Grilling with Chef Marianne

Transcript:

Amy: Hello and welcome to “Ask a Nutritionist” our weekly mini episode of Dishing Up Nutrition. Today I have a special guest with me to talk about all things grilling. We are finally getting to some nice spring weather outside and it's that time of year where the grill gets dusted off and pulled out of storage to come the go-to cooking method for quick and delicious meal.

I also hear from clients and listeners who feel frustrated when their chicken turns out dry and their veggies burn, or they're just out of ideas for meals. So today we're going to simplify our grilling for you and answer your top questions.

I'm joined today by our special guest, Chef Marianne, who will be sharing practical real life tips to help you grow flavorful proteins , get the most out of your side dishes, and make real food meals that truly support your health.

Plus we'll talk about easy ways to batch cook, how to keep cleanup minimal, and how to set yourself up with nourishing meals for the week. So welcome Marianne. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Marianne: Thank you, Amy. It is a pleasure to be here and I am so glad that we are going to talk about grilling. For me I consider grilling an extension of my kitchen. It's my outdoor kitchen. So I'm hoping that we can inspire people to think that way. The weather is warming up. The farmer's markets are opening. We get to cook outside. It's kind of nice. You don't have to heat up your kitchen. So, this really is truly the start of spring for me.

And grilling can be so simple and fun and, and a really easy way to get healthy meals on the table. But as you said, you know, there's a lot of frustration out there. It can be challenging. Why is my chicken so dry? Or why do my veggies burn and fall through the grates? I know you've heard that, Amy.

Amy: A hundred percent. It's my favorite type of cooking. But you're right. People have issues with grilling or they get stuck in that rut, right, of just thinking of burgers and brats on repeat. And they're ready for something new that still feels easy.

How to avoid under/overcooking food on the grill

So let's get started and since one of the most common questions we get is how to not over or undercook food on the grill, let's start with how you would preheat a grill kind of depending on what you're cooking, because that really can set you up for success or failure, right?

Marianne: Absolutely. So, I'm going to go back to that idea of seeing your grill as an outdoor kitchen. So actually before you preheat, we want to make sure that your grill grates are cleaned and oiled. So I use avocado or coconut oil. You could use tallow; any, any good, healthy high heat oil.

And this obviously, this is going to keep your food from sticking, keeps your grill cleaner longer. So you can use a dedicated grilling towel that you just keep with your grill, or you can just use a paper towel, put the oil on it, run it over the grate, so it's nice and clean and oiled up and ready to go, and then you can preheat your grill. So obviously that's going to depend on what kind of grill you have.

If you have a gas grill, it simply means you're going to check your propane level and turn it on. But with coal or wood briquettes there's a process to properly lighting and preparing them and you know, maybe you have one of those starter chimneys. You want a good amount of heat.

Both options take a little bit of patience, kind of like waiting for your oven to preheat. You wouldn't just throw something into the oven before preheating it. You want it to be a good temp. So it's also a good idea to know what's on the menu because it may dictate how much heat you want and where you want it.

So as a rule, I always have a portion of my grill, sort of at medium low temp. So, for gas it, mine happens to be divided into thirds. There's three heat elements, so I keep one third of my grill off. It is not lit. And for coal or wood briquettes, you would simply get them nice and hot and gray and you would move them to one side.

This kind of gives you a safe zone. It slows down the cooking process. It prevents burning. It is known as direct and indirect heat, and it will get you out of a lot of emergency situations. So it's, it's a good practice to have. And so, I'm just curious, Amy, what kind of grill do you guys have?

Amy: So we have a couple options and my husband is our main griller. We have just the Weber and we do a lot of chicken on that. We do hamburgers, and then we have a smoker that we use quite a bit also.

Marianne: Oh wow. That's fantastic. And, and such a yummy flavor smoking so you, so you do have to be patient when you're, when you're, lighting your grill. And so I, I, I, I encourage everybody to be patient and let it come up to temp. There is a, there's sort of a rule of, it's called the six second rule. So you, you put your hand, I know this sounds crazy, but you put your hand sort of near the grates and it should be kind of hard for you to keep your hand there.

That's how hot you want your, your grill to be. Obviously if you have a thermostat on your gas grill, it's going to tell you what the temp is with the, with the cover down, but when it's up, we're sort of, there's a little bit of guessing. We learned it in the, in the restaurant. It's really important and, and we can get it as hot as four, the four second rule.

So if you cannot hold your hand there the four seconds, it could be challenging. So, so let's talk about some typical proteins. Amy, you talked about chicken, obviously we do steaks, burgers, brats, and sometimes you might want to do some fish.

So I'm going to just go a little bit into each one, and sort of the practice that I think it's important to remember. So I, first of all, with all of your proteins, I recommend that you take them out of the fridge for about 30 minutes before they're going to go on the grill.

And that just lets them cook more evenly. If they're really cold right out of the fridge, that muscle meat is actually kind of tight and, the outside is going to cook a lot faster than the, than the inside. And so then you, and we don't want, you know, medium rare chicken.

Chicken tips

So, so let's talk about chicken a little bit. You, you want to kind of use your grill kind of like an oven. So, if you're cooking it with the skin on, you would put it skin side down over that, that sort of medium high heat. It's going to be the higher heat side of your grill, and that's going to brown the outside. Now you want to be careful that it doesn't, you know that that fat is going to sort of drip down into the grill.

So we're going to keep an eye on it when we're doing the browning part, and once it's kind of a nice brown color on both sides, I'm going to move it over to the indirect side. And now you close the, the lid and you are creating an oven. This is the indirect heat. The inside of your chicken is going to get cooked and it kind of locks in the juices.

