Grilled Vegetables

Nothing says summer like BBQ!  Now that the weather is warming up we have been grilling a lot more of our meals.  I love this for two reasons; 1. John does the grilling in our house so I actually get to catch a few minutes of the news and 2. It dirties a lot less dishes!  I don't want to negate one of the pluses by making a side dish in the house so I've been trying to make them on the BBQ as well.  Normally we just skip the pasta or rice when we BBQ so I only have to come up with a vegetable dish.  Who says you always have to have a grain with your meal?

This recipe is remarkably easy and can be prepared in advance and stored in the fridge overnight.  This is super handy now that Roman is walking all over the place and getting into everything.  When he goes down for his nap I quickly assemble the ingredients and get them ready to cook.

Grilled Beets with Mushrooms and Onion (Serves 2)
4 beets, thinly sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
3 cups mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup coconut oil

Layer beets onto a sheet of tin foil.  Make sure the foil is long enough to fold over top of the beets to form a packet.  Top the beets with half of the butter and half of the coconut oil.  You could also add dill, salt, pepper, or any other spices to the beets at this point.  I personally like the natural flavor of the beets so I leave them plain.  Fold the tin foil over the beets and seal the edges.  *TIP - be sure to fold the edges of the tin foil up so that all the juices stay inside the packet.

For the second dish, layer the sliced mushrooms on top of the sliced onions in a tin pan.  You could also use the tin foil packet method for this. *TIP - for grilling vegetables I often reuse the tin pans that I had previously frozen meals in.  As long as there are no holes in them why not use them again!?  Top the mushrooms with the remaining butter and coconut oil.  Again you can add any spices you like at this point.  Cover the pan with tin foil.

Place both packets on the grill and cook for 20-25 minutes at 500°.  Obviously every grill is different, so you may want to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't burn.  The vegetables become tender, beautifully caramelized (sometimes slightly charred but that's the best part!) and absolutely delicious!

I know what your thinking, why on earth did I put butter and coconut oil in the pouches?  The vegetables, especially the onions, soak up the most amazing coconut flavor which makes this feel even more like summer!