Happy Tuesday!  Well I had a fun Monday… not!  So I show up to work with huge plans to get some work done.  I am working away attacking my to do list and all of a sudden at 9:00am… the power goes out.  Oh dear, what can I do?  No internet, my cell phone battery is dying, and my laptop battery is on it’s last bar.  It was not shaping up to be a good day.

Anyway, I hear there is a fire at the main power sub station so we are in for the long haul.  I putter around the office for a while trying to pretend that I have work to do but really I don’t.   So after a couple of hours at the office I make my way home in hopes that the power is on there.  The good news is “the power was on” bad news is “I have a tonne of work to do”.  Off to work I went.

The weather has been nice lately and it seems like it may be a barbecue week.  I thought I would show you my barbecue and how I prepare my barbecue for the season.  Most winters I store the bbq in the garage but due to laziness I left it covered on the deck this year.  So with that said… I had to determine a good way to clean the barbecue and get it ready for grilling.  Below are some of the steps I do to ensure the grill is good to go.

When it comes time to prepare for the summer season, it’s time to start thinking about the cleaning the barbecue grill.

That is the time to do a few routine checks and preparations which will keep your barbecue operating safely for the season.

BBQ Cleaning Tips

• Cleaning the inside of your barbecue – The first step to annual barbecue maintenance is cleaning. It has to be done!  The secret to cleaning your barbecue is to do it every time you use it.  However, don’t go over the top as a coat of natural food oils on the cast iron parts protects them from rust. Eventually though,  the oils, fats and burnt-on food will build up excessively and need to be removed.  Warm barbecues are easier to clean than cold ones, so start it up for a short time and then use a wire brush to remove any particles from last season.





• The outer casing – If your barbecue has a stainless-steel outer casing and trolley, then all it will need is a simple cleaning. Harsh cleaners and abrasives shouldn’t be used on stainless-steel as they will scratch it.  Soapy water and vinegar mix is all that is needed. I have also used a stainless steel cleaning powder (mixed with water) that has worked wonders.  After cleaning the outer casing, it can be buffed with cleaning oil, or even a little baby oil.   The oil will remove watermarks, fingerprints and will also make it easier to clean next time.





• Control the rust – If your grills and burners are cast iron, they may have corroded over winter. Scrape off any flaked rust and then give the surface a good scour with a wire brush.  Wash all the parts and then spray with cooking oil before they rust up again.
• Keep it working – Gas taps can become stiff over winter (depending on where you live), causing plastic controls to break. Remove the plastic knobs and spray the mechanisms with a lubricant like WD-40 to free them up. Apply a drop of  oil to each tap and then cover them with Vaseline to keep the oil in.

• Easier to clean – Before you fire up the grill, spray it with nonstick cooking spray or wipe it with vegetable oil to make cleanup easier.  If a grill is still warm, not hot, rub a balled-up piece of aluminum foil against it to remove any debris, just like you would a stiff brush.

Zesty Tip: Cut down on the mess in your charcoal grill by lining the bottom with aluminum foil. When it becomes stained with grease residue or worn out, simply throw it away and replace it with new. When using aluminum foil in cooking, note that it has a shiny side and a dull side. The shiny side is heat-reflective, while the dull side absorbs heat more readily. If you’re baking a potato, wrap it shiny-side-out for slower cooking, or dull-side-out for faster cooking.

Busy Tuesday ahead!  I hope you have a great day and let me know of anything you would like blogged about or maybe your favorite recipe tried by zesty.  I would love to hear from you.

Take care

zesty

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Our society has forced alot of us to eat on the run or have very little time to prepare meals.  Whether your in the corporate world, busy parents with kids or just plain busy – having tips to prepare healthy quick meals is a big help.  I put together a few simple ways to be effective and cost efficient that you can try when preparing your next meal.

1. Prepare Food Immediately from the Grocery Store

Whether your chopping green peppers for stir fry or seeding and slicing a cantalope – Doing this right way and storing in ziploc bags can save you valuable time during meal preparation and also allows you to make healhier choices when you have a huge munch on.

2. Make a weekly meal plan

Check family members’ schedules before deciding which nights to cook. To increase family involvement, ask everyone to pick and schedule one family meal a week. Having a plan also makes writing shopping and “to do” lists easier.

3. Cook once, eat twice

Double favorite recipes, freezing extra servings in easy-to-thaw portions. Freeze extra cooked chicken breasts for quick salads, quesadillas, enchiladas, and soup.

4. Streamline shopping

Keep a running grocery list of items needed by category, such as breads, meats, and produce to reduce “emergency” trips for missing ingredients.

5. Get children involved in making dinner

Besides benefiting from the obvious creative aspects of cooking and the boost to their self-esteem, there are the more practical bonuses of developing math skills and learning how to eat well. Also if they are helping you with meal time – then you are not being distracted and things will move quicker.

6. Time is money

Take help where you can get it. “Sometimes it’s worth the added cents to choose raw deveined shrimp over shrimp you have to clean, or chicken cutlets over the breasts you would have to trim and split,” I also uses canned foods, such as beans, tomatoes and stocks, because of the time savings in certain situations.

7. Plug in the Slow Cooker

Although it might seem like a contradiction, slow cookers actually make quick work of getting a meal on the table. Just toss the ingredients in the cooker in the morning, and dinner is ready when you get home.

8. Keep your pantry stocked

The pantry being the building blocks of fast meals: basics such as pastas, rice, broths, stocks, canned tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, and canned beans.

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty