Despite the day noted on the calendar, my husband Neil as well as our older boys won’t hesitate to fire up the grill- winter, spring, summer and fall.

During the comfortable days of spring, summer and fall it’s our daily companion for meal preparation. When the snow begins to fly it is relocated into our garage for winter use.  Our grill is no respecter of seasons.

There’s one thing though… Neil won’t let me touch the grill. We, the grill and I go back a long way.

You see when Neil and I were dating, over 20 years ago,  there were two incidents that banished me from the grill side. They now are quite funny.

The first episode was when we were very newly dating. We’d driven to a park and Neil wanted to grill some steaks. It was a beautiful day and we were having a very nice afternoon.

Neil needed to use the restroom and asked me to care for the steaks. Well, I’d never grilled before, but I wanted to help where I could, so of course I said yes.

I don’t really know what happened but suddenly one of the steaks was on the ground. Horrified I quickly picked it up and put it back on the grill, dirt side down of course!

Surely Neil would never notice… surely it would cook off.

There was Neil leisurely strolling back with all trust in his eyes having faith I’d taken care of the steaks he was quite hungry for.

Well, it didn’t take him long to realize once he flipped the steak that something had gone awry in the short time he’d been gone. I looked at him innocently and said it was a mistake and I was sure that it would cook off. He was not so sure, so I said I’d wash it off.

It was quite windy that day, and while I took it to the ladies room and diligently washed it, the coals had died out…

In the end… the sea gulls got the steak. I’ll tell the other story some other time.

To this day, I’m still banned from the grill except for emergencies. Here are some grilling tips from my hubby Neil!

*If you love garlic like we do, try throwing a few fresh garlic cloves on the hot coals to add extra flavor to your goodies.

*Neil loves to smoke stuff~ if you want to wow your guests, try adding some hickory, apple wood or cherry wood chips or sawdust on the coals for an extra special treat. Make sure you soak the chips in water for about hour before you are ready to put them on the coals; if using sawdust, wet liberally.

*If using charcoal, keep a spray bottle with water and spray the coals to keep temperature down.

*Neil likes to brush the grill with some olive oil before putting the food on so things won’t stick.

Last summer we fell in love with grilling pizza! The children enjoyed it both in the way of having fun because they created their own masterpieces and it was absolutely delicious. Here is my pizza crust recipe and some of our favorite toppings!
Here’s my recipes…Yummy Grilled Pizza!

Crust:
2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp. yeast
1 tsp. raw organic sugar
1 tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. olive oil
3-4 cups flour, plus some for dusting

Toppings:
shredded cheese
fresh Portobello mushrooms
sweet peppers
sausage,
ground beef or chicken
pizza sauce, ranch dressing
tomatoes

… these are just some ideas, use your favorite toppings and whatever is in season.

1. In a large, mixing bowl add yeast to water and stir gently; add sugar, salt and olive oil, stir in gently until dissolved.

2. Add 2 cups of flour, mix in until well blended; add 1 more cup flour, mix in well; and the rest of flour in 1/4 cups at a time until the dough is soft and doesn’t stick to hands. Add a bit more flour in until the dough feels right; Knead dough for about 2-3 minutes until all flour is mixed in well. Form into a ball and place in bowl, cover with kitchen towel and leave on the top of stove to rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

3. While dough is rising get your toppings prepared. Sauteing the veggies is best and making sure any raw meats are cooked.

4.When dough has risen, punch it down using your hands and knead a bit more into a ball again. On a floured surface, cut the dough into 4 even sized pieces and roll out to about and 1/2 inch thick. The dough should be thicker so it doesn’t fall apart on the grill.

5. Brush the dough with Olive Oil and put on heated grill; grill on one side for about 2-3 minutes, checking to be sure it doesn’t burn; when the one side is done, remove from grill onto a cookie sheet, cooked side up; put your toppings on the cooked side; sauce, cheese, meat & veggies and add a bit more cheese; return to the grill to finish grilling- about 2-3 more minutes; put lid on for about the last-minute to help melt the cheese.

Remove from grill and have your feast!

Grilling is fun, even though I don’t really know much about it ;-)
Keep posted for something I do know about… Brush On Butter recipes to die for!

Happy Day,
Jean