Grill Your Veggies for Healthy Benefits + Recipes

One of the reasons I love grilling is because of how deliciously easy it is to put healthy food on your family’s table.

You might be surprised to learn how many foods you can grill! Combining different food groups to take them to a whole new level of tastiness - fruit with veggies, veggies with fish, citrus with fish, chicken with fruit, the list goes on.

I’ve even seen grilled salad in some recipes! One of my favorite things - and one of the healthiest foods to grill - is vegetables.

The benefits to your diet from eating more veggies is endless, so why not enjoy them grilled?

1. Gets More Nutrients into Your Body Where They Belong – Grilling vegetables cooks away less of the vitamins & nutrients in them than other cooking methods, like boiling. Next to eating them FRESH, “grilled” is one of the best ways to eat veggies.

2. Naturally Adds Flavor – The heat of the grill causes the natural sugars in vegetables to caramelize, which gives the same veggies an entirely different flavor than when eaten fresh, steamed or boiled.

3. Variety – You can easily mix veggies with each other, or with your favorite lean meats, seafood, and even fruits. The possibilities are endless.

4. Picky Eaters Eat More Vegetables – Grilled veggies taste different and can be easily seasoned with herbs and spices to make their taste more appealing to even the finickiest eater. This may be a major way your picky eater will add more veggies into their diet.

5. It’s Fun! – Grilling gets you outside for some fresh air and Vitamin D! Whether dinner with the family or a get-together with friends, grilling has a way of getting us outside where we enjoy the fresh air! Who couldn’t use more of that?

Enjoy more veggies at your house with these easy, delicious recipe ideas:

Spicy Mexican Grilled Sweet Corncobs

Ingredients

• 5-6 FRESH ears of sweet corn

• 2 Tbsp butter

• 2 Tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp chili powder

• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

• 1/2 tsp cumin

• 1/3 cup feta cheese (or Cotija Queso)

Instructions

Preheat grill to medium heat. 

Boil ears (shucked and cleaned) in a stock pot for about 20 minutes, then drain and remove. 

Place corn ears over grill and drizzle olive oil over them, then cook for 5 minutes on one side. Using tongs, turn ears over to cook for 5 minutes on other side.

Place corn on a platter, and sprinkle with the spices, and place a pat of butter on each ear. Then sprinkle a few crumbles of cheese over corn and serve.

Lemon & Garlic Asparagus

Ingredients

• 1 bunch thin asparagus

• 1 bunch of green onions, trimmed

• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

• 1 lemon, halved

• Olive oil

Instructions

Preheat grill on low-to-medium heat, and prepare a cookie sheet-sized, folded “pan” made from the aluminum foil. 

Rinse the bunch of asparagus off, trimming off at least an inch from the bottom of stalks. Place the spears on the aluminum foil, spreading them out in an even layer. Add the bunch of green onions, spreading them through the asparagus stalks. 

Sprinkle the minced garlic over the stalks, and squeeze the juice from the two lemon halves over the vegetables. 

Drizzle olive oil generously over the vegetables, and place homemade “pan” over the grill slats. Grill for about 10-15 minutes (to desired done-ness) over low to medium heat.  Serve immediately.

Get creative, research fun recipe combinations, and remember there is no limit for what you can cook on the grill!

Easy, Healthy Vegetable Side Dishes You Can Cook

Do you ever find yourself perusing the fresh foods section of the grocery store, wondering what the heck you’re to do with all those great-looking veggies? 

You know you are supposed to eat more of them, you hear about the benefits to that all the time, but just don’t know how to fix them?

Today, I’m going to give you a few ideas on how to make easy and fast veggie sides for dinner.  No, not the pop-in-the-micro kind!  Those can be a great backup plan, but let’s explore these dishes and let you decide which ones sound truly delicious to you!

Here are a few ideas to try

Greens Made Easy

Cooking greens used to intimidate me, but after a couple practice tries, this dish is now a constant go-to in this house! 

Besides being rich with benefits, like iron, antioxidants, and minerals, collard greens are also very tasty and filling. I even get a couple of the kids to dig into this one!

How to make them:

Ingredients:  

• 1 head collard greens,

• half fresh lemon, squeezed over the greens

• ready-made real bacon bits

• ¼ sweet onion, diced

• 4 cloves fresh garlic, minced

• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Instructions:

1. Slice up the greens in thin ribbons of about ½ inch thick, and 3-4 inches long, set aside.

2. Place large sauté pan or wok over medium to high heat, add oil to pan.

3. Add onions, garlic to hot oil, sauté for about a minute.

4. Add in the greens and bacon bits, allowing the greens to wilt for about 2 minutes.

5. Squeeze the fresh lemon over the wilted greens, stir one or two more times, remove from heat. Serve!

Sweet Potato “Fries”

A favorite at our place, and we were so glad to discover that sweet potatoes are a super-food, packed with many healthy benefits! 

Carotene (which is Vitamin A and gives the potato it’s orange color), and minerals like magnesium, potassium, zinc and iron give this great-tasting treat it’s superpower! 

We love it many ways, but the oven-roasted “fries” are a fave of the pickier eaters around our place!

Ingredients:  

• 1-2 large sweet potatoes, sliced into thin strips (1/4 inch by 2-3 inches)

• 2 Tbsp olive oil

• Himalayan pink salt (or ANY salt to your taste)

• Fresh cracked pepper

Instructions: 

1. Roll the fries in the olive oil until coated gently

2. Salt and pepper them, then roast at a high heat (375-425 degrees, depending on your oven) for about 10-15 minutes, or until crispy and done.
   
   Too easy, too delicious, very healthy as a side dish or snack!

Black Bean & Sweet Corn Salsa

Over time, corn (esp sweet corn!) has gotten a bad rap in the health-eating industry ... but you may be happy to know, it is STILL healthy (as is most every other God-made food!)

Because it is a veggie higher in sugar content, it is better to eat it it in small amounts.  We mainly enjoy corn as one ingredient in a dish instead of the main dish.

Corn contains many health benefits for your body, like lutein (which fights macular degeneration in our eyes!) as well as several vitamins and minerals such as magnesium and phospherous.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sweet corn (you can use frozen, just allow it to thaw)

• 1 can rinsed and drained black beans

• ¼ sweet onion, diced

• 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

• 2 Tbsp Italian dressing OR 2 fresh limes, squeezed & stirred into mixture

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together.

2. Refrigerate for two hours or more before serving for flavors to mix and blend.

Hopefully you are encouraged now to try these yummy, easy and yes, healthy dishes in your own kitchen. 

Healthy veggies sides can (and should!) be vibrant, easy and enjoyed by the whole family!  Let me know what you think of these helpful ideas in the comments below.