Sunday, May 8, 2011

UPDATE: Foil Packets on the Grill...

I posted earlier today an idea I saw at the doctor's office in a magazine...grilling food in foil packets.  Usually we do this type of cooking when we're camping - which I love to do -but now I'm wondering why do we wait to go camping to do it?  Although I didn't do the "make-your-own-combo-foil-pack" type of entertaining ...it was just my family and a house guest...I did cook our dinner in individual foil packets on the grill tonight.

I knew I planned to have pork chops on the grill, some type of potato, and a frozen veggie, but as the day progressed, my mind kept going back to today's post...so here is what I put into each of OUR foil packs:

1-boneless pork chop, seasoned with garlic powder, salt and pepper (6oz - 6PP)
1-sprig each of fresh rosemary and thyme (0pp)
1- sliced potato (5PP)
several slices of onion (0pp)
frozen green beans and frozen bell pepper mix -(I emptied both bags into a collandar and ran warm water over them to thaw, then drain) (0/0 pp)

Once the main ingredients were in place, I drizzled some olive oil  (1tsp - 1PP)over each just to ensure the veggies wouldn't stick to the foil - and besides, I need to get more healthy oils into our diet.  So far - that was soooo easyyyy!!

I folded up the packages, and made them pretty flat so there would be little "air" inside.  Chuck had the grill pre-heated on high, but when we put the packages onto the grill, he turned it down to medium heat.  Our 4 foil packs took up almost all the grill surface - just a note so if you choose to entertain guests, you may want to have a second grill handy or food to snack on while some guests wait their turn for theirs to cook...but its not bad because they only take about 15 minutes to cook.  If you have a second "warming rack" in your grill, you could probably rotate packs every 5 minutes and just add a few extra minutes to the cooking time.  I'll have to figure that out another time (and there will be another time).

We just sat back and had a nice chat while it all cooked.  After just a few minutes, we began to get little whifs of the food cooking -  it was incredible!!  Within about 15 minutes we tested one package, and the pork was cooked through, the veggies were all soft and steamy - and the smell was wonderful!  We put each person's foil pack onto doubled-up paper plates and we opened them "campfire-style" and ate right from the foil pack around our fire pit...

Total for OUR packets - 12pp for the entire dinner!  That left points to use for more roasted jumbo marshmallows over our fire - 2pp each ;0)

I know, you were expecting photos of the FINISHED PRODUCT...and I'm sorry...I'm really bad about taking pictures when I'm so hungry.  Were they any good?  Maybe this next photo will give you a clue...

The smile on Justin's face tells it all.  We all sat around for several hours with no TV, no stereos, no game-devices or cell phones...just talking, eating, roasting more marshmallows and basically enjoying being a family.  And like the comment at the bottom of the original post about grilling foil packs...the best bonus is that there are no dishes or pots and pans to wash up when you are done!  Life is Great!!

2 comments:

  1. I can't wait to try these when the weather is warmer. Thanks so much for the idea!!

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  2. Hi Roz! I don't think you'll be disappointed when you do. We honestly can't wait to do it again - and are coming up with some new combinations we want to try. My son Jared showed me pictures on his iPhone last night of foil packets they did with chicken. Let me know what you think after you try them!

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