Healthy Kitchen Hacks #16 – Grilling Edition

Healthy Kitchen Hacks is a bi-weekly series on Teaspoon of Spice. We share fellow bloggers’ and our own favorite cooking shortcuts, kitchen tricks and “aha” ideas for making healthy meals and healthy living a snap.

Welcome to the grill for this edition of Healthy Kitchen Hacks.

Now here at chez Segrave-Daly, we are grilling old school with our charcoal grill. I love the flavor and since grilling is the hubby’s domain, he’s pretty much is in charge of the grill equipment. But someday, we’ll probably make the plunge for a really nice gas grill or a Big Green Egg (when we have some decent backyard dining space – a girl can dream.)

So, I thought it appropriate to get a healthy grilling hacks round-up going this week as we are in that season – for me, the most wonderful time of the year!

1) Grill Fish on Lemons
via Ruth Lily @Listotic

When Serena and I first started this series, this is one of the first hacks I pinned to our draft board (here’s our live Healthy Kitchen Hacks Pinterest board) but I wanted to save it until grilling season so I could test it out. Turns out grilling fish on lemon slices not only makes clean-up a snap, the lemons give a lovely flavor to your fish, too. Win-win.

2) Smarter Way to Skewer: Tip 1
via America’s Test Kitchen

This first tip – use two skewers when grilling – changed the way I make kabobs. This is especially useful for slippery chicken pieces or any kind of uneven vegetable strips/wedges (like onions, peppers, etc.) as the dual skewering system prevents your food from spinning around and helps achieve even cooking.

3) Smarter Way to Skewer: Tip 2
via Shelly & Gretchen @Two Healthy Kitchens

Sometimes with these hacks, I think “Am I the last one to learn this?” as they seem so obvious after I finally hear about them. And these two tricks for skewering kabobs rank up there.

So, tip #2 is cook only one type of food per kabob. Yeah, the multi-colorful kabob with the red onion, mushroom, yellow pepper and chicken sure looks pretty but each of those foods have different cooking times so you end up with nicely cooked chicken but burned mushrooms and barely cooked peppers. This method ensures the food is cooked evenly and people can take how much or how little they like.

4) Super Easy Marinade for Grilling
via Lindsay @Lean Green Bean

I love Lindsay’s analogy that this recipe is like finding that purse that you love but haven’t used in awhile in the back of your closet. Two ingredients –> yogurt + salsa = super versatile marinade for chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, salmon, the list goes on. And make extra to drizzle over salad or grilled vegetables.

5) Grilled Banana S’mores
via Gaby @What’s Gaby Cooking

I remember when I discovered roasted bananas (genius) and this super easy grilled banana dessert just takes them to the next level. I cut back on Gaby’s recipe to just one tablespoon marshmallows and one tablespoon chocolate chips per banana and they were still da bomb.

Want more? Click on Healthy Kitchen Hacks for a listing of all our past trick and tips.

Would you try any of these hacks? Any healthy kitchen or healthy living shortcuts to share? Shoot us an email (ddaly (at) teaspooncomm.com or sball (at) teaspooncomm.com) or share below and we’ll try them out.