Vegetables in a Grill Wok - Healthy and Yummy

Potatoes and Carrots Marinading to Go in a Barbecue Grill Wok

Tonight I decided to grill wok red skinned potatoes and carrots to go with some rib eye steaks that are always a favorite around here.

The potatoes were kind of big, so I quartered them so they would not take FOREVER to grill. The carrots were the lazy girl's baby carrots in the bag and ready to serve. I really should have gone to the IGA to get full sized carrots, but it's raining out and cold, so I decided to use what I had on hand.

While you don't have to marinate vegetables before grilling, that does give them a nice flavor and helps prevent sticking. You want an oil based marinade, and I used one of my favorites - Garlic Gold (organic infused products that have a really lovely flavor). You can also use Kraft Zesty Italian dressing (oily - not creamy).

Grill Wok on the Char Broil Urban Grill with Vegetables

I sprayed the grill wok with non-stick spray. Just the inside. Then I put it on the grill to heat for around 10 minutes. The non stick spray and the pre-heating again prevent problems with foods sticking.

When I poured the vegetables in the grill wok, I cut the heat down to medium or around 350 to 375 degrees F. You don't want the grill too hot for hard vegetables, or the outside will burn, and the inside will still be hard and crunchy.

I also sprinkled on some Parmesan cheese. Yeah. The cheap sprinkle kind. My son loves that stuff and it holds up to the heat just fine. If you use the expensive cheese shredded by hand, then add that right before the grilled vegetables are done, or you will have a heap big burned mess.

Once I had everything ready, I put the lid down on the grill. It would take a really long time to do vegetables with the lid open on the grill, because the heat would be low.

Grilled Potatoes and Carrots - Good Grilled Side Dish

I grilled my veggies for around a half hour. Since I had company drop by, I'm not totally sure on the time, but that would be ballpark. It does depend on the size of the vegetables, type of vegetables (root veggies take longer to grill), the heat of the grill, and the outside temperature. So, be sure to check now and then. You can use a fork to check done-ness. The fork will slide in easily when the vegetables are ready.

Those baby carrots did come back and bite me. I should have added those about 15 minutes in, since they were cut much smaller than the potatoes. Most of them were okay, and I hid the icky looking ones in the bottom of the bowl. I don't touch up my photos, but I'm not sticking burned carrots on top either. A grill girl has to have some pride (-:

The vegetables did taste great. That Garlic Gold gave them a really nice flavor. The cheese was nice on there too even though I'm not a huge sprinkle cheese fan. The cheese did, however, add some nice crusting which gave some crunch to the potatoes which I did like a lot.

Grill Wok Chicken on the Char Broil Urban Grill

Getting Ready to Grill Chicken and Vegetables in a Grill Wok

I had some chicken thawed out and decided to grill wok that with some vegetables. My son put on some rice while I marinated the chicken, green peppers, and onions and fired up the Char Broil Urban Grill.

You can use any type of oil to marinate chicken and vegetables to wok cook on the grill. Today I was using Garlic Gold, since that is one of my favorites. It's olive oil infused with organic garlic. Really great stuff.

My college son (not the younger one) loves spicy food, so I broke out the Too Hot for Momma. Gary sent me that, and I'm been chomping at the bit to try it but was waiting for another hot fan to be around to enjoy some heat. This was a free product to try out (no strings), and I'm a huge fan or the original Gary's seasoning blend.

Loading up the Grill Wok with Chicken and Vegetables

After letting the grill heat up (important), I sprayed the grill wok with a little Pam non stick spray, put it on the grill and let it heat a couple of minutes, and then I added the chicken chunks (quarter size bites) plus the vegetables - also cut in bite sized pieces.

Every minute of so I'd use a spatula (large spoon would be fine as well) and stirred quickly so that the chicken and veggies would cook evenly.

Grilled Bread on the Side

We love our bread around here, so I put some Texas Toast on beside the grill wok. It's super easy to grill Texas Toast.

Yum! Grilled Dinner in Less Than a Half Hour

It took about 15 to 20 minutes to grill wok the chicken and vegetables and to finish off the grilled bread which takes only a couple of minutes.

Time to Dig In

Caleb had the rice ready, and I plated up our grilled chicken and vegetables with grilled Texas Toast. I especially liked the little extra kick with Gary's Too Hot for Momma, and NO it was not too hot for this Momma.

