Baked-Potato Style Grilled Potato Rounds for an Easy Appetizer on the Grill. Don’t You Just Love Grillin’ Season?!

June 6, 2011 in Appetizers, Gluten Free

grilled potato rounds square

Grilled Potato Rounds - served baked-potato style

Don’t you just love strolling around the neighborhood on a summer’s eve and occasionally getting a whiff of someone’s barbecue dinner?

There is something magical about heat and smoke and barbecue sauce – slathered on ANYTHING and then grilled. For many years, all I ever cooked on my barbecue grill was meat. In the last few years, I have started to experiment and do grilled pizza, grilled veggies, grilled desserts. I even make a charred salsa verde on my grill. Yum.

Verdict: pretty much anything tastes better when grilled.

First up: appetizers. Yes, appetizers done on the grill. Two luscious bites of baked potato taste on a grilled potato slice. I love summer!

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Salsa Recipe to Celebrate at Summer’s End: Sassy Smoky Roasted Tomato Salsa

September 13, 2010 in Appetizers, Gluten Free, Healthy Fare, Side Dishes, Vegan Recipes

“It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts
while eating a homegrown tomato.”

–  Lewis Grizzard

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Sassy Smoky Roasted Tomato Salsa Recipe

This salsa recipe is the reason we grow a huge garden every summer. Sure, I love all the other veggies, but the absolute best are the peppers and tomatoes. We make gallons of salsa at the end of every summer. Then (and this is my very favorite part) we go around the neighborhood leaving jars of salsa on front door steps, in mailboxes, on the front seat of cars. I have become known as “The Salsa Fairy” by all my friends and neighbors. Next to “Mommy,” it’s my favorite title ever!

We posted this salsa recipe last year, but I decided a re-post was in order because last night I added a new flavor twist: roasted cumin. The earthiness of cumin just can’t be beat and is so good in this salsa. I discovered a new spice in the spice aisle: McCormick’s Roasted Ground Cumin. It has a deep, rich roasted intensified cumin flavor. If you’re a cumin fan, you MUST try this!

We love salsa here at fff -check out our Grilled Pineapple Mango Salsa, and our Charred Zucchini Salsa Verde.

Roasting about half of the tomatoes quickly at a very high heat gives a wonderful roasted smoky flavor, but keeping half of the tomatoes raw gives it the perfect freshness and texture. And, the chipotle chile powder and smoked paprika are delicious in combination with tomatoes.

Don’t skip the EVOO. Olive oil used with tomatoes improves BOTH their flavor and health benefits exponentially.

Celebrate a Meatless Monday with this salsa and you may find yourself eating it right out of the bowl with a spoon!

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Meatless Monday: Zucchini Crudo with Lemon Vinaigrette, Dill and Feta (with inspiration from Iron Chef Michael Symon)

June 7, 2010 in Appetizers, Gluten Free, Healthy Fare, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Entrees

Zucchini Crudo Salad Inspired by Iron Chef Michael Symon

Zucchini Crudo Salad Inspired by Iron Chef Michael Symon

Iron Chef Michael Symon is known for his love affair with meats, especially pork. In his new cookbook, Live to Cook, he even has a recipe for fried pig’s ears!  Yikes. So, it was ironic that the recipe that caught my eye while I was thumbing through his book at a bookstore recently was a Zucchini Crudo Salad. Chef Symon himself described it as “jaw-dropping good.” If the King of Pork says that about raw zucchini, you simply must sit up and take notice. I hurried home and made my own version. Only the best for Meatless Monday, I say!

Turns out Chef Symon is right. This raw zucchini and yellow squash ( think extra healthy!) salad is truly speechless good. The only thing it needed for my taste buds was a salty element, so I added crumbled feta. Result: summery deliciousness on a plate! You must eat it right away to get the full crispness of the squashes – it does not keep at all in the fridge. Put this on your “Must-Try” list in the height of zucchini madness season this summer!

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Fab Frugal Food Cooks up Quesadillas on Studio 5 TV !

May 25, 2010 in Entrees

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

What fun to be on KSL’s morning show today making quesadillas! I demo’ed a recipe from the Quesadilla cookbook – Shrimp on the Barbie – which is a fun quesadilla to make on the barbecue grill. Perfect for Memorial Day Weekend or any summer grilling!

Happy Summer Everyone!

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Fab Frugal Friday: Grilled Fruit

June 19, 2009 in Desserts, Frugal Tips

Peaches on the Grill

Peaches on the Grill

One of my greatest discoveries this summer is grilled fruit. This is soooooo easy you can even send one of your older kids out to the grill with a bowl full of fruit lightly sprayed with oil and some tongs and let then throw them on the grill!

So many fruits turn out great when grilled – I think peach halves are my very favorite. They taste fab and make a delicious frugal topping for ice cream. I also like eating them the same way my grandma ate plain peaches – sliced into a bowl with a little milk and a sprinkle with sugar. Yum!

For extra flavor, I use a balsamic reduction glaze: 1 cup of balsamic vinegar with 1/4 cup brown sugar simmered until reduced slightly. Brush on the fruit and then use the extra glaze as a drizzle later.

– posted by Donna