Gloriously Delicious Cast Iron Skillet Barbequed Veggies

 

 

 

I have a serious problem, I am addicted to potatoes. As I wrote on a previous blog post it's terrible how spuds can control my appetite. Magnificent, spectacular, sometime buttery, sometimes fried, sometimes garlicy taters.

 

Am I obsessed? Maybe. But only the Lord can judge my overzealous appeal towards tubers.   

 

Now that I officially sound loopy, I present you one of our favorite family recipes. It was developed by Mother Judith and Dad-I expanded on it a bit.

 

Covered in flavor, kissed with tastiness, and healthy! (That's always a plus) The dish will be a hit! 

 

There is a lot of olive oil in the recipe, but it is needed for the barbequing section of the recipe. It helps make the potatoes nice and crispy, almost like fries.

Tools:

• Barbeque
• Medium Sized Cast Iron Skillet with lid
• Spatula

Ingredients:

•  4 cups chopped red potatoes
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 tablespoon season salt
• 4 tablespoons olive oil-plus extra for later 
• 1/2 cup turkey bacon (or regular bacon)
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 4 cups green beans
• 2 cups squash

Place potatoes, onions, season salt, olive oil, and garlic in cast iron skillet. Place on barbeque. Turn on to medium heat, place lid on top. Let cook, stirring occasionally. Make sure to scrape bottom of skillet. Caution: Lid will be extremely hot, be sure to use oven mitts when handling lid.

When potatoes are soft, add bacon and green beans. At this point you might need to add extra olive oil to skillet. If food is sticking to the bottom, add oil and reduce heat a little bit. Stir well. Cover, let cook, and stir occasionally.

When green beans are almost cooked, add squash. Stir, cover, and continue to cook. As soon as squash is soft, with an oven mitt, remove skillet from barbeque and enjoy!
 

Hope you and your family love this recipe as much as we do!

Nancy Jane

Garlicy Sweet Marinade

I started developing this recipe years ago, adding and subtracting, finally achieving the final product. I enjoy testing marinades (before I put the raw meat in) to make sure I have a balance of flavors.

Garlic makes my taste buds happy, so almost all my savory recipes include the ingredient. The honey, brown sugar, and garlic mingle quite nicely, giving you a sweetish and garlicy taste.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 heaping cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3/4 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed

Whisk all the ingredients together, the honey will take a little while to get super liquidy. I like to separate the crushed garlic so that the flavor spreads out. Place in a ziplock bag with steak and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 1/2 hours. If you are making kabobs, make sure to have the meat chopped up before marinating.

 
I particularly enjoy using the marinade for kabobs. It tends to drip onto the veggies, giving them some kapow! Delightful!



Peppers, Mushrooms and Onions...yum!

Zucchini and onions, all homegrown and delicious. 

Nancy Jane  

Sweet Barbequed Cinnamon Carrots





Cinnamon and carrots, a healthy match made in heaven. The natural sugar content of the carrots blend perfectly with the cinnamon creating a delightfuly sweet dish! Meat eaters and bunnies alike will love this dish.

 

In early spring I planted these fun tri colored carrots. Since today was my last harvest of the crop I decided to make Sweet Barbequed Cinnamon Carrots.

 

Ingredients:

• Four cups of chopped carrots
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• Foil 

Place chopped carrots in bowl, add olive oil and cinnamon. Mix together.

 

 

Place carrots in a foot length of foil. Wrap foil completely around carrots.

 

 

Place on Barbeque with burners set on medium-high. Barbeque for 20-25 minutes on top shelf, or until carrots are slightly soft.

 

 

Once barbequed, remove and enjoy! Serve hot or cold.

 

Serve in a cute mason jar, or on a platter. Eat alone or enjoy on top of steaks, chicken, and even hamburgers! It's also a fantastic addition to a leafy green salad. So incredibly healthy and tasty, it is sure to be a hit! 

Nancy Jane

Rockstar Barbequed Fries

During the long hot days of Summer, the last thing the cook wants to do is warm up the house with the oven! However, this family enjoys our burgers with a nice side of potato goodness. To solve this battle of either warming up the house to have fries, or keep the house cool and have no fries, we use the barbeque. It becomes an essential cooking tool in the Gray household.

These healthy fries are simple to make, however they do take a while to cook. It takes around an hour for them to finish, but it's well worth the wait. They can be barbequed by themselves or simultaneously with a steak or burger. You do not need to babysit the fries while they are cooking. Just turn on the timer and work on other project!

This recipe is for a party of four. Feel free to add or reduce the amount of potatoes and spice.

*side note* It calls for red potatoes, but we found purple and white potatoes at Costco, so we included them in this batch.

What you need:

• 5 Red Potatoes (or any other potato about the size of a fist)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (another option is garlic olive oil-it adds extra flavor to the dish)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Foil (non stick works best)
• Barbeque

"Preheat" the barbeque, turning burners on to medium. Cut potatoes into desired size, put in bowl. Add olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper, stir until potatoes are well covered.

Take 10-12 inches of foil and place on countertop. If you do not have non-stick foil, be sure to spray it with Pam.

Pour potatoes on foil.

 

 

Keep potatoes in the middle of foil. Add another piece of foil on top, fold sides TIGHTLY! This step is so so important. You will be flipping over the foil and you want to make sure the potatoes don't spill out.

Open barbeque, carefully put potatoes on top shelf and close lid. Let cook for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes are up, cautiously lift lid. If it has been closed for full 20 min, there will be a wave of heat. Using a spatula, place the foil covered potatoes on bottom shelf and flip over. I use tongs to help out. Place back on top shelf with spatula. Cook for another 20 minutes. After that time is up, flip again using the same process. Open the top layer of foil with tongs and let cook opened for another 15-20 minutes.

 

Grab some ketchup, and enjoy!

 

 

 

A great part of the recipe is the potatoes will absorb the taste of the well seasoned barbeque. I prefer this recipe over oven roasted fries because of this. I am looking forward to making these all through the barbeque season! 

 

Nancy Jane