Sam's Place: May 2015

Grilled Stacked Veggies

Maybe you have a meatless meal on your menu once a week or maybe you don’t eat meat at all. Either way, these low carb grilled veggies tingle your taste buds.

These grilled stacked veggies are so easy to make you’ll for sure want to add this one to your quick easy meatless meals.

Here is what you’ll need for the best-grilled vegetables:

2 medium-sized eggplants

6 portabella mushrooms

1 package of fresh mozzarella cheese

1 or 2 fresh tomatoes

6 leaves of fresh basil

1 jar roasted red peppers

Italian seasoning

The first thing was to wash the mushroom and dry them with a paper towel. Then slice the eggplant into ¼ inch or ½ inch slices.

Now brush both sides of the mushrooms and eggplant with some light olive oil. Oh, I forgot, while you’re doing that go ahead and fire up your grill.

With the grill on the medium setting grill the mushrooms and eggplant until the eggplants are light brown, just like in this picture.

Now it’s time to slice your tomatoes and cheese, but before you do those preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Start building your veggie stacks with a portabella mushroom first, and then a slice of eggplant, now the roasted red peppers, another eggplant, and then a slice of tomato.

Place these on a cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes.

Take them out of the oven and add a couple of basil leaves and top off with the mozzarella cheese, sprinkle some Italian seasoning on top. Place this back in the oven until the cheese begins to melt.

These tasty grilled veggie stacks can be a meal all in itself or served as a nice side dish. I made a sandwich on a fresh ciabatta roll.

This healthy meatless meal is low carb and low in calories. One stack of these beauties is about 12 carbs.

I can’t take the credit for this, as Fran grilled the mushrooms and eggplant. And, Jamie prepared and baked the stacks. All I did was take the pictures and enjoyed the food.

As always Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it.

Soledi Grill Basket Grilling Accessories Professional Grade 430 Stainless Steel

BBQ Grill Tools Set with 22 Barbecue Accessories - Includes

Cookouts Veggie Style!: 225 Backyard Favorites - Full of Flavor,

Grilled Southwestern Chicken Breasts

I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of chicken, but my wife picked up theses four nice boneless chicken breasts and it is grilling season. It is really not difficult the grill moist chicken breasts.

So we made this Southwestern rub and then I grilled them to perfection. While I went out and turned on the grill to the high setting, my wife coated the chicken breasts with the southwestern rub.

Here is how to grill moist chicken breasts:

I cooked them on high for five minutes per side and turned the grill down to the low setting. I cooked them for about another 25 minutes until the internal temperature was 180 degrees. Then I let them rest for about 5 minutes.

Now here is the Rub:

1 Tbsp. chili powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. coriander

½ tsp. onion powder

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. sea salt

In a bowl mix all of the seasonings, and then coat the chicken breasts. I do have to say this chicken was really tasty and juicy even for a non-chicken fan like myself.

As always Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed.

Slitzer 16 Piece BBQ Tool Set

Grillaholics Grill Mat - Set of 3 - Nonstick BBQ

Perfect Cook - Digital Instant read Thermometer with Foldable stainless

Almond Crusted Fish with Coconut Oil

Fran and Jamie have been whipping up some pretty healthy meals lately. Here is another one we made just the other night using coconut oil again.

We started off with four nice haddock fillets, some whole wheat bread crumbs, almonds, 2 eggs, and of course the coconut oil.

Here is what we did:

Use about 3/4 cups of whole almonds chopped in a food processor or your blender.
On serving platter spread out the whole wheat bread crumbs and mix in the chopped almonds.
In bowl crack and beat 2 large eggs
Add 5 or 6 tablespoons to a frying pan; we used an electric Dutch oven set on low enough to melt the coconut oil making sure it is enough to coat the bottom of the pan.
Dip the fish in the egg and then the coating of almonds and breadcrumbs.
Turn the setting on the Dutch oven up to 350 degrees.
Now cook the fish for about 6 minutes per side or longer depending on the thickness.


Melting the coconut oil

Prepare the coating


Frying the fish

We served this with rice and Brussel sprouts for a very healthy meal. This was so good I was looking for more after it was gone.

As always Thanks for stopping by, I sure hope you enjoyed.

