I’m talking “power” in the way of electricity this week.  

You all know by now that I love my grill-especially for dinner meals.  I’m not much for fussy lunches.  I just make myself a nice crudité spread with hummus and I’m happy till dinner.

I will admit though, that when we have the time for a full breakfast-dh will take his “beloved” bacon outside and grill it if we have our friends over.  We’ve even done it a couple of times when the grandkids wake up in our abode.

Keeps the grease out of either the microwave and the oven.

This week (read this as “TODAY“) I was sitting here on my computer trying to write up a profile of the head of Laura’s House (OC’s premiere place for those suffering from domestic violence) when everything when OFF.

Ack! The fans, the a/c, the lights in the office, the computer and all the other appliances.  I had a load in both the washer and the dryer.  Fridge went off, obviously.

Thank goodness I didn’t have anything baking in the oven!

This got me to thinking about dinner.  No oven, no stove, shouldn’t open the fridge.  What to do?

I had taken out some salmon filets.  I usually put the fish on some foil and just season it with some S & P, garlic and then deciding what flavor profile the rest of the meal is before seasoning it the rest of the way.  That’s a usual around here.

But the sides?  

The power did come back on after almost 2 hours, but that sure doesn’t mean that it won’t go out again throughout the afternoon!

What to plan?  Thankfully, I had made a quinoa and veggie salad last night-so I’m just adding a few extra baby bellas and spinach to the bowl and add a bit of the dressing I made and that will have to do.

But what about if I hadn’t made that salad?  Here are a few ideas for you to try should you want to eat a hearty meal without the use of indoor appliances:

Baked beans.  Let’s face it, most of us have a grill outside that has a burner we never use just sitting there!  Blow out the dust and use it!  Not just for baked beans-get your pot on there and try rice, barley, quinoa, orzo, couscous.

I love roasted veggies but in the daily scheme of things here in AZ, I also put a lot of my food on the grill.  The ones that are best?  zucchini, carrots, onions, corn, mushrooms, yellow or grey squash.  Bake your spuds-coat the outsides with EVOO and salt.  If you want to cut down on the time, just pop them in the microwave for a couple of minutes first.

Use the foil pouch method for not just entire meals but your veggies as well.  Potatoes and onions with garlic, salt and pepper are really yummy.  Corn schmeared with EVOO, your choice of herbs and salt.  

Kids love the pouch meals too.  Aidan, my budding chef, loves to choose what to top his chicken breast/thigh with and help grandpa put it on the grill.  He also doesn’t mind helping me clean up the silk on fresh corn, which is a real boon for me.

In the heat of the summer it does us all good to turn off the need for our indoor cooking appliances and think about how yummy grilling is for everyday use.