Recipes for Grilling in Early Fall

This fall, you may want to have one last big party with your new grill before the cold weather sets in. It's still warm enough to have people come over and enjoy the outdoors, even though the kids are back to school and everyone's about to settle in for the winter.

Fall brings a whole new feel and season for food options. Your summer grilling menu included hamburgers, hotdogs, barbecued ribs and pork, and maybe some different summer fish like summer flounder. You may have grilled summer vegetables like peppers, onions and corn on the cob. Now, it's time to get in the mode of the fall season and grill some fall season foods.

What are some foods that make you feel like autumn that you can grill? Squash, apples, fall fish like mackerel, dolphin fish and flounder, and anything with pumpkins and gourds in the recipe.

1. Recipe idea number one is a grilled fish menu. Get some dolphin fish. Cut up some apples and make them into a thick cider by blending them in the blender and adding cinnamon, brown sugar, butter and a little water. Marinade the dolphin fish in the mixture overnight. Place the fish inside of foil, with extra marinade in the foil to keep the fish moist while grilling.

The second dish is grilled apples. Cut up apples and put some corn syrup over them as well as brown sugar. Add some butter. Place them inside foil and grill.

The third dish is going to be sweet corn with a twist. What you will do is pull down the corn husk, but don't rip it off the corn. You do this before it is cooked. Once it is inside, you will rub on the corn itself some marinade, made with the apple cider mix from above. Place the husk back over the corn and grill it!

I call this meal the cider seafood fall extravaganza.

2. Recipe idea number two is the fall veggie and steak grill classic. Everything cooks together. You will cut up red potatoes, green peppers, squash, and onions, as well as pieces of steak. Put these all in foil mixed together. Then, sprinkle on italian seasoning and rosemary. You may choose to add some basil. Cook the whole foil packet on the grill, checking the steak so that it doesn't get overdone.

3. Recipe idea number three is a vegetarian menu for the grill, called the veggie marinade griller. You will cut up pieces of squash and green peppers, along with some tomatoes. You can add any other fall vegetable of your choosing. Grill the vegetables on the grill inside of foil. Cook some white rice on the grill by placing the rice in water on a pot directly on the grill. Some grills actually have burners for this sort of cooking. Once the rice is cooked and the vegetables grilled, mix everything together. This is an unforgettable fall dish for the grill.

A nice side dish for this meal is cranberries and apples. Cut up apples and mix in some cranberries. Add some sweetened apple juice or cider, and allow the mixture to soak overnight. The apple juice will sweeten up the flavor of the cranberries, and give this fruit salad a pleasing fall taste.