Copper Chef 9.5" Square Fry Pan with Lid

Hamilton Beach 38528 Deep Dish Ceramic Skillet

Nature's Way Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil- Pure, Cold-pressed, Organic, Non-GMO, Gluten-free- 32 Ounce

Broiled Flank Steak

Flank Steak on a plate with rice and kale

We picked up a 1-1/2 lb. flank steak last week, and I had all intentions of grilling this to perfection. The weather in Western NY just didn’t cooperate that day, so we did the next best thing was to broil it.

Flank steak is a long flat cut from the belly or butt of the cow, and is used in many dishes such as London broil, Asian Stir fry and also famous as the steak for Fajitas.

We decided to make a dry hand rub, after mixing the ingredients we rubbed both sides of the flank stake, set the oven on broil. The steak was 1-1/2 lbs. so we broiled it for about 10 to 12 minutes per side. Cutting the steak against the grain we had nice juicy slices and served with rice and kale this made a delicious meal.

Here are the seasonings we used for the rub:

4 tsp. onion powder

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. mustard powder

¼ tsp. dried thyme

¼ tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

Now find out how to cook flank steak for your Fajitas here and enjoy many more of his recipes:

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

We picked up a peppercorn seasoned pork tenderloin the other day at our local grocery store and decided to cook it on the grill. Since this was already seasoned, all I really had to do was grill it. You can buy unseasoned pork tenderloins and add your own special seasoning to your liking.

Here is how I grilled this 1-1/2 lb. pork tenderloin. I first set my gas grill on high and let it heat up. I then seared both sides of the tenderloin on high for five minutes per side.

Then I turned the heat down to the low setting on my grill, closed the lid, and grilled for another 20 minutes until the internal temperature reached 160 degrees.

Here are the results, I ended up very nice juicy slices of pork tenderloin, We served this with Roasted Sweet Potatoes in Coconut oil.

As always Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Coconut Oil

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Coconut Oil

This is such a delightful compliment to any meal. My daughter made these with pork tenderloin, which I happened to cook on the grill, but I’m saving that one for another post. This one is all about these delicious roasted sweet potatoes.

Okay here is what you need:

3 to 4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed, like home fries.

3 tbs. of coconut oil

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

Now this is what you do:

1.     Place the cubed sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl.
2.       Add the coconut oil and turn over to coat the potatoes
3.       Add the three spices and turn several times to coat again
4.       Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
5.       Spread them out on a cookie sheet, and bake for about one hour

You have to give this one a try, if you like sweet potatoes you’ll love these. All of the flavors seem to just come together. Need I say that I ate every last one!!

As always Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed!

Viva Labs The Finest Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, 16

Nature's Way Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil, 32-Ounce

Island Fresh Superior Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, 54 Ounce

Niagara Falls - Great Vacation Spot

If you looking for a wonderful day, a weekend getaway or a nice vacation for the family take a trip to Niagara Falls. If you have ever been there then you've experienced the roar of water crashing over the falls, the mist, and the beauty of it all.

If you have never been there, consider packing your bags. We are fortunate enough to live in Western New York, and the Falls are only two hours away, so we have been there several times.

Every time we go it never ceases to amaze me. Niagara Falls is made up of three waterfalls, the Horseshoe Falls, The American Falls, and the smallest the Bridal Veil Falls. Collectively the falls are on the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S., state of New York.

The Horseshoe Falls - Also Known As the Canadian Falls the Largest of the Three

About 90% of the Niagara River flows over the Horseshoe Falls the remaining 10% flows over the American Falls.

This is our son, Sammy and his beautiful wife Tricia in front of the Horseshoe Falls

The American Falls are in the United States in New York

The Bridal Falls

The Bridal Falls are the smallest of the three falls. This is where the Cave of the Winds is located. This is another amazing attraction that the American Falls has to offer.

Cave of the Winds - New York

The Cave of the Winds is a natural cave behind the Bridal Veil Falls. An elevator will take you down to the level of the Niagara River at the base of the American Falls. There you will be able to walk out onto a series of decks and platforms that lead to the base of the Bridal Falls.

There will be water crashing down on you and water flowing under the decks; here you can experience tropical storm-like conditions. Oh, don't worry they will give you foot ware and raincoats to wear, and Ladies if you just had your hair done just the way you like it you may want to think twice about going out on the decks.

The Maid of the Mist - A Fantastic Boat Trip

This boat ride is going to take you right up to the base of the Horseshoe Falls. Once again you're going to get wet. But don't worry they do give you raincoats here also.

If you're on the top deck or bow of the boat for sure plan on getting wet. If you visit the falls this is something that you don't want to miss.

The American Falls at Night