Preparing Fresh Vegetables on a Barbecue: A Quick, Easy Guide

My husband is from Kansas City, Missouri, and that may be one reason he has the barbecue gene. Cooking over a hot grill in the Arizona summer doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me, but he never seems to mind. In fact, he actually enjoys the task. Of course, during the summer months he wears his swim trunks while barbecuing, so he can take a quick dip in the pool and cool off.

Since I'd rather not heat up the kitchen preparing side dishes, he is more than willing to help me out on the grill. One of our favorites is mixing together some fresh vegetables and preparing them on the barbecue. Not only easy, this is a delicious way to cook vegetables.

You can start with a variety of your favorites, or choose just one. I like to mix together whatever happens to be in our refrigeration; zucchini, squash, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms or tomatoes. Normally I slice them up into large bite sized chunks. For consistent cooking, it's important to cut your vegetables in a uniform size.

Sweet potatoes or regular potatoes also work, yet I normally pre-cook those for several minutes in the microwave, to give them a head start. If you add potatoes, don't forget this step in the microwave, so you don't end up with mushy vegetables and hard potatoes. I usually cook the potatoes in the microwave for about half the time required to totally prepare them. Before adding to the foil envelope, I cut the potatoes into slices or wedges.

Over the vegetables drizzle extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle a bit of lemon pepper seasoning on top. Toss the vegetables so that they are lightly coated with the olive oil, and then wrap in an envelope of aluminum foil. I keep the package as flat as possible, no more than a couple inches thick.

It takes about a half hour to cook the vegetables, occasionally turning the aluminum foil envelope over, and alternating between the direct fire, and indirect heat. Make sure the edges of the foil are securely sealed, so the package doesn't fall apart, thus spilling out the vegetables and oil.

When done, poor the cooked vegetables in a large bowl and serve.

Sometimes I get a little carried away, and end up cutting up too many vegetables, which makes the aluminum foil envelope too large and difficult to manage. Yet, even when I get carried away, they normally turn out delicious.