Grilled Summer Squash

As I’ve mentioned before, we have a ridiculous amount of summer produce. I’m talking yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, etc. We love it. This is probably my absolute favorite way to cook and eat yellow squash. Since we are grilling all of the time, it is so easy to just throw it in a foil pack and let it cook outside. I won’t lie – my husband cooks it better. He has perfected the temperature and cooking time so it is still a little crispy but cooked just right.

1 small yellow squash, sliced into small slices

1 small zucchini, sliced into small slices
½ onion, sliced into rings or strips
1 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
½ tsp garlic salt
1 Tbsp olive oil

• Get a long strip of foil, enough that will hold all of the squash.
• In a bowl, combine the squash slices, onion, seasonings and oil. Mix together until all vegetables are coated. Pour the mixture on the foil.
• Gather up to foil sides to make a little packet. Throw the packet on the grill at about 400°F and cook for about 10 minutes.
• You may want to check it periodically to make sure it isn’t burning. Leaving a little opening at the top of your packet will allow some steam to help cook the squash also.

Prosciutto Wrapped Grilled Asparagus

If you ask my son what his least favorite food is, he would say “asparagus”, without a doubt, no hesitation. However, I love it and he also needs to at least try it a few times before he can legitimately hate it. So – we are trying new ways to eat it. Here’s one of the ways we’ve found that he will at least eat all of it, even if it’s not willingly.

1 lb. of asparagus spears, trimmed, cut into about 5 inch long spears

4 thin slices of prosciutto cut in half length-wise
1 Tbsp. lemon pepper seasoning
1 Tbsp. olive oil

• Make a foil pan to hold your asparagus on the grill. I typically just take a sheet and fold the edges around to make a small “pan” with sides.
• Place asparagus spears onto the foil pan and drizzle with the olive oil.
• Roll around spears to make sure they are coated in the oil. Sprinkle spears with lemon pepper seasoning.
• Gather the asparagus into 8 small bundles and wrap with a slice of the prosciutto.
• Grill on the top rack at 350°F for about 15 minutes or until prosciutto and asparagus are cooked.

Grilled Jalapeno Poppers

These were my husband’s creation, so I can’t take full credit for them (I did buy the groceries though so that has to count for something right?). He loves spicy food but I do not, so we don’t have things like this often. I even tried them though and they were good!

6 jalapeno peppers, whole – seeds removed.
3 slices of turkey bacon, cut in half
mozzarella cheese slices (the equivalent of 3 cheese sticks cut in half)
toothpicks

•  While wearing gloves (so you do not burn your hands, skin, eyes, face, whatever else!), cut the stem end off of the peppers. Then cut a slice down the pepper, lengthwise. You want to be able to pull apart the pepper slowly to add the cheese but you want it to keep its shape for cooking.
• Add the cheese slices into the peppers. We used a fresh mozzarella role and just cut strips long enough to fit in the peppers. *NOTE: it helps to freeze the cheese strips for about 15 minutes so the cheese doesn’t melt out while cooking.
• Wrap the bacon pieces around the cheese stuffed peppers and secure with a toothpick.
• Grill or bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes or until the bacon is cooked.
• NOTE: I’m not kidding about wearing gloves while dealing with hot peppers. Some people have skin of steel, others of us aren’t so lucky. My one and only experience with cutting jalapenos without gloves ended poorly. I was about 12 helping my mom make salsa and started cutting them bare-handed. I had jalapeno oils under my nails and on my face. For a couple of days I was miserable… so be forewarned – glove it! J