Our Charred Broccoli soup ingredients, in the pot and finished soup
CHARRED BROCCOLI SOUP WITH GRILLED BROCCOLI FLORETS
Known as the mini tree, broccoli is part of the cruciferous vegetable family that includes cabbage, Brussels sprout, cauliflower, and kale to name a few. Broccoli is low in calories and packed with nutritional value including Vitamin K, C, folate, and potassium.
Although popular as a steamed or stir-fry vegetable, one of the great things when grilling broccoli is it doesn’t lose any nutritional value and you gain great flavor.
We are doing our grilled tofu adding a BBQ flare recipe on a grill pan to hold the Tofu so we can add a natural smoky flavor!
AN EASY RECIPE FOR GRILLED TOFU ADDING A BBQ FLARE
When you’re ready for a non-animal protein, why not take tofu to the grill and infuse it with hickory wood smoke which is a perfect match to our spicy Hoisin sauce and marinade. Our 6-ingredient recipe will get you on the way to a perfect healthier alternative to traditional smoked and grilled proteins.
Smoked Cabbage on the gas grill using SmokinLicious® filet wood chunk is a wonderful way to add flavor to the vegetable!
IT’S NOT SLAW!
Smoked Cabbage
Bringing you another vegetable to take to the grill and smoke with wood for exceptional flavor. This time we focus on cabbage, a fiber-rich leafy vegetable that has been known to help with so many conditions. We will take wedges of cabbage, paint them with a spicy Dijon sauce and wood-fire them for about an hour using an indirect cooking method. Get your gas grill or charcoal grill ready for our version of smoked cabbage that you’ll want to make again and again.
Wood-fired Smoked Beets before and in the offsetting smoking position on the gas grill with single filet wood chunks!
DEVILED EGG FEATURING WOOD-FIRED SMOKED BEETS
It likely is not the first pick from the root vegetable options but beets have a lot to offer. Not only do they offer health benefits that include potentially lowering blood pressure, reducing inflammation, and improving liver function, they are a naturally sweet item that can be added to salads, side dishes, and appetizers.
I’m going to give you a great recipe for a filled egg that is so much more flavorful and healthy than the traditional deviled egg. Plus, I’m taking it up a notch by wood firing the beets first on the gas grill using wood chunks. So, get to the store or farmers market and select your favorite beets. Then fire up the grill for an easy way to up the flavor on beets.
The Finished Glazed Smoked Turnips are garnished and ready to be served
ROOTING FOR GLAZED SMOKED TURNIPS
It may not be the preferred choice in vegetable but it is one you should get to know as the health benefits noted from turnips are amazing. Known to improve bone health, protect your heart, and be an active cancer fighter, turnips are also known to reduce inflammation and optimize digestion.
Our Smoked Carrot Cake starts with us grilling our carrots to add a hint of smokey flavor to this vegetable! Then we bake these carrots into a perfect looking cake for our Smoked Carrot Cake!
ROOT VEGETABLE MAKES AWESOME SMOKED CARROT CAKE!
Carrots are ready for picking and for cooking! We’ve got an easy smoking technique that can be done with whole, sliced, even grated carrot. Once smoked, we are taking all that flavor and making an oil-free, carrot-almond cake with ricotta cream.
Smoked Carrot Cake- Nutrition for Your Bones
Carrots are known for their supply of antioxidant nutrients but they are also prized for their benefit to bone mass. Rich in Vitamin A, biotin, vitamin K, fiber and so much more, carrots offer a variety of color options: traditional orange, yellow, white, purple, and red. As they are considered a hardy root vegetable, they tend to keep longer than most other vegetables. On the grill or smoker, they work perfectly at absorbing the level of smoke vapor you want for recipes.
Carrot and Grill Preparation
As carrots are a root vegetable, they can get a lot of dirt on them. It’s important that you wash them well and then pat dry. If you want to smoke your carrots whole, simply trim the ends. My plan is to use these in our smoked carrot cake recipe so I’ll introduce my carrots to the food processor to produce even shredding. Once shredded, I place in a grill safe, flat pan. I’ll be using two SmokinLicious® single filet wood chunks in Wild Cherry to keep the flavor on the mild side. These chunks are placed on a lit burner set to medium-low. Only that burner will be on! Preheat the grill using all burners, then when the carrots go on the grill, turn off all the burners but the one with the wood chunks.
Smoked Carrot Cake- Just a Little Time
As I’ve elected to pre-shred my carrot for the eventual cake recipe, the actual smoking time will be quite short. I don’t want to remove all the water content naturally found in carrot as I want a moist cake. My total cooking time is roughly 15 minutes. If you do want additional smoke flavor without dehydrating your carrots, you can do a handheld food smoker application as well as this a cold smoking technique that will not affect the moisture of the food nor provide any cooking.
Smoked Carrot Cake- Recipe Time
With our carrots wood grilled, it’s time to start with the cake ingredients. Preheat the oven to 375°F. First up, 1-1/2 cups of finely ground almonds, preferably blanched, finely grated lemon zest from 2 lemons, and 2 tablespoons of sugar. If you cannot locate pre-ground almonds, you may use blanched slivered almonds and process in the food processor. Add all three ingredients to the food processor and pulse until a fine, ground consistency is achieved. Time to prepare the 9-inch springform pan. First, butter the bottom and sides. Feel free to add a buttered parchment round to the bottom of the pan if you wish. Then take a small amount of the ground almond mixture and apply to the sides of the pan. Before we start on the cake batter, melt four tablespoons of butter and set aside.
