Food to Toss on the Grill

It’s summer and our grills are out and ready to be used. I like to toss all kinds of food on the grill, not just your average meat like hamburgers, hot dogs, and steaks. I’ve been known to make entire meals on the grill. There is nothing wrong with using a pan on the grill in order to make a side dish to accompany your meal.

Grilled fruit is absolutely divine. I like to eat it along side a big giant scoop of vanilla ice cream. Pineapple is one of my favorites. Peaches and nectarines grill up pretty great as well.

What kind of food do you like to cook on your grill? I’d love to hear any tips and tricks you might have.

Harvesting Our Home Grown Fruit

Our upside down planters have really done wonders with the fruit plants we have.  I spent the afternoon harvesting our strawberries, tomatoes, and even a bunch of peppers.  We ended up getting a huge crop of peppers.  I’m excited to try all of the recipes I’ve collected for all of these peppers.  We do seem to have more than we need though so I plan to give some away to our neighbors and friends.

Our plants also produced a nice few baskets of tomatoes and strawberries.  Of course we’ll be gobbling most of the strawberries up before I have much time to do anything with them, but I told the kids and my husband that I really want to save some to make some jam and a nice strawberry rhubarb pie.  I know it will be hard for them to resist the temptation of eating the fresh and delicious berries but I promised them it would be worth their sacrifice.

I love seeing my family enjoy the work that I put into the garden.  I know exactly what they are eating when I grow it for them myself.  Next year I think I want plant more food for us to enjoy together.  I’m not sure if I want to do planter boxes or if I want to dig up some of the garden for vegetables.  Maybe I’ll have the kids help me pick out what we should grow together.

Afternoon in the Garden

This afternoon I spent time assembling the upside down hanging planters that I got at the really great price.  I let the kids help put the soil and the plants in each planter.  I let them use some of the toy gardening tools that I found for them at the toy store.  First, they carefully put the baby plants in each planter. They both had smiles on their faces as they heaved small shovel fulls of soil into the planters.  They carefully put the baby plants in each planter.  We had one for peppers, one for tomatoes, and another for strawberries. Once all of them had enough soil they sprinkled on some plant food and topped them off with water from the toy watering cans.

I labeled each of the planters with pictures of each type of fruit that the girls colored for me.  Their favorite one was the planter with the strawberries.  This didn’t surprise me in the least.  The strawberries always go first when ever we have fruit.  I’m excited to watch the planters produce some yummy food and the girls are excited to eat it.