Cory and I are basically Grill Masters

Living on a military base, people are always coming and going. Our next door neighbors were moving, and just like anyone else, they were throwing out a ton of stuff. Everyday, for almost a week, Cory and I would see a pile of "trash" at the end of our shared driveway, waiting for someone to pick it up or waiting for trash day. One day, before I went to work, I saw a grill in that pile, with a sign attached to it saying "adopt me". So I sure as hell hauled that grill into the garage all by myself, and sent pictures of it to Cory. Like, hello, it was a FREE GRILL. I've been eyeing some recipes for a while that involved grilling, but was always so disappointed that I'd have to wait to try them out because we didn't have a grill.

But now we do, and it cost us NOTHING. It was only a little beat up, but we already had everything needed to fix it! All we bought was a propane tank, which we would've needed anyways. Can you tell how excited I am?!?! For the first few weeks we had the grill, we used it almost every day!! So, I am about to share some of our recipes we have used in the past month :)

Grilled Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

~1 pkg chicken wings, separated (link to how to separate chicken wings here)

~1 bottle Texas Pete buffalo wing sauce (seriously, don't use any other buffalo sauce, this is the best)

~1/2 bottle Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce

~1 c honey

~1/2 stick butter

Directions:

1. Place wings on medium-medium high heat. Keep flipping so they cook evenly. Move to top shelf to avoid getting burnt if necessary.

2. Add Texas Pete, honey, and butter to a saucepan. Bring all ingredients to a boil, stirring often.

3. When wings are fully cooked, and the skin is crispy and brown, remove from grill and place in a glass dish.

4. Add the BBQ sauce to half the wings, and toss until evenly coated. Add the Buffalo sauce to the other half of the wings, and toss until evenly coated. Serve with Bleu Cheese or Ranch and enjoy!

This was definitely a basic recipe. I didn't plan on grilling wings that day, I was just going to make them the regular way. Next time, I will definitely marinate them, and experiment with different flavors, but they were still really good and SO MUCH better than deep frying them.

Grilled Salmon

Ingredients

~1 salmon fillet per person, thawed

~2 limes, sliced

~salt and pepper

~garlic salt

~cilantro

~fresh guacamole

Directions

1. Depending on how many salmon fillets you are making, use aluminum foil to make a little bowl for each piece of salmon. Season the salmon with salt, pepper, garlic salt, lime juice, and cilantro.

2. Fold the aluminum foil over the salmon, but not too tight (kind of like a tent), and place on grill on low-medium heat.

3. Cook salmon until pink and flaky, remove from grill and top with guacamole. Enjoy!

I originally tried to copy a recipe from Tasty, which called for an avocado salsa. However, I had already made guacamole the day before (for Kara's baby shower) so I used that instead of avocado salsa. This recipe sounds so weird but was actually really really good. I served it with brown rice and green beans! I added lime juice and garlic salt to the brown rice and it was amazing.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

~1/3 c soy sauce

~1/3 c orange marmalade

~1/3 c honey

~1 Tbsp plus 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

~Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

~1 lb pork tenderloin

~2 scallions, thinly sliced (optional)

~Olive oil (for grill)

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, bring the soy sauce, marmalade, honey, rice wine vinegar, and red pepper flakes to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from stove and let cool. Reserve half of the marinade for serving as a sauce with the finished tenderloin.

2. With the remaining half of the marinade, marinate the tenderloin for 1 hour.

3. While the tenderloin is marinating, prepare your grill for high direct heat on one side, and a low heat on the other side.

4. Remove the tenderloin from the marinade and coat with olive oil. Place on the hot side of the grill, with the narrower end of the tenderloin more toward the cool side of the grill. As soon as the tenderloin gets grill marks on one side (a minute or two), turn it to get grill marks on the other side. Continue until all sides are lightly seared.

5. Move the tenderloin to the cool side of the grill. Cover and cook a few minutes more, until the internal temperature of the tenderloin reaches 140F (no higher). Remove from heat.

6. If you have let the temp get too high above 140F, you may need to slice the pork immediately or the meat will continue to cook as it rests and become overcooked. If you have taken it out in time, tent the tenderloin with foil and let it rest 10 minutes. Thinly slice, top with remaining glaze and scallions. Serve with rice.

This was so good, and Cory cooked it all by himself. I served with brown rice and the rest of the marmalade. This was such a good summer dish! Link to original recipe here.

I hope you guys try and enjoy these recipes! Happy grilling!

~S