Liven Up Your Next Barbeque!

  Kara Ryan, Department of Public Heath

 

Kara Ryan is a Nutrition Education Specialist at DPH

When you think about it, the traditional barbeque is not very colorful—hotdogs, hamburgers, potato salad, chips—kind of boring huh? When you add colors to your barbeque, not only is it more lively it is actually much healthier too!

Flip something other than burgers. How about chicken breast marinated in light Italian dressing or a lemon pepper seasoning? If burgers are a must, try ground turkey instead of ground beef. If you are hesitant to go all turkey, you can also mix ground turkey in with lean ground beef. There are other options as well such as veggie burgers or grilled marinated Portobello mushrooms that are great served in a bun! Add some veggies to your burger such as tomatoes and lettuce for some color.

Turn over something other than hot dogs. Try chicken sausage kabobs with colorful red peppers, yellow squash, green zucchini, and onions. Chicken sausage comes in a variety of flavors such as roasted pepper and garlic or sun dried tomato and basil. Yum.

Add seafood to your next barbeque. Salmon, halibut and shrimp cook up nicely for a family gathering. All you need to do is marinate the seafood in some olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper and you are good to go.

Instead of pasta or potato salad, try serving a green salad. Anything can go into a green salad such as grapes, diced avocados, or walnuts. Top it off with some balsamic vinegar to avoid the extra fat that is found in salad dressings.

End the day with a fresh fruit salad—watermelon, cantaloupe, mango, blueberries—sweet and colorful! And if you haven’t gotten enough of the BBQ, you can even grill up pineapple, bananas or peaches for a unique desert.

Surprise your guests at your next barbeque with delicious, colorful, and lively foods! It is sure to be a hit!

Do you have any colorful and healthy barbeque ideas? We’d love to hear from you!

Comments

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Typically, an apostrophe indicates that a letter is missing. What letter would normally follow the word "Liven", as shown in title of this article?