Need Some New Ideas? Try Grilling!

I remember Shop Girl from "You've Got Mail" saying "I like to start my letters as if we're already in the middle of a conversation". I couldn't agree more. Tonight's idea came to me after I just finished off the all-time best steak that I have ever eaten in all my born days. My favorite steak until tonight, has always been the filet at Oceans Zen. No longer. As of tonight, my new favorite is the steak that Jonny threw on the grill and cooked (or shall we say, didn't cook) to perfection. It was a filet and it was perfectly medium rare and seasoned with nothing but salt. It was so amazingly tasty that I'm practically jumping up and down that there is one extra piece to fight over. It's a good thing that I'm the one who stays home during the day;-)

As much as I adore trying out new recipes, mixing up savory stews, baking fresh bread, and pulling cookies out of the oven, I am always ready for the nice break in the summertime.
You see, around here Jonny is the summertime cook. Other than the occasional chicken salad, or fried chicken, we eat grilled food all summer long.
I know that so many people get stuck in a rut and think that grilling means chicken or burgers every night. Not true.
We have, over the years discovered many different delicious foods to throw on the grill.
The more I read, the more I have found that if you can eat it, you can grill it.

Some of our first choices are burgers (done up with Dad's secret sauce) and fresh ears of corn. I have been told that you should first soak your corn in buckets of water, but I never seem to remember this trick until it's time for dinner. I have to admit to you though, that I cannot imagine how Jonny's corn can be improved by soaking it in water. It comes off the grill piping hot and perfectly juicy.
Another idea is steak which can obviously be pricey unless you find it on sail. Steaks are one thing that Jonny is always willing to splurge on being that it is his favorite food. All that he does is rub each side liberally in kosher salt and grill it for just a few minutes over charcoal. Delicious!
Here are some more that are pretty obvious;

Meats
Chicken (try a lemon butter marinade)
Pork Chops (not my personal favorite)
Salmon (make the sour cream/dill sauce)
Shrimp
Ribs (Jonny cooks them in foil for two hours and then pops them in the oven for a bit)
Sausages
Bratwursts
Hot Dog
Brisket (use liquid smoke, soy sauce, and Coke)

Veggies
Squash
Zucchini
New Potatoes
Cherry Tomatoes (not for long!)
Mushrooms (although I HATE those things!!)
Asparagus

Fruits
Pineapple (YUM YUM!!)
Bananas

There are hundreds of other things but these came to mind first. I even saw on the Today show last week, that you can grill watermelon! They simply threw it on the grill and then tossed it with some yellow tomatoes and goat cheese. It looked marvelous!!

Well I hope that this has helped you at least get your mind going in some new directions and given you some new ideas.
Tonight my daughter is breaking in the new tree house, by sleeping there with a friend. I swept it out real well, then filled it with fluffy blankets and strung Christmas lights up in the beams. If it weren't so impossibly hot out there, I would be tempted to join them!
Good night to you my friends.