The meal was a as good as it looks. Trust me. I'd tell you if it wasn't. I hate to waste my food and time. This is a real easy and very tasty meal. It's also inexpensive if you look for the boneless chicken breasts on sale. I used about $1/worth of meat for this meal. Can't beat that.

Grilled Cheese with Garlic Gold Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette

We had grilled cheese this afternoon. I'd been waiting for my son to get home on spring break from UNC Chapel Hill to break out the halloom cheese. He's heard me and his brother raving about this cheese and has seen the photos here on Barbecue Master.

For anyone who has not tried grilled cheese, I must say that you are missing out. I'd rank grilled cheese right up with high quality chocolate. Yes. It is that good. I'm not even a huge cheese freak. I've never been one to just sit and eat plain cheese. I'd go with crackers with cheese. But . . . not with cheese on the grill. It just melts in my mouth, and I could eat tons of this stuff.

When grilling cheese, you want to marinate or brush it will oil or an oil based product. My favorite oil for grilled cheese is Garlic Gold. The last time I grilled cheese, I used Garlic Gold Oil. This time, I had a sample bottle they sent of their Garlic Gold Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette. Both worked great.

If you're not familiar with the Garlic Gold company, they have a ranch called Seven Oaks Ranch where they grow organic products like their garlic and then create and sell hand crafted garlic nuggets, oils, and vinaigrettes. I fell in love from the first taste, and the company keeps in touch. You really couldn't ask for nicer people, and I like to support great people making great products.

Getting the cheese ready was as simple as pouring some of the Garlic Gold Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette over the cheese. That's as easy a recipe as they come. Since the Garlic Gold oils and vinaigrettes are flavor infused, there's no need to add anything else. You don't, after all, want to overpower the cheese, and the Garlic Gold products are subtle but terrific.

I heated up the Char Broil Urban Grill which is a small two burner gas grill that is perfect for my small family. It is important to heat the grates well. So, I put the grill on high and put the lid down. When the temperature gauge hit about 600 degrees F, I opened the lid.

After the grill was good and hot, I opened the lid and waited about 5 minutes. You do want the grates hot but don't want a whole lot of heat otherwise. This is cheese after all, so don't go with high grill heat like a steak, or you will have a mess. A couple of my friends had this happen. I'm sure they just had too much heat going with the barbecue cheese. I've never had a fail on grilled cheese (knock on wood).

Grilled cheese can also be done over charcoal, and that adds a nice smoked flavor. In that case, do the same as with gas but offset the charcoal. The grate gets hot, but you have the space with no direct heat to actually grill off the cheese.

When the cheese starts to look melty (begins to droop slightly between the grates), it's time to turn the cheese. I just use grill tongs. The cheese holds together just fine.

Grilling cheese only takes a few minutes. I think I went around 6 minutes today with the lid closed part of the time due to the low temperatures outside. Brrrr. On warmer days, I may or may not close the lid. I don't leave the lid closed for long (maybe a minute), because I don't want to melt the cheese through the grates. So, this is a really simple grilled dish but one that you want to watch close.

My son from college thought the grilled cheese was fabulous, and he's going to pick up more at Whole Foods in Chapel Hill. I can't buy grilling cheese around here. I'm hoping Harris Teeter will start carrying it, because we sure do love it.

Grilled Greek Garlic Potatoes with Garlic Gold Olive Oil and Nuggets

Tonight I decided to try making Greek potatoes on the Traeger pelllet grill. Kathy had sent me another bottle of Garlic Gold Olive Oil, and I still had some of the Garlic Nuggets Original. When I got the package, I started thinking about the Greek potatoes that I so loved when I lived in Greece.

Generally, I do Greek potatoes in the oven but usually not in the summer when it's hot due to the cooking time. Hitting the grill with the potatoes made sense, and Traeger is a convection (or lid down) outdoor cooker.

If you do not have a pellet grill, you can do the same here with the lid down on a gas grill or kettle type charcoal grill or by putting aluminum foil on top of the pan on an open charcoal grill. The only key really is to contain the heat so that the potatoes cook through.



First, I peeled six potatoes. The amount can vary. You just want a single layer. I could have put in more, but we only had three eating tonight.

I put the potatoes in a gallon zip lock bag and added:

1/4 cup Garlic Gold Olive Oil
3/4 cup water
1/2 fresh lemon juiced (just the juice in there)

I shook up the potatoes so that they were well coated and then put them in a throwaway aluminum pan. The pan size is probably about 9 x 12.



