3 Tips to Being King (or Queen) of the Grill

The weather's getting warmer, the grass is growing and school is coming to a close, you know what that means? It's almost outdoor grilling season. The thoughts of fresh grilled vegetables and tender, juicy barbecue comes to our minds here in the H3 Healthy Kitchen. So whether you're thinking about pulling out the grill this coming Monday for Memorial Day, wating until the first day of summer in June or even holding out until July 4; we want to share 3 simple, healthy grilling tips to ensure the most delicious food comes off your grill this summer.

1. Don't overcook your meat: This mistake can turn a great cook out into a tough situation, quickly! Have your meat thermometer on hand to check the internal temperatures of your beef, lamb, pork, seafood or ground meat. If you need a quick reference on the best temps, check out our handy dandy chart.

2. Be sure to properly season your meat: Marinate or season any meat at least 20 minutes prior to grilling. Using acidic marinades with white wine, lemon, lime, etc. help to flavor and tenderize meats.

3. Make your own Barbecue sauce: Skip the store bought sauce and  treat your family and guests to the amazing flavor that comes with tasting fresh sauce. Plus, you can enjoy the sauce that much more knowing you created it without all the extra unhealthy calories from those free sugars. Here are 2 of our H3 favorites - Mustard BBQ Sauce and the Original H3 BBQ Sauce.

These are the 3 basic tips to get you into the King of the Grill position with your family. If you want to go a step further, we have best practices for charcoal, gas and electric grills. Test out your new or improved grilling and marinating skills with our Cilantro-Lime Chicken Skewers recipe. Yum.



Cilantro-Lime Chicken Skewers

Ingredients:

4 4oz. Chicken breasts, each breast cut into 6 pc.

1/2 Fresh pineapple, large chunks

16 Wooden skewers, soaked in water

Marinade:

1 Cup Chicken Stock

4 Fresh limes, juiced and zested

1/4 Cup Fresh chopped cilantro

1 Tsp. Minced garlic

1 Tbl. Extra virgin olive oil

1/2 Tsp. Crushed red pepper

1/2 Tsp Salt

1/4 Tsp. Ground pepper

Preparation:

• Combine first 7 ingredients for the marinade, then set aside.


• Arrange chicken and pineapple on skewers, alternating chicken and pineapple.


• Lay skewers in a single layer cover with marinade wrap and chill, leave to marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.


• Remove skewers from marinade and grill skewers.

Nutrition:

Number of Servings: 4 (4 skewers/person)
Calories: 170
Fat: 4

Healthy Recipes: Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad

INGREDIENTS:
15 cups Romaine lettuce, washed, chopped
3/4 cup Turkey bacon, cooked, rough chopped (2 tablespoons per salad)
15 Roma tomatoes, quartered (3 quarters per salad)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded (1 tablespoon per salad)
25 pieces Shrimp (large), peeled and deveined
5 pieces Crostini, make baguette or use multi-grain bread cut very thin on a bias (1 piece per salad)
3/4 cup H3 Caesar Dressing (recipe below)

PREPARATION:

• Wash and chop romaine lettuce.


• Toss lettuce with Caesar Dressing to lightly coat.


• Place 3 cups of lettuce in each bowl.


• Garnish each salad with 2 tablespoons of rough chopped turkey bacon.


• Add the quartered tomatoes on the side of the bowl.


• Place crostini sticking in the salad but on a bias.


• Place grilled shrimp kebobs on top of the salad as a criss-cross.


• Garnish with parmesan cheese.

Serves: 5
Calories: 270
Sodium: 700 mg
Carbohydrates: 12 grams

Fiber: 2 grams

Protein: 32 grams

 

H3 Caesar Dressing

INGREDIENTS:

1 ½ cups Pureed cottage cheese

1 Tablespoon Red wine vinegar

 ¼ cup Lemon juice

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 Tablespoons Anchovy paste

½ teaspoon Mustard powder

4 Garlic cloves, crushed

3 Tablespoons Olive oil

½ cup Parmesan cheese

PREPARATION:

• Place garlic cloves in food processor and blend until crushed.


• Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth.


• There will be some lumps of cheese, but that is normal.

Serves: 20

Serving Size:  1 tablespoon

Calories: 40

Sodium:  125mg

Carbohydrates: 1 gram

Protein: 3 grams

Treat your Father to a Healthy Cookout

Father's Day is just around the corner. Skip the tie and cook him up a healthy meal. Give the gift of good health to your Dad and celebrate him by throwing a Healthy Father's Day Cookout! Think simple.

For starters, whip up Taco Dip, Pita Chips, and fresh cut vegetables, while the family waits for the main course to finish.

Toss your Dad's favorite vegetables (mushrooms, zucchini, red onions) into a mixing bowl with one teaspoon of olive oil, salt and pepper then cook them on the grill until softened. Easy! 

For the entrée, try our H3 Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin Kabobs. Between the sweet Teriyaki Sauce, salty and tender pork, this dish is always a hit! Don't forget to add a few vegetables to bulk up each skewer.

Now, onto dessert. Grilled pineapple goes a very long way. Toss chopped pineapple on your grill, remove and drizzle with dark chocolate.  You will be thrilled with this sweet, juicy, treat.

Remember, the entire day is for your Dad so keep your meal simple. Instead of spending hours on a laborious meal, make an easy meal on the grill all the while enjoying time with your family.

For more grilling tips, read Chef Jen's posts Healthy Grilling Tips Pt. 1 and Healhty Grilling Tips Pt. 2

[caption id="attachment_6061" align="alignright" width="420" caption="Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin Kebabs"][/caption]

Healthy Grilling Pt. 2

 

I'm glad everyone enjoyed part one in my healthy grilling series. If you missed the post, check on this healthy grilling link. Now that you know what temperature and how to season your meat, let's talk about the grill itself. Grilling time and flavor can vary depending on the type of grill you have. Here are some tips on how to get set up using the specific types of grills.

 Charcoal Grilling:

1. Pick a charcoal such as Kingsford


2. Purchase lighter fluid


3. Depending on the amount being grilled, always make sure you have enough charcoal to create a nice bed of heat.


4. Give yourself enough time for the charcoal to heat up before trying to grill. 


5. Ideal for all types of grilled items: fish, meats, vegetables, tofu and fruit.


6. Warning: Can be messy after charcoal is burned down.


7. Warning: Temperature can’t be adjusted on charcoal grills.

 Gas Grilling:

1. Preheating the grill is still ideal, but perhaps only 20 minutes time is needed for preheating.


2. Once grill is hot, you can start grilling.


3. Gas grilling is cleaner than charcoal grilling but you don’t get as much of a grilled flavor.


4. Ideal for all types of grilling items.


5. Temperature can be adjusted on gas grills.

 Electric Grill:

1. Needs plenty of time to heat up, perhaps 30 minutes depending on age of electric grill.


2. Grids need to be cleaned after each use, as the debris left from the food won’t clean off as easily as they do on the grills mentioned above.


3. Any types of grilling items can be done on such equipment but depending on the grill, it may take longer than other types of grilling.

I'll leave you with another recipe to try out on the grill. These Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin Kebabs bring some variety to your grilling party!

Healthy Grilling Pt. 1

So it’s getting to be that time of year again when we start pulling out the grills and think about barbequing. Here are some helpful tips on good grilling and the recipes you can find on H3daily.com.

First and foremost we want to make sure that when we are grilling we are using the leanest meats there are. Chicken breast, turkey breast, pork tenderloin, beef tenderloin, lamb chops and of course fillets of fish. Now that you know what is leanest, you still have to remember to keep your ounces in consideration. Seafood can range from 5-6 ounces and meats can range from 4-5 ounces each. So those monster chicken breasts that are provided by your grocer need to be fileted in half for two servings instead of one.

Next tip is not drying out our meats so the use of the thermometer is key. Sure you can poke at the meat to see if it’s done, but you will know for sure when you use a thermometer. What you might not know is that there is a slight indent on your thermometer about 1 ½ inches up and that is actually how you temp your items; the tip of the thermometer does not actually read the temperature. Now you may ask, so what temperature do I look for? Check out the chart below:
Internal Temperatures for Doneness

Beef/Lamb
Rare	120 - 125°F
Medium Rare	130 - 140°F
Medium	145 - 150°F
Well done	155 - 165°F
Pork
All poultry	165°F
Seafood
All seafood                                                            (Cooking fish- ten minutes per inch of thickness)	145°F
Ground Meats
All ground meats	155°F

By not overcooking your meat, you will then be able to use less sauce and everyone will be happy because it’s juicy and tender.

Seasoning Tips
• Marinate or season meats ahead of time for at least 20 minutes. Using acidic items such as lemon, lime, white wine and balsamic are great tenderizers, that also add flavor to meats – but if used alone, marinating should be no more than 20 minutes, especially on small cuts of meat.
• Season all items before grilling.
• If using a basting method, such as barbeque sauce, add it toward the end to prevent the sugars from burning.
• Use herbs and spices for all types of grilled items, or make your own low salt rubs.

Grilling Tips
• Avoid touching the grilled meats too much, unless you truly feel that they are burning.
• The more you pick up and turn the meats, the longer they will take to cook and their juices might all leak out.
• Make sure to have all your tools out and ready for your use- such things as a long pair of tongs, grill brush, carving fork, hot pads, and a clean pan for items that are ready to be used.

Try this Sante Fe Tuna recipe. This marinade works great with pork tenderloin, and chicken. Look out for my Grilling Pt. 2 post soon!