It's Summer; Let's Grill Everything!

My neighbor grills all summer long, and she doesn't limit herself to meats. She actually bakes on her grill, treating it as an outdoor oven. Her bread and homemade pizza are simply wonders of the summer.

So far, I've been slow to experiment with using my grill for anything other than slabs of chicken or beef, but today I grilled meatloaf and baked potatoes for our dinner and had plenty of coals left over. I decided to whip up tomorrow's breakfast muffins and set them baking. That, of course, reminded me that I had a birthday cake to bake, so why not?

By the time I got everything mixed up and on the grill, I was looking at needing to add more coals. That can be a problem midway through baking something on your grill. So, if you are going to try to use your grill as an outdoor oven, you must own one of these...

With a charcoal chimney, you can get the next set of coals ready without exposing your food to excess flame or starter fluid. When my second batch of coals was ready to add to my "oven," I moved all my muffin tins to one side of the grill, removed a grate, dumped in the hot coals, and then arranged them where they were needed.

Just so you know, Strawberry Banana Muffins are really good with a little smokey flavor adding a touch of savory to the sweet. I'll let you know tomorrow how the gluten free chocolate cake tastes grilled.



P.S. Blogger just informed me that I've not posted my Strawnanna Bread recipe. I'll get that up this week.

Random Cooking Tips

Tip #1
On the off chance you are making muffins in the near future, here's a tip. If you don't have enough batter for a full batch, fill the remaining muffin spots halfway with water. This helps the muffins bake evenly. I'm guessing it has to do with the way heat conducts, but I'm not sure. I just know it works, especially in an oven (like mine) that has hot spots.

Tip #2
We've all been mid-way through a recipe and found that we were low on an ingredient and must make a substitution. Be sure to jot it down. If you ran low of sage and decided to go with cilantro instead it's good to record if it turned out well. That's how recipes are improved upon. Don't depend on your memory. A year from now you'll remember that you substituted something green for the sage and might pull out the parsley instead. Speaking of, I note the disastrous substitutions, too. I make a frowny face next to the note. I don't want to repeat my mistakes, after all. I make enough of those the first time around.