This weekend makes the ‘official’ arrival of summer. The folks at Cargill Beef have supplied some timely and terrific tips to get our grills ready to go for the weekend. Mine is fired up and I’m grilling a versatile new recipe with beef from Sam’s Club.
We’ve also got a GIVEAWAY! Courtesy of Cargill Beef and Sam’s Club! Shout out in the comments below what you’re grilling this weekend or your favorite food cooked on the grill. You’ll automatically be eligible to win one of FIVE $25 Sam’s Club gift cards! Winners will be announced Saturday morning. NOTE: It may take a while for your comment to show up, but don’t worry. 🙂
During the summer, my husband and I grill almost every night. We love it, and a side benefit of it is we aren’t heating up the house by using the oven. (Saving money is a beautiful thing.)
With Memorial Day weekend coming, it’s time to get our grill ready for the summer and get grilling!
1. Check the Hose: Considering your grill may have been sitting for many months without being used, take a few minutes to give it a once-over before you press ignite. Specifically, if you have a gas grill, check the hose from your propane to your burners and make sure it’s intact and clean. If there’s any buildup on the hose, be sure to clean it off before starting your grill. If the hose has any holes or any signs of being torn, it’s worth the few bucks to just replace it.
We bought our grill new just last year, so a quick look shows that all my hoses are in good shape.
2. Give It a Quick Cleaning: If you have a gas grill, take the grates out and give everything a good scrub down. You can use a wire brush and a damp cloth to get the job done. Soap isn’t recommended. It can linger and it’s tough to wash off. Also, don’t forget to run your grilling tools through the dishwasher before that first cookout.
I store most of my grilling supplies in a galvanized bucket with a lid near my grill. It keeps them handy, dry and clean. I like having everything contained nearby but not cluttered.
It’s a great time to take inventory of your grilling supplies as you load them in the dishwasher. Somehow, I was just down to an oversize spatula and tongs; the rest of my grilling supplies have disappeared. I’m guessing they migrated to our RV. 😉
Jot down on your list anything you might need to pick up the next time you’re at the store. One of my pet peeves is to go to use something and not having it!
3. Clean Out Your Grease Trap: Before grilling season starts, be sure to pull out the grease trap below your grill and dump out any grease and grime from last year. For easy cleanup next year, line your grease trap with some sturdy aluminum foil.
This is what my grease trap looked like. Ewwww, gross! This was actually dangerous! It’s hard to tell by this picture, but the large dark lump actually stood up pretty high; it could have easily caught fire when I was burning off food residue and the grill temp was really HOT.
So, I wiped it out and ran it through the dishwasher.
Much better!
4. Test Run Before Cooking: Before you get to cooking, turn on your grill, light it up and let it burn for a few minutes. Watch it to make sure all the burners are firing and there are no leaks.
Now you’ve done this, all systems are set to go and your grill is ready for summer!
Steak is a favorite treat of ours, so I’m grilling some terrific T-bones. If you’re needing some Beef-spiration, there are tons of recipes here. That’s where this recipe came from. 🙂
Did you know that all meat sold at Sam’s Club is fresh, never frozen? Me neither! Together, these big beautiful T-bones weighed almost 4 pounds.
Beef Steak with Colorful Peppers
Ingredients
2 beef T-bone steaks from Sam’s Club
2 small bell peppers, quartered
Parsley Pesto:
½ cup packed fresh Italian parsley leaves
4 large cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
1. Place pesto ingredients in food processor or blender container. Cover; process until parsley is finely chopped, stopping and scraping side of bowl as needed. 2. Spread pesto generously on both sides of beef steaks and bell peppers. Place steaks and peppers on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, 11 to 16 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, 15 to 19 minutes) for medium rare (145°F) to medium (160°F) doneness and until peppers are tender, turning occasionally. 3. Remove bones; carve steaks into slices. Season with salt and pepper, as desired. Serve beef with peppers.
