Grilling Fruit and Vegetables Recipes and Tips

Grilling peaches is an art. Here they are on my pit.

The Art of Grilling Fruits and Veggies

Grilling fruits and vegetables can be as much of a learning experience as grilling beef, pork, poultry or fish. People think I am crazy because I put just as much time into grilling my veggies and fruits than I do my meats.  Mainly I look at these items as a side item and a lot of time a form of a healthier dessert option. I wanted to tell you a few tips for grilling fruits and veggies if you are a beginner, and maybe bring a few things to your attention if you are not.

Fruits

Certain fruits handle the heat better than most. Nothing like a fine grilled fruit to finish off your meal.  Some of my favorite fruits to grill on the direct grill are apples, peaches and pears.

Apples, Peaches and Pears

For apples, I love to core the apple, slice large round layers and cover in butter and cinnamon then grill.  Sometimes I leave the skin on but this is optional.   Peaches I've been known to grill in the skin and add some maple syrup on top.  This foodie site, http://www.grilledpeaches.net has a lot of information on grilled peaches.  Nothing like a fresh warm peach hot off the smoker.  Pears I've been experimenting with and find you can really add any taste you want to them.  Wife prefers brown sugar on them.

Hot Sweet Berry Mess

For other fruits like blackberries, raspberries and blueberries, I've been known to put them in a pocket of aluminum foil with a tiny pinch of butter and grill them good. This will half bake them and they will become runny. Nothing like  adding this warm messy mix of berries on top your pie or ice cream.  Yummy.

Grilling Limes and Oranges

Just for fun we cut some limes and oranges and grilled them up. These don't take long, and you must keep in large round slices with rind on or they will fall through the grates. A few slices of each makes a tasty treat and garnish on a pie, cup of sherbert or ice cream.

One of my fair signs, selling grilled corn is a big hit.

Grilling Corn

We grill our corn right in the husk, turning often.  If you are grilling meat, cook your corn on the side but if your corn is done prior to your meat, put your husk up on top your meat like we did here. You are going to remove the husk anyways and your goal is to keep the corn off indirect heat so it doesn't dry out once it's done.

The best way to find out if your corn is done is to squeeze it. If the corn feels hard to the touch, it's not done. If the corn is softer to the touch, it's done.

Be careful removing the husk because it will be hotter than hell's bells and the steam can burn you.  Now we coat in butter and Old Bay Seasoning, this is a Maryland specialty. We sell a lot of this on the road. Grilling on an open pit makes it taste altogether different.


Tomato, Pepper and Onion Pockets

Certain veggies are not your friend, take for instance the almighty tomato. If you are grilling this for a kabob, add within the last few minutes or they will become mushy and fall apart. Now, you can use some aluminum foil and make a pocket with green pepper slices, white onion slices and cut tomatoes.  Add some seasoning of choice and within 40 minutes turning several times you will have a nice grilled medley. We use Italian seasoning if we are in the mood for Italian style, sometimes adding extra basil and garlic to the mix.  If you put two to three teaspoons of Italian dressing this will usually give it a good flavor without using the dry herbs. We've also been known to season it only with butter and our dry rub seasoning for a grilled flavor.

Crookneck has a very hard skin, so cut long ways and grill skin side down at first.

Squash and Zucchini

We grill squash all the time. In fact, there's a few ways to do it.  The best way for crookneck or any kind of squash with a hard skin, is to cut the squash horizontally into long layers and grill on the open flame. We like to cut some of the seeds out but this is optional. Turn occasionally and about 3/4 of the way, turn to the skin side and finish grilling, coating your squash with butter, salt and pepper. Some like to add their own spices at this point.

Don't get me wrong, squash doesn't really have a lot of flavor, so its' one of those foods you can add your own flavor too. We find maple syrup makes any kind of squash taste like a dream.

Zucchini squash can be cut in slices and put into an aluminum foil pocket with butter and cinnamon and a pinch of brown sugar for the tastiest dessert ever.

What do you grill? 

Share your grilled fruit or veggie pictures with me by tweeting to @BigFatDaddys and I may just use your photo right here!

Sweet Apple Wood Spare Ribs Recipe for Perfection

Get in ma belly!

