Grilling to Perfection

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Cookouts are fun but can carry a hint of danger in the form of food poisoning if we do not follow safe grilling practices. Following are some tips you should make habits for cooking out and you will no longer need to worry about preparing an "unhealthy" meal!

Keeping Your Meal Safe
Before you begin to cook or eat, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds. Whenever you switch tasks, wash them again to avoid cross-contamination.

Always use one cutting board for raw meat, poultry and fish preparation and a separate one for other food preparation, such as slicing vegetables. Mark or color-code your boards to remember their purpose.

When marinating raw meat, poultry or fish do so on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, never at room temperature. Your refrigerator thermometer should read below 40-degrees.

Boil marinades for at least three minutes before you use them for basting on the grill. Keep just-grilled foods on a separate plate from the one you had raw meat on. Try this: use a red plate for raw and a green plate for cooked. Use separate utensils as well.

When threading skewers, leave a small space between meat, poultry or fish pieces to allow for even cooking of each piece.

Do not leave uncooked meat, poultry or fish out at room temperature for more than two hours or outside in the sun for more than one hour. If you have any cooked leftovers, refrigerate them right away.

Here is a recipe to start your day off on the right track to better health!

Grilled Greek Chicken Skewers with Charred Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients:
1 cup fat-free plain yogurt
1/2 cup cucumber with peel, sliced
Two to four sprigs of fresh mint, thick stems removed, plus additional for garnish
Two cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
One small red onion, sliced
Juice of one lemon
1-1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
24 cherry tomatoes
Toasted pine nuts and fresh parsley or mint (optional garnish)

Directions:
Place the yogurt, cucumber, mint, garlic, and 1-1/2 teaspoons of the olive oil and salt in the blender. Mix on high speed for one minute. Pour 1/2 cup of this sauce into a small container and reserve in the refrigerator. Add the onion, 1-tablespoon of the oil, and lemon juice to the remaining sauce in the blender. Mix on high speed until pureed. Pour this marinade into a baking dish.
Cut the chicken into 36, 1-1/2-inch cubes. Mix the chicken with the marinade in the dish, cover and refrigerate. The chicken will marinate while you prepare the rest of the meal.
Clean and prepare the grill. Divide the chicken cubes among six skewers and the tomatoes among another three skewers. Use skewers that are ten to twelve-inches in length. If they are made of bamboo or wood, be sure to soak them in water first. With a clean brush, lightly coat the tomatoes with the remaining oil. Arrange the skewers on the grill, making sure that the chicken and tomatoes do not touch. Grill until the internal temperature reaches 170-degrees, about 15 minutes total.
You can serve the chicken and tomatoes on a bed of pilaf or in pita halves that warmed on the grill. Drizzle with the reserved sauce. If desired, garnish with toasted pine nuts and fresh parsley or mint. Recipe makes six servings.
For flavor and color variety, grill skewers of green bell peppers and onions, too.
Nutritional Information per serving: Calories, 216, Protein, 29g, Carbohydrate, 9g, Fat, 7g, Cholesterol, 68mg, Fiber, 1g, Sodium, 196.

Seasonal Grilled Fruit with Citrus Glaze

What could be better for the summer grill than a sweet, simple al fresco dessert? Summer fruits grilled with a citrus brown sugar glaze are perfect. Fresh bananas, mango, pineapple, figs, peaches, nectarines, apricots, kiwifruit, and plums provide the natural goodness, vitamins and minerals we need. There is no match for the grilled, juicy flavors of fruit. Enjoy the following recipe that will help you reach your "nine servings a day"!

1/4 cup fresh lime or orange juice
3/4 cup brown sugar
Pinch of ground cinnamon
4 cups cubed ripe fruit (bananas, mangoes, pineapples, kiwifruit, figs, nectarines, peaches, plums or apricots)

Combine the juice, sugar and cinnamon in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
Alternate the fruit on six 10 to 12-inch skewers.
Prepare the grill. Brush the fruit with the glaze, and place over hot heat. Grill for two to three minutes on each side until slightly brown at the edges.
Serve immediately with vanilla yogurt with ginger and fresh mint (see below), low-fat frozen yogurt or ice cream, angel food cake or fat-free pound cake.
Recipe makes six servings.
Note: To make vanilla yogurt with ginger and fresh mint, combine an 8-ounce container of fat-free vanilla yogurt with 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger and 1-tablespoon chopped fresh mint. Combine ingredients and chill for 30 minutes to let the flavors blend before serving with grilled fruit.
Nutrition Information per serving: Calories, 155, Protein, 1g, Carbohydrate, 40g, fat, 0g, Cholesterol, 0, Fiber, 2g, Sodium, 9mg.

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