Grilled

May 10, 2012 By Leanne Vogel June 9, 2015

Our family’s pretty passionate about their grilling. Come rain, sleet, snow or blizzard, my Dad will brave temperatures below -30C for a slab of charred meat. Crazy Canadian. While I love my grilled meals, I’m not too keen on being cold. Thankfully, the weather’s just starting to heat up, neighbors are out on their patios soaking up the sunshine, and the weekend air smells of burgers! I guess this is when all the normal people start enjoying their barbecues?

As a member of the Glam Author Program, I get introduced to new products and events that may be of interest to you guys and one recent posting caught my eye, the Dole California Cook-Off. Grill? Recipe contest? A chance to travel to California where they have some of the best barbecue weather in North America? Sign me up! There’s two parts to the cook-off:

A recipe contest: where you submit your original starter or appetizer recipe using at least one cup of any Dole product for a chance to win a trip to Los Angeles where you’ll compete at 2012 Dole California Cook-Off. The winner of the event will take home a cash prize of $10,000 and the two runners up will each receive a cash prize of $1,000.

Travel sweepstakes: submit your email address for a chance to win $500 and a trip to Los Angeles to be a Dole fan judge assisting in selecting the 2012 Dole California Cook-Off winner.

I’m still trying to figure out what recipe I’ll be submitting. Maybe a grilled banana fudge sundae with homemade vegan ice cream, kabobs or perhaps a sweet and sour pineapple glazed chicken? Ah the choices! While I’m dreaming up my next grilled creation for the contest, here are some of our favorite grilled recipes we enjoyed last summer…

Lean and Clean Turkey Burgers

These burgers are high in protein, low in fat, and lick-your-lips delicious! To ‘clean up’ this burger, I swapped an egg for egg whites and bread crumbs for quinoa flakes making this meal a leaner approach to your everyday burger.

Grilled Fennel Dippers

I really enjoy fennel. Normally I’ll just cut it up and enjoy raw, but last summer I’d wanted to grill it!

Garden Patch Bison and Elk Burgers

The trick to getting Kevin to enjoy his veggies is to hide them in meat. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to prepare a double batch of these burgers on the weekend and store them for lunches for the week, or prep raw burgers, freeze and grill them as needed.

Grilled Mini Inside Out Apple Pies

I love pie and I love grilled pie even more! These miniature inside out apple pies are gluten-free, vegan and are grilled to perfection on the barbecue.