My friend Don in Baltimore (shout out to Artist DoLoBo) told me he chopped down his apple tree. (Actually, it fell on his house.)  So all spring he's been chopping me apple wood ! I decided perfect for use in my smoker and do some Apple Wood ribs.

Here's what I did:

• Marinated full size pork spare ribs for 24-48 hours with dry rub seasoning (coating both sides).
• Filled a foil pan with 3.5 cups of Apple Juice. 
• Filled my pit with apple wood.
• Put the ribs in the foil pan and cooked them low and slow, about 225 degrees for five and a half hours adding more wood as needed and turning them changing positions into the mixture of apple juice.  Some of the juice will evaporate, but that's what you want, more apple flavor. Apple wood +Apple juice = Apple Heaven.

Now when I say smoking, I use a barrel smoker and the smoke flavor is what you want in your meat--gives it that mesquite flavor from the apple wood. So if you are using a large piped smoker, make sure your vents are adjusted or at half closed.

My ribs were very photogenic.

• At the five and a half hour mark I caramelized them by taking the pan away for good, and searing each right on the grate over top the sweet apple wood with lid open. 

•  During this step, I was finishing my rips with a maple powder and sugar blend on both sides until the ribs were browned, cooking about 25 minutes more on each side, or until done.  *If you don't have access to maple powder, cheat and use maple syrup but this will burn the outside a bit. 

 These were full size spare ribs, but because they were so tender from smoking for so long, I was able to easily cut the rib tips off and save those for another meal.  (Under normal circumstances, you would need a machete to do this, but not if you cook low and slow, the bones turn into budda!!) 

Here are more photos of  me and the rib (you will be taken to other sites as they are on my twitter):

Me in the kitchen with the ribs. 
The unaltered photo of my ribs.
The perfect compliment for 21 and up:  Here.
Beware: After eating the ribs and having the beverage.






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Sweet Potato Recipes and Healthy Eats

Go find out why sweet potatoes are different than yams at Sweet Potato Purple Potato website where they have the best recipes! 

You say potato. I say sweet potatoes.  I love them, in fact, they are a healthy sweet alternative to regular old whites or yellows anytime!  They add spunk in your trunk!  I mean it. I can do them in french fry form, in cakes and pies,  mashed up with cinnamon and butter, in sweet potato salad, or on side of my pork (see below).  I nabbed a lot of great recipes from Derrick over at  Sweet Potato Purple Potato website.  He's got a bazillion sweet potato recipes and even one of his all time favorites--Butternut and Sweet Potato Whole Wheat Lasagna!

Bottom line, is sweet potatoes are good for you and Derrick loves them more than I do! His website is loaded with great recipes and lots of information on sweets and purple potatoes! I mean do you even know what a purple potato is? If not you better get over there now and find out!

There you will find recipes galore!

Here are my faves and you can click on them to go there and get them for free while you are checking out the rest of their site!

Big Fat Daddy's Favorite Sweet Potato Recipes

All Found on Sweet Potato Purple Potato Website

Beets N Sweets  

Sweet Hot Apple Slow Cooker Pork 

Hash Brown Potato Salad Recipe

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Menu from Mars Recipes for the Grilling and Cooking Guru

There is magic in those hands...

Imagine our shock when we found someone who loves grilling, cooking, and having fun with their meat as much as we do. What's even better than this, is while he is doing it, he's video taping it for you so you can follow along.   We are of course talking about Andy from Menu from Mars and his super cool recipes!

Andy keeps you smiling and is funny and passionate about cooking and making videos about cooking!

You won't find meals for martians here but instead for humans!  There are great videos from his Menu From Mars  Youtube channel uploaded to his site giving you step by step instructions on how to cook the best ribs, pork, chicken, main dishes,sweets, and all kinds of other recipes.  He is a great entertainer and sometimes you will catch him all dressed up!

Find out why Andy says "Less is More" by clicking on this word ---> Ribs!

Andy has a lot of pride in what he does and his recipes are practical to use in your kitchen. We think he may be the famous someday on the Food Network, and if so, remember us!

If you are up for a real challenge we suggest his homemade barbecue sauce!  Full of ingredients the final product is worth the work and you won't be sorry. Your family and friends will be shocked.  We know you will love his videos as much as we do, and find some funny commercials too!  Please go to his website and check him out!

While you are at it: 
 
Connect with him on Twitter.

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