Grilling is Hot

All summer I've been on a big grilling kick and I wanted to share some of my favorite meals! These are all healthy but taste great. And yes, a burger can be part of a healthy diet. Dieting is really all about balancing out the net intake, so if you plan your meals correctly you can enjoy a delicious cheeseburger without setting yourself back in your weight loss goals.

Hot Dogs & Burgers with Corn and Pasta Salad

Hot dogs and burgers are classic cookout foods and when I have people over for dinner they are usually one of the top requests. Never one to make a boring meal, I make my burgers with a mix of extra lean ground beef, bison and bacon.

One of my secret ingredients for making delicious, juicy burgers is to add a bit of red pepper jelly to the meat as I'm making the burgers. This gives both a little sweetness and a little moisture.

Pasta salad and grilled corn are two other staples of summer eating for me. I love to mix up the flavors on pasta salad. This was a dressed up version of classic pasta salad with an easy oil & vinegar dressing, sundried tomatoes, red peppers, green peppers, olives and parmesan cheese. For my grilled corn, I usually rub it in olive oil and add salt, pepper and paprika before wrapping it in foil to grill. Street corn is one of my favorite foods, so I usually finish the corn with some lime, cilantro and cojita.

Grilled Chicken & Veggie Kebabs with Couscous and Pasta Salad

Despite loving cheeseburgers, I sometimes find myself getting a bit bored with standard American cuisine. This meal has great Mediterranean flavor.

For this meal I added chicken and vegetables to wooden skewers and tossed them on the grill. Since the meat and vegetables are cut into smaller pieces they tend to cook more quickly. Just make sure that you soak the wooden skewers in water before you put them on the grill or they WILL burn. I put the chicken and veggies onto a whole wheat pita and added a bit of tzatziki sauce. The couscous was made with sumac, black pepper and saffron.

Grilled Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Red & Golden Beets

Chicken is one of my favorite meats to grill because of both the nutrition content and the great smoky flavor. As a lean meat, it's a great way to get protein without a lot of additional fat. I often find that chicken can be a bit bland; however, when it's on the grill there's a great smoky flavor that gives it a bit more depth.

This time I paired the chicken with orange bell peppers and grilled the wooden skewers. I made lettuce wraps with red bibb leaf lettuce, fresh mango, snow peas and shredded carrots. The beets were cut into 1/4 in thick slices, tossed in olive oil and added to the grill with the chicken skewers.

As you can see, there are a number of things you can make quickly and easily on the grill. The best part is there's minimal clean up and you aren't trapped in a kitchen while everyone else is outside in the sun. Enjoy the summer weather and get out there to grill!