to flavor & tenderize food before you cook it. The reason I prefer Marinates over BBQ sauce is because BBQ sauce isn’t acidic enough to penetrate and tenderize uncooked meats. You would be surprised how tender even the toughest piece of meat will turn out with a good Marinade.
For best results you should marinate most meats for at least 2 hours. I prefer to leave the meat marinating overnight if I can. Fish and seafood is a little different. Most fish and shellfish only take 1/2 hour to Marinate. Scallops are the quickest, they only take about 5 minutes to be well marinated.
How to Marinate Food

Marinating food is very easy.
1.Place the raw meat in a bowl . you should not use metal dishes when marinating. The acidic marinades sometimes react with the metal causing either the food to taste bad. It can also be very unhealthy.

2. If you prefer now is the time to salt and pepper your meat.

3. Pore the marinade over the meat. If the meat has a big clump of fat you should try to peel it back some so the Marinade can make it’s way into the meat itself.
4. Turn the meat over a couple times, making sure the meat is completly covered.
5. Place in fridge, making sure to turn meat over halfway though the marinating time.
See not to painful at all is it. 🙂 Just remember don’t try to reuse the leftover marinate as it has been in contact with raw meat and can cause illness.
I would love some comments with your favorite Marinades.
#Sears #GrillingIsHappiness
 FlipGrillman.com

That Shaker Of Salt

Grilled Fruit 101

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When we think of cooking on the grill we think hamburgers, hot dogs and perhaps a good steak or two. For a lot of people the last thing to come to mind is fruit. But those people are missing out.
Apples, pineapple & Pears are so good. Make sure they are nice and firm when choosing them. If you decide to try softer fruits like peaches,  papaya, or nectarines you have to pay close attention, as they heat very quickly. If overcooked soft fruits you will be left with nothing but mush. Soft fruits are not so much cooked as they are heated.  Some fruits are great cooked in their skins also. You should try bananas, pineapples or tangerines.
There are many fruits that can be grilled just by cutting them in hald  these include bananas, apples, pineapples, plums, peaches, and pears can be cut in half just pit or core them. Citrus and juicey fruits do better cut in thick pieces.
Depending what you are cooking either place the fruit directly on the grill or skewers. To prevent their sticking, baste items lightly. You can use melted butter,
or an oil-based marinade. I try to avoid olive oil as it has a heavy taste to me. I love some of them with Coconut oil though. You should try it with the pineapple. Yum.
Some people like to marinate their fruit. I found a simple recipe a long time ago, not sure where, but combine:
1/4 c. red wine,
1 tbs. of honey
2 tbs. cooking oil,
1 crushed garlic clove,
 2 tbs. of lemon juice.
I leave fruit in over night. I am sure you can find a million recipes on here if you search. My biggest piece of advice is experiment and have fun.
Inspired By:
#Sears #Grillingishappiness
 FlipGrillman.com
That Shaker Of Salt

Grilling Shrimp

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Today is National Shimp Day. Anyone who knows me knows if there was one food I could live on it would be shrimp. I often joke that I never met a shimp I didn’t like. One way I like them the most is cooked on the grill. I have some recipes I would like to share with you. These are in my recipe file box so I am not sure where I came across them but have tried them all and love them. If you see one that you have seen before please let me know where, because I believe in giving credit where credit is due.
When grilling shrimp it is best to do it on skewers. Skewers make it much easier to handle them. I think it is best if you put them on the skewers lengthwise, this way they dont curl up as they cook. Also do not push the shrimp to close together on the skewers, doing so will cause an uneven cooking.
Shrimp are best grilled quickly but not over too high of a heat. You should cook on medium heat, or test by making sure you can hold your hand comfortably over the heat for 4 seconds.
This being said, I hope you try and enjoy one or more of these recipes.
Of course I am going to start off with:

Grilled Margarita Shrimp

12 large shrimp
2 cloves minced garlic.
1/4 cup tequila
1/4 cp chopped cilantro
1/4 cp olive oil
1 jalapeno, minced
2 Tlb triple Sec
2 Tbl lime juice

Preparation:
Mix all ingredients, except shrimp. Add shrimp,cover & marinate in refrigerator forat least one hour. Thread shrimp onto skewers and grill Until throughly cooked.


Chili Garlic Grilled Shrimp Recipe

1 tbsp smoked paprika1 tbsp crushed Chilis
 1 tbsp lemon juice4 cloves minced garlic
12 medium to large raw shrimp

Instructions
Mix all ingredients except shimp in bowl . Marinate in the fridge at least 1 hour. Spear shrimp on skewers and grill until done.

Grilled Cajun Shrimp
1/2 tsp. cajun spice
1/2 cup chopped basil
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. coarse black pepper
 16+ large Shrimp, peeled

Mix marinade in shallow bowl, add Shrimp, cover, refrigerate for at least 3 hours, turning occasionally. Grill Shrimp until just done


Chili-Lime Bacon Wrapped Barbecue Shrimp


1 clove crushed Garlic

1 tbs lime juice
1/2 cp canola oil
dash cayenne pepper
1/2 tea chili powder
12 large peeled Shrimp
6 slices bacon


Mix Ingredients except shrimp & bacon in mixing bowl. Add Shrimp and marinate Shrimp for an hour or more.

Partially pre-cook bacon & let cool. Lightly oil the grill. Remove shrimp from marinade, then wrap bacon around shrimp, securing it with a toothpick.
Cook until done.
#grillinghappiness #sears
 FlipGrillman.com

Enjoy, Fins Up!!!!

That Shaker Of Salt