I met a great group of women last weekend at my latest “Women’s Grilling Clinic”. I started hosting these classes over 4 years ago as a way to introduce women to grilling concepts in a fun and relaxed environment. There is often a wide range of grilling experience in attendance- some of the women have never used a grill before while others are looking to learn more advanced concepts in grilling. It is for this very reason that I will be doing an “intermediate” grilling class this Fall once Scott and finish putting our pool in. During this class we covered topics like how to start a gas versus a charcoal grill, creating direct/indirect zones, techniques such as oiling your grill grates and using a meat thermometer, optimal internal temperature ranges for meat, as well as how to cook sides and desserts on the grill…

I broke our group of 13 women into 4 groups, on 2 gas and 2 charcoal grills so everyone could learn on what they wanted to practice on. From there, every group was assigned a recipe to make Some of the recipes included: Appetizers- Jalapeno Proscuitto Poppers and Basil Butter Texas Toast, and for main course we did Cedar Planked Salmon, BBQ Chicken Pizza, How to Grill the Perfect Steak, and Island Spice Pork Tenderloin. We made a few veggies in the grill too including grilled asparagus, blue cheese and herb stuffed tomatoes and a grilled romaine salad. Everyone cooked their respective recipe, and then we got together and had a family style feast. Then, we continued to drink wine and made 3 desserts on the grill including my red, white and blue cobbler, grilled pineapple and poundcake and a gourmet smores bar!

One attendee emailed me to say “I want you to know I really enjoyed your event. It was informative AND fun.  I am Looking forward to giving these recipes a try.”

I’m not going to do another grilling clinic until this fall after we put our pool in- but, I can travel! For those of you in the South Florida area, I will be doing a “couples grilling class” as well as an “intermediate grilling class” this fall. Stay tuned for updates!!