This is my kind of recipe: easy, normal everyday ingredients and simply scrumptious! I am a really good cook, but I am not a great cook. If I look at over-complicated recipes, I begin to hear bumblebees in my head.
One note about the parsley: there was no Italian parsley to be found this week, a hazard of living in a rural area. Don’t worry, you can use regular parsley and it’s still delicious!
I grilled one steak very rare and left it whole for my husband. He’s working late so it will be a special treat for his dinner.
The other I sliced as the recipe called for; it was terrific and husband-approved (he sneaked home for a taste after I texted him a picture.) If cooked rare, you can re-heat with eggs for breakfast (YUM!) or put it on a salad.
Now, go forth and grill! And have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend, folks.
Cheers!
UPDATE: Giveaway winners are: Hayley, Weesie, Lynn, Jenny and Peggy. Thanks for playing everybody, I appreciate it!
My favorite thing on the grill would have to be a nice juicy steak!
I can’t argue with that! 🙂
My favorite things on the grill would be any kind of beef, pork or shrimp, then rhrow on the cabbage
Steaks of course!!!
YUM!
Steak and grilled asparagus
I LOVE grilled asparagus! It just makes your pee smell funny. LOL
Great advice! And thanks for the bonus recipe! Conjuring up a similar one with round steak, a worchestershire and garlic oil marinade, with mushrooms, onions, and asparagus on the grill. Love the lighter flavor of outdoor grilling after a long stretch inside.
That sounds DELISH! I will have to try the marinade. 🙂
Beef! It’s what’s for dinner! Actually I love everything grilled, but a big, yummy steak is my fave!
I am trying to learn how to grill some other things, but steak or burgers is our favorite too.
I am a lover of just about anything on the grill, but I know I especially look forward to Spring and my first juicy grill burger of the year!
Us too!
Steak (and shrimp)!! Mmmm…
LOVE shrimp on the grill too! We blacken it and make wraps with it. 🙂
CHICKEN GRILLERS!!! So delicious! And don’t forget the asparagus too!
I love rib eye’s grilled.
I absolutely LOVE grilling a good cut of sirloin or big chicken breast, along with veggies marinated in Italian dressing! :))
During the summer, Jeff and I grill almost every evening. One of our favorite dinners on the grill is Swai fish fillets complimented with grilled asparagus spears. It is the greatest tasting, healthiest, easiest dinner, we grill!!
Lay your Swai fish fillets on aluminum foil that has been sprayed with a non-stick spray, and sprinkle lemon pepper seasoning on them. Next you will lay a couple of lemon and lime slices on the fish. Place a tab of butter on top and then squeeze the rest of the lemon and lime over the fish. Wrap them up and place on the grill!! It’s that easy!! I cook them over medium heat for 20 minuets or till flaky.
Place your asparagus spears in a zip lock gallon bag and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle a little season salt in there and close the bag. Work the asparagus around until all is covered. Unzip the bag and place the spears on the grill. Cook till desired tenderness. Yum Yum!!!
That sounds delish! I’ll have to try that sometime. 🙂
We love chicken leg quarters and asparagus on the grill!
In the summer I do quite a bit of grilling…usually steak, chicken or ribs, but when the grandkids come all they want is hotdogs!
My husband and I grill all the time in the summer. We actually started grilling for Easter Dinner this year. He is a steak and potatoes man. So it is usually always marinated ribeye’s or t-bones with the occasion ribs. We always change it up with different rubs or marinades and it is always or go to meal for entertaining family with family.
We raise beef and we eat beef. There’s nothing better than a ribeye steak marinated in a can of coke and rubbed with sea salt and black pepper. However, we have discovered that we love shrimp on the grill. We wrap the shrimp in thinly sliced bacon, douse it with Cajun seasoning (bought from Western’s), and grill. While our plump ribeye’s are cooking, we eat the bacon wrapped shrimp as an appetizer. Bon appetite!