After I put the potatoes in the throwaway pan, I added a little fresh ground pepper, parsley, and some Garlic Gold Nugggets. We all like garlic, so I added those for more garlic flavor. With just the oil, people know the food tastes great, but they can't usually place the natural garlic added to the oil. So, you can serve the Garlic Gold Oil and never even blip the radar of those who think they do not like garlic. But, you can zip things up with the Garlic Gold Nuggets both before or after cooking.



I grill smoked the Greek potatoes on high on the Traeger for an hour. That was just right for the almost all of the water and oil to absorb and for the grilled potatoes to be browned. That is what you look for, and I'd say the times (depending on the grill or smoker) could run from 45 minutes up to an hour and 45 minutes. You can check by sticking a fork in one of the potatoes. It should be nice and soft.

The guys were seriously impressed with the Garlic Gold Greek Grilled Potatoes and said to put the recipe on the keeper list. I would have to agree even if I did make them. They taste like authentic Greek potatoes but with a hint of smoke. Yum. Talking about some good stuff.



I get Garlic Gold online. Both the natural Olive Oil infused with a hint of garlic and the nuggets which shake on like a seasoning for cooking or at the table are fabulous.

Try Out Garlic Gold - Great Grilling Oil and Garlic Sprinkles

I have been having a grand time playing with Garlic Gold organic olive oil, nuggets and garlic sprinkles. They are great inside or out, but I've been using my Garlic Gold mostly on the grill, because that's just what I do (-:




Tonight I used the Garlic Gold olive oil on my fish and vegetables grilled plank style with Elizabeth Karmel's cedar planks from Grill Friends. I just soaked the cedar plank in water and then loaded it up with tilapia, green peppers, and fresh yellow squash.



All these foods are mild, so the Garlic Gold oil gave a little kick. You might not guess garlic. It is pretty subtle but really nice. Adding on the garlic nuggets kicks it up. So, if you are a garlic fan (like me), then put those on too, and you get a nice blast of garlic flavor with a nice flavor crunch.



Earlier in the week, I tried out Garlic Gold on pork chops. The boneless pork chops cook up so quick and easy. Brushing on the Garlic Gold olive oil keeps them from sticking to the grill grates plus adds a really nice flavor. These chops were on and off the City Grill (my favorite tailgate sized gas grill) in 20 minutes, and the grilled pork chops were delicious.



My boys love potatoes, so I often make foil pack potatoes on the grill. I found that it takes a lot less Garlic Gold versus butter or margarine to make these foil packs, so that makes them much healthier. Then, the garlic in the oil adds an extra flavor punch.



These were some of the best hobo pack grilled potatoes I've ever eaten if I must say so myself. I went heavier on the nuggets on mine and lighter for the boys. I lived in Greece for two years, and I developed a real appreciation for garlic. The boys prefer lighter now, but garlic is definately growing on them. They said these were extra good foil pack potatoes, so this is a good way to lighten up without giving up flavor.



Garlic Gold is not specifically a grill product. It is an indoor/outdoor oil and flavoring sprinkles. So, I decided to try them with a family favorite Southern dish - cast iron fried potatoes. Again, I found I needed much less oil than I do with butter. But, these skillet potatoes were packed with flavor.

I can't imagine anyone who would not like the Garlic Gold Olive Oil. It is nice and mellow. It does have the organic garlic, but it is light and works for everyone I think. For those who like to hit it harder, get the Garlic Gold nuggets or Garlic Gold Sprinkles. They can be used in cooking or just like salt on food but much healthier.

If you can't get Garlic Gold in your area, then check out Garlic Gold online. It is sure worth looking up.

Getting My Grill on with Garlic Gold Olive Oil and Sprinkles

I struck gold with Seven Oaks Ranch Garlic Gold olive oil. I don't think it is marketed for grilling specially, but then neither was Pam spray to start with (and now they have a grill version).

If you love garlic, you will be thrilled with the idea of brushing foods to grill with Garlic Gold Olive Oil. Even if you are not a big garlic fan, this oil is mellow. It just provides a great flavor while keeping foods from sticking to the grill.

I have used Garlic Gold Olive Oil on boneless chicken which can be bad about sticking but is healthy and also on lean pork chops and even vegetables. A little does it. Just brush it on lightly. You're good to go on the grill, but you can use this delightful olive oil inside as you would any olive oil (but with a little more flavor kick).

Seven Oaks also have roasted garlic in olive oil as well as garlic sprinkles, so you can go as heavy or light as you want on the garlic flavor before or after the food is grilled.