It’s that time of year. The weather is perfect and all you want to do is get outside and soak it up. Food wise, we are on the BBQ almost every night, whipping up fast and easy meals in a snap.  I’m a big big big fan of the BBQ. It is absolutely one of my favourite cooking surfaces, and the more I experiment with different recipes, proteins, vegetables, desserts, breads, etc, the more I realize it is the perfect space to create great tasting healthy food.  

I have noticed something a little peculiar though. Many of my girlfriends, colleagues and acquaintances do not BBQ. They don’t really like it and actually some of them are a little scared of it.  It seems to be a real guy thing.  I suppose that whole notion of meat and fire has somehow defined the appliance as a guy zone. If I’m being honest, I used to be a little scared of them too. Lighting them, fear of something blowing up, setting stuff on fire.  Yes, I was a little nervous.

We started out that way.  My husband did all the BBQing, and most of our meals contained a lot of meat.  I’m not sure how things changed, but these days I’m behind the grill almost everyday.  The BBQ is like my magic cooking tool and I can’t stop telling every girlfriend I know that this is the only secret weapon you will need to cook and entertain all summer long. It is fantastic, so take a breath and give it a try.  You will be so happy you did.  

Here are my top 6 reasons you gotta get on that grill:

Easy.  

 This is the number one reason why everyone needs to learn how to BBQ.  Anything that makes cooking easy, healthy and can save us time is a huge bonus.  You can cook almost anything on the BBQ, and the BBQ makes everything taste great.  Chicken, fish, lamb, steak, any vegetable, fruit, bread, pizza, you name it.  Slap it on the grill and it will be awesome.

Fast.

 Grilling is a quick art.  Prep is at a minimum as you need big pieces to move around the grill.  Take you meat or vegetables, season with olive oil, salt and pepper and go.  You can have a complete and healthy meal on the table in 20-30 minutes.

Versatile.

 The grill is one of the few places where you can create your whole meal at once.  You can create main dishes, sides and desserts.  You can sear your proteins and move them off heat to finish, while cooking two or three vegetables on the side.  Many of todays BBQ’s come with a side burner where you can boil pasta or rice.  Make your whole meal on one surface all at once, keeping everything warm until your ready to eat.  Dessert is fabulous on the BBQ too - grilled fruit is the bomb!

Clean-up free.

 Need I say more? Super low mess factor.  No pans or pots to clean up.  A clean kitchen to go back into.  This is enough of a reason for all of you to get yourself grilling now!

Everything tastes great on the BBQ. 

 The grill adds instant flavour.  Smoky, fire-grilled nuances help everything taste amazing.  With the addition of basic seasonings like olive oil and salt, a simple chicken breast or piece of fish can taste incredible. I especially love almost any vegetables on the grill.  The BBQ will make your veggies taste better as flavours caramelize and deepen.  Really the rule here is keep it simple.   

You can BBQ in heels.

 That’s just the cherry on top.  It is perfectly appropriate to BBQ in heels, with a glass of wine in hand, for your outdoor dinner parties or even better, for dinner with your hubby.  That should be enough of a reason to get you out on that grill.