Smoked Carrot Cake- Cake Batter
Now it’s time for the basic dry ingredients for our smoked carrot cake batter. This is a recipe that is oil free. I’ll be using cake flour to bring more lightness to this cake. Here’s what you’ll need for the start of the cake batter
Unbleached cake flour-1-1/4 cups
baking powder-2 teaspoons
salt-¼ teaspoon
sifter
All these ingredients will be sifted into a medium bowl to bring airiness to the cake. Next up, the wet ingredients. You will need:
sugar-¾ cup
4 large eggs
almond extract-¼ teaspoon
Crack the eggs in a large bowl and add the sugar. With an electric mixer set to medium-high speed, beat the egg mixture until pale, foamy, and thickened. Reduce the speed to low and add in the remaining almond mixture, almond extract, and the flour mixture. Once the dry ingredients are incorporated into the cake batter, take the 4 tablespoons of melted butter and pour over the batter, gently incorporating. In goes the smoked, grated carrot – about two cups. Just combine those items and then spread the batter into your prepared 9-inch springform pan. I’ve used the orange carrot for this recipe as they were available in the garden but I prefer yellow carrot for a golden color all the way through the cake.
Baking Time
Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F once the cake is placed on the middle rack (From the preheated oven of 375°F). It will take about 40 minutes to cook through. While it’s baking, I make the ricotta cream. Gather together:
ricotta cheese-1 cup
sour cream-1 cup
honey-2 tablespoons
confectioner’s sugar-2 tablespoons
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Combine all these ingredients and refrigerator until the cake is ready to serve.
Smoked Carrot Cake- Spongy, Light Goodness!
With our cake lightly browned and springing back when touched in the center, it’s ready to come out of the oven and cool. Once the cooled cake can be plated to a cake stand, I take about ¼ cup of confectioner’s sugar and sift the sugar over the cake. Now it’s time to slice this succulent cake and serve our ricotta cream on the side. This is a very subtle smoked carrot so you will not get an overwhelming smoked flavor. In fact, if you don’t tell anyone you smoked the carrot, they likely will never know. Experiment with flavors you like – swap crushed pistachio for the almond, coconut extract for the almond extract. You can even dust with cocoa powder. Anything goes! Don’t forget, only dust the cake with the confectioner’s sugar before you’re ready to serve as this cake is very moist and will increase in moisture as it sits.
Did we spur your imagination with this recipe?
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Grilled fresh corn is the one vegetable that you MUST try on any grill!
It’s that time of year! Fresh corn has arrived but not for long. Time to get your hands on a few dozen and do something truly special with this favorite
Grilled Fresh Corn- There’s Nothing Like It!
Yes, you can get corn all year by purchasing in the freezer section of your local grocer. Seriously though. Who wants frozen when by waiting nearly 10 months on the east coast you can have fabulous grilled fresh corn? There is a taste difference between fresh and frozen and boiled and grilled!
On The Grill With Wood For Smoky Char
Corn is one of those vegetables that just begs to be put on the grill. There are many techniques but I prefer to remove the husks and silks, and grill my corn on the cob
with wood chunks on the grill’s heat shields. In answer to the question about soaking the wood in water first – no, I do not do this step as I want my corn kernels to really crackle on the grill. Just see our posting on how to add wood chunks to the LP grill.
Avocado chocolate pudding kissed by “fire” and “smoke” for an extra boost of flavor!
Avocado has been known for its health benefits for some time and has gone beyond the simple slice or dice and add to your favorite salad. It has become the new replacement for butter in many recipes.
Now, I’m going to do a similar approach to chocolate pudding by incorporating avocado instead of dairy but first, I add a wood-fired flavor to the avocado to bring out a flavor level to this fruit that is distinctly different from its raw flavor. You can see our previous article on the technique we used on the gas grill.
Spicy-char hummus is made by grilling/smoking the hot peppers and then add to your Hummus! Great way to keep the grill flavors when the weather turns colder!
The centuries old Arabic bean dip has gained in popularity substantially over the past few years in United States. Part of the draw is the fact that hummus is high in protein and fiber, and low in fat.
Whenever we reach the transition between Winter and Spring, I like to start transitioning my meals from hearty comfort foods to a bit more health conscious to prepare for the “less clothes” season coming. Since I’m in the southwestern portion of New York State, our warmer temperatures can be a long way away from the calendar date of the first day of Spring.
Carrots are ready for picking and for cooking! We’ve got an easy smoking technique that can be done with whole, sliced, even grated carrot. Once smoked, we are taking all that flavor and making an oil-free, carrot-almond cake with ricotta cream.
shredded, I place in a grill safe, flat pan. I’ll be using two 
Crack the eggs in a large bowl and add the sugar. With an electric mixer set to medium-high speed, beat the egg mixture until pale, foamy, and thickened. Reduce the speed to low and add in the remaining almond mixture, almond extract, and the flour mixture. Once the dry ingredients are incorporated into the cake batter, take the 4 tablespoons of melted butter and pour over the batter, gently incorporating. In goes the smoked, grated carrot – about two cups. Just combine those items and then spread the batter into your prepared 9-inch springform pan. I’ve used the orange carrot for this recipe as they were available in the garden but I prefer yellow carrot for a golden color all the way through the cake.
Did we spur your imagination with this recipe?
