Joe and I bought our gas grill the day we created our wedding registry. It was early spring, and the grills had just come out and were on sale.
We knew we should wait for my bridal shower, but we just couldn’t be patient. We wanted to enjoy grilled food out on our deck as soon as the weather warmed up.
We primarily grill hamburgers, chili burgers, hot dogs, chicken breasts, and veggies.
Oh, and kielbasa. I can’t forget kielbasa; Joe’s dad has worked at a world famous kielbasa shop on and off throughout his retirement. We grill a lot of kielbasa (which is pronounced kuh-BOSS-ee by the way).
My mom grills all kinds of adventurous things – pineapple, peaches, corn, and stuff I’d never even think to put on the grill.
Who am I kidding?
I don’t grill anything.
I leave that to Joe 100% of the time.
Anyway, I love cookouts when everyone comes over and sits on the porch while Joe cooks yummy food over propane flames.
It doesn’t really matter to me who’s doing the cooking or hosting the shindig, but cookouts are a good time all summer long.
When I was a little kid, living in a trailer in the boonies, my family had cookouts at Old Grandma’s or at one of my uncles’ house. Endless food was grilled in half of a 55-gallon metal drum with grates across the top. A buffet of potato salad and macaroni salad and olives was set up on a red wooden picnic tables, while other tables were set up across the front yard. We played horseshoes and lawn darts (the horrors!) and badminton and the kids ran around like nuts while the adults sat and visited in the sunshine.
Oh, to do that again. Maybe it wasn’t as amazing as I remember; I was only little. But still, I remember it fondly.
The thought of another one of those cookouts makes me a little teary-eyed. It would be wonderful. We’ve all grown up and spread out across the state and country, and so many of the relatives have passed away, including my mom and one of her brothers.
When we cook out at our house, Joe usually makes grilled veggies – his favorite is squash from his garden – and some kind of meat, but we’ve also made grilled pizza that turned out really well.
| Servings | people |
- 2 zucchini We use them straight out of the garden when we can.
- 2 yellow squash
- 1 large onion
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2-3 cloves garlic pressed with a garlic press
Ingredients
| |
- Chop the squash and peel and chop the onion. Toss in olive oil to coat.
- Place all of the chopped veggies into a grill basket. Grill over medium-high heat until onions are crisp-tender.
- Let the veggies cool a little, then toss with garlic and spices of your choice. We like just plain garlic, and we also like to sprinkle on Pampered Chef spice rubs.
Alternate method, especially if you want your zucchini to look like mine in the photo:
- Slice zucchini and squash into thick slices using a mandoline slicer.
- Brush each side of each plank with olive oil, not enough to make it dripping, but enough to make it moist.
- Place squash directly on the grill grates over medium-high heat. Aim for 5 minutes on each side.
© 2012 – 2019, Tara Ziegmont. All rights reserved.