That sounds delicious! Will have to try that. 🙂
Carla, Jeff and I will be over to throw back a few brewskies with you and Darrin and try that shrimp!!!
Chicken and brats! 🙂
Love BBQ’d beef, pork and chicken. Love kabobs.
Steak and chicken with a side of Hobo potatoes … shared with friends of course 🙂
I am definitely going to try your pesto recipe! I think I will try it with Cilantro…a big Cilantro fan here!
I love cilantro myself, always adds such a cool, fresh flavor. 🙂
My wife and I love Zucchini -yellow and green (skin on) cut in half and then in 1/2 in pieces, halved mushrooms, asparagus, and large pieces of onion drizzled with olive oil and then garlic salt/pepper grilled in a basket until fully cooked and browned. It’s very good with a steak topped with cilantro/lime butter and garlic toast!
Cole, I just love it when you cook for us at work!!! I am going to try this at home, but it would be awesome to test taste it at work!! 🙂
I love cookouts! Kabobs-the more veggies and crazier the marinades the better!
I’ve been wanting to try making stuffed hamburgers. Steak is the all time favorite with me and my household though!
Love everything grilled! Favorite though would be Chicken and Steak or Shrimp and Steak kabobs, with grilled veggies, all cooked on the grill!
Sorry I forgot to say what my favorite thing to BBQ is! How could I forget that, right?
I like BBQ Chicken, steaks, hot dogs, and hamburgers. It’s all good!
BEEF!!! It’s what’s for dinner! We also love the bacon wrapped pork loin from Hy-Vee!
We are making sausages from Butcher On the Block! Taco,Pizza, chicken and pretty much anything goes sausages! They are so good!
Definitely a thick steak. Medium rare, please!! 🙂
Favorite thing to grill – well that would be steak and asparagus!!!!!
What’s for dinner? Beef!!!
I bought a new grill and am baptizing it with a steak!
Burgers and dogs for the graduation party!
STEAK
I love brats on the grill!! Only way to cook them, oh, and they need to be Johnsonville! Sorry Cargill unless that is one of your brands 🙂
steak and shrimp kabobs with zucchini onion peppers and tomatoes. Yummy
We love anything grilled! Steak, chicken, burgers, yum!
My favorite thing on the grill is BBQ chicken breasts and a side of potatoes on the grill in foil with parmesan, butter, onions, garlic, station salt and pepper. ..yum!!!!
My new favorite is Tri-tip. Rib eye steaks are also great.
I can’t wait to try my Cargill Beef tri-tips and ribeyes!
My favorite foods on the grill are lemon and garlic catfish and Prime Rib. 🙂
I LOVE catfish on the grill! 🙂
Love ribeye steak pink in the middle along with corn on the cob basted with butter and sprinkled with parmaseancheese. Cooked on the grill! Side note I hate auto correct!
Without a doubt…BBQ ribeye!!! Wait without a doubt BBQ chicken hindquarters!! No wait…without a doubt BBQ pork steaks….hummmm apparently I like lots!!!
LOL Me too! 😀
Ribs with tons of bbq sauce!
Grilling 20 lbs of babyback ribs today. Marinated in beer, uncle bobs seasoning, and butt rub. Cant wait to eat.
Oh my, I’m hungry already! I could eat that with eggs for breakfast…. 😀
Mmmmmm. Charcoal steaks, corn-on-the-cob, and a packet of potatoes & red onions — best meal on earth!
We love to grill polish sausages. Really, everything tastes better on the grill!
You’re right, it does! I slice my leftover brats and eat them the next morning with scrambled eggs. YUM!
I love a ribeye off the grill, but I’m not a great grill master. Luckily I have friends who are!!
That’s all that matters! ha ha
We love grilled seasoned steaks medium rare, squeeze some lime on top and roll them up in a tortilla with some pico. Yummy! !
Everything from burgers to brats, chicken and veggies. Yum!
Wow, lot’s of awesome recipes and ideas for grilling. Beef, chicken, and pork…you just can’t go wrong!