Cold Weather Grilling: Vegetable Bundles

Ingredients

 Here is another great recipe featuring vegetables. You can add the meat of your choice of course, but this recipe is filling enough on it's own.

Sliced Vegetables

Ingredients:

*4 red potatoes

*2 medium carrots

*1 stalk of celery   

*1 tablespoon of butter

*1 teaspoon of dill 

*Salt and Pepper to taste   

*Optional: 1 cup uncooked chicken

Directions: 

*Heat up the grill *

1. Clean vegetables and slice into small pieces. 

2. Tear 4 equal sized sheets of tin foil. Double them up in pairs of 2. 

3. Pour equal amounts of the vegetable mixture onto each foil square.

4. Add the butter, dill, salt and pepper. (Optional chicken would be added now as well).

5. Close up each foil bundle well. Place on the grill and let sit 15 min. Turn both bundles over. Let cook an additional 15 minutes.

6. Remove from grill and open carefully, they will be very hot so let them sit a few minutes before eating. Provides 2 generous portions.

Vegetable Bundle ready for grilling

Lettuce Wraps

Chicken Lettuce Wrap

Part of my New Year's resolution is to eat more vegetables, and this recipe is so good you won't notice you're eating them! I use Honey Teriyaki flavor KC Masterpiece Marinade and Kikkoman Soy sauce, you can use any brands but these are my favorite to use.

Ingredients

Ingredients:

*1 tablespoon vegetable oil

*1 Head of lettuce (the larger leaves are better)

*2 green zucchinis

*2 yellow zucchinis

*1 cup of the meat of your choice cooked and cubed

* About 3 tablespoons of soy sauce

*1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce

*Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Chicken and Zucchini cooking

*Wash the lettuce leaves and set aside.

*Cook the meat and cut into bite sized pieces. Set aside. 

*Slice the zucchini into bite size pieces and simmer on medium high heat in the vegetable oil.

*Add the soy and teriyaki sauce and stir for 3-4 minutes.

*Add the meat and turn the heat down to medium, stir frequently for 3-5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Beef Wraps

*Pour into a bowl, scoop into a lettuce leaf.
*It will be hot so be careful before you bite in. Serves 2. Enjoy!

Salads

French Style Salad:  

This salad has a great texture and flavor variety. 

Ingredients:

1 tomato

Hard boiled egg

6-10 whole, fresh green beans

1 can solid albacore tuna in water

1 head of butter lettuce

Building this salad is pretty straight forward; wash each piece of butter lettuce and lay down a good thick base. Empty water from tuna and scoop on top. Peel and slice hard boiled egg. Clean green beans and lay on the side. Slice tomato and add to finished salad.  

 Arugula/Spinach Salad with Feta:

Ingredients:

About 1 cup arugula

2 cups baby spinach

About 1/3 cup herb and basil feta cheese, crumbled

2 small to medium tomatoes

Vinaigrette of your choice

Mix arugula, spinach and tomatoes together, crumble feta cheese over it and dress with a vinaigrette. It is very simple but packed with wonderful flavor. 

Fresh Summer Salad

Ingredients:

3-4 baby carrots, cut into little chunks

1 medium tomato

Spring mix lettuces

Ranch dressing

I served this salad with a Cajun seasoned chicken breast in order to have a nice contrast between the warm and spicy chicken and the cool salad.

Another example of the salad below with chicken and corn on the cob.

Some Breakfast Ideas I love

A red, white and blue breakfast! I make this often in the summer because of the variety of fresh fruit available.

Pancakes:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup oatmeal

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oatmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix in the milk and egg.
2. Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or the batter onto the pan, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides.
3. Slice up 1 strawberry for each pancake and add several blueberries. 
4. Enjoy!

Crepes:

       

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt, vanilla and butter; beat until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
3. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side.
4. You can fill the crepe with whipped cream if and slice up a few strawberries for the topping.  

Another variety shown to the right, is a peanut butter and 

banana crepe. I put about a tablespoon of peanut butter inside the crepe, wrap it up and slice a banana over the top.

 Parfait:

For this healthy breakfast, I layered greek yogurt, granola with a dash of cinnamon, blueberries and strawberries.

If you find the greek yogurt a little too tart for your taste, try adding some light maple syrup to it, just a little bit will sweeten it up.