Why I Love My GF Grill

People often ask me what tools I have in my kitchen - what are necessities for my family and what are just bonuses. I have a list of necessities, but they are probably similar to every other cook's.


My bonuses are probably a little different though. One bonus item that my mother-in-law gave us during our first year of marriage was the George Foreman Grill. She gave us a very basic version, and it was when they first came out (so, a LONG time ago!).


We took that grill to China with us and used it all the time. In fact, we used it so much, the coating was coming off the plates. We had a converter sitting in the corner of our kitchen and just pulled that grill down whenever we had a hankering for some low oil food and plugged it in. We ALWAYS cooked salmon in it - a little olive oil and some lemon pepper seasonings made it delicious - since our area had a lot of salmon farms and it was readily available. Hamburgers were another favorite, or grilled chicken.


So, when we returned to the States, one of our priorities was to get a new GF Grill, but one with removable plates (this is the key to cleaning it well). Last Christmas, Bill bought me a super duper GF Grill, that not only had removable plates, but also had a different variety of plates. I wasn't sure I would need so much grill, but I loved it anyway.

Here is said grill. I keep it on the counter at all times. It's very easy to pop some plates in there and grill whatever I want. It has waffle, omelet, normal grill and baking plates. Sam almost always gets a grilled cheese and veggie (butternut squash, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots, etc) sandwich for lunch - done with the GF.

But, I've learned that it has so many other functions. I pulled out the omelet plates the other day and realized that I could cook one of the best looking omelets AND bacon AND whatever else I wanted all at the same time.

Here's an example of Sam's dinner from last night. A cheese omelet on the left (with cilantro and sea salt) and some broccoli cooking on the right. I could have thrown a slice of bacon or whatever in the middle plate too. What I like about cooking bacon with the grill is that it doesn't splash up everywhere, and if I use the right plates with it (i.e the grill plates with the whole GF tilted down), the oil drains off the bacon, leaving us with a more crisp, less oil-saturated slice.

Here's the finished product. Sam loves his omelets. He used to stay FAR away from eggs, but I realized I could make him a little omelet (I also add some milk in it, to make it more fluffy) in no time and he would eat it. I also throw some flax seed meal in the eggs and different veggies (like peas or carrots) sometimes.

And, here is Master Samuel eating his meal. He likes to mix his veggies and food into his yogurt and eat them together. It's a strange combo, but as long as he's getting his vitamins and eating his meals, I don't care.

So, that's one of my bonus items in my kitchen that I feel like I can't live without (though I know I can). It makes my life easier in so many ways. If you're interested, I'll post about a different bonus item some other time.

AND, I will definitely be posting our menu next week. I didn't realize so many of you would be interested. I might post our back menu from this week, because everything turned out so well. I love sharing good recipes - especially ones that you can use all over the world.

Erica - I LOVE that Elizabeth asks for my cookies. I miss you guys.