Steak tips

It's kind of my go-to on how I cook my, my chicken. So I, now, let's say you want to do steak, which is always a treat. Now this can vary on the thickness of your steak. Obviously, you know, if, if, if you have a one inch, let's say flank or flat iron, or maybe a sirloin, they, they tend to be a little bit thinner.

You are going to pretty much use , the hot side of your grill and it's not going to take long at all. So it's really important to have it preheated and ready to go. And I do the 80/20 rule on my steaks. So I cook it 80% on one side and then I flip it over and I do the 20% on the other.

This gives it, it gives it a nice sort of crust, if you will, on one side but doesn't overcook your steak, so you then you flip it over just 20% on the other side. So now for a thicker steak, you're kind of going to treat it like chicken a little bit. You're going to sear it, and then you, you might move it over to your indirect side, to get the inside to where you want it without burning the outside.

So maybe you have a rib eye that's, you know, an inch and a half or two inches thick. You just don't want to overcook the outside before the inside's done. For me, medium rare. What about you, Amy? How do you like your steak?

Amy: Medium rare is perfection. You're making me hungry.

Marianne: Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, if you wanted it to be, you're, you're going to have folks, you become sort of a short order cook I feel like when, when it's a steak, because everybody likes them a different way. You might want to move it over to the indirect heat for those folks that want it more medium, medium well. So it's a little bit like your, your chicken.

Fish tips

So, fish can be a little trickier. I don't want to shy people away from doing fish because it really does, it is lovely and it tastes beautiful. I guess I would encourage you to get fish with the skin on. That's very helpful. It sort of holds it together. Your steak type fish, your swordfish, tuna steaks hold together well.

You're going to use, obviously you're going to use a spatula. You certainly want to make sure that your, your grates are nice and oiled. You can also use a fish basket. They make baskets specifically for fish that work beautifully for more of a filet. Or if you were doing a whole fish like a snapper.

And, and of course you definitely want to keep an eye on that because you really only want to cook your fish until it flakes and it's opaque, so it, it's, it's a little more challenging, but boy, it's lovely to do fish on the grill. You can also do, if you're intimidated, get out your cast iron skillet and preheat it in your grill. Or if you have a flat iron that some people have these, you can get attachments for your grill. That, that sort of creates a flat top.

And so you can also do your fish that way, just, just pull out that, that cast iron skillet and I mean, it's, you feel like you're cheating. Because I'm like, am I really grilling right now? But it still imparts that lovely flavor and you're just making sure that that fish doesn't fall through the grates, which is, yeah, we don't want that to happen.

Burger tips

And, and so, finally with burgers, I think the big mistake people make with burgers is they fuss with them. They keep flipping them over, you know, back and forth and back and forth. And unfortunately when they're on the grates that all that lovely juice is just falling through and, they can dry out and overcook. So I, I kind of want you to try the 80/20 rule on your burgers as well.

Amy: Okay.  

Marianne: Yeah. You can also do the cast iron. If you want to do the smashburger, break out your cast iron and then you can press down your burger all you want. It's going to stay in the pan. But that's my rule with, with the proteins anyway.

Tips to avoid dried out meat 

Amy: Okay. That is such good information. I feel like that's going to change how so many people grill. It makes such a difference. So now let's talk about how to not dry that meat out, because I feel like that is the most common frustration when people maybe are newer or grilling, right? Struggling to kind of get that right texture of meat. They find it so dried out. So what would your, would your recommendation be for that?

Marianne: Yeah, absolutely. I know it's, you know, it's, it's not as exact as your inside kitchen. I feel like, especially with coals, it's not quite as consistent of a heat, so there's a little bit more guesswork, so I would absolutely encourage everybody to get a thermometer and that can be an instant read thermometer. Those you can get them at your hardware store.

They're really inexpensive. It can be digital or analog and you, you just poke it into the thickest part of the meat without touching the bone and it will tell you the internal temperature instantly.

Another great investment especially, and a great gift for someone who does a lot of grilling is get a probe thermometer and boy they are, so the, the technology on them now, they can go through your phone, you get Bluetooth, it can, you know, tell you, hey, you need to go get that pork roast. It's ready to go, but they can just have a timer on them that, that makes a noise when it's, when that internal temperature is where you want it.

Amy: I remember had an Easter service last year and the person next to me was checking their brisket on the smoker with that.

Marianne: Yes, exactly. Yeah, for a smoker for sure. I bet that is absolutely imperative.

Amy: Technology has changed so much. That's great.

Marianne: It is amazing. So chicken, we do not want, like I said, we don't want medium rare chicken. So, as a rule, you really want your chicken to, to ultimately come up to 165 degrees. That is, the USDA Health Department, everybody wants you to, to eat your chicken at that temperature.

I'm going to say, here's a little tip. If it's a really thick, nice breast, which can easily dry out, bring it up to maybe 158 to 160. Take it off. And when it's resting, know that your meat will always continue to cook when you take it off the heat.

So that way you don't dry out that chicken breast, which can get kind of stringy. So, so there's a little piece of advice. Your steak, on the other hand, again, you've got your, you're a short order cook, so you've got some medium rares and some wells.

So 125 is where I start with my medium rare. You're going to have a nice pink inside and it can go up to 140. I would not go beyond that with a steak, or it is going to be really hard to chew. So, that's sort of the, the reference and, and when you buy a thermometer, they, they usually have really nice little guides, little placards that they, they give you, that you can, you can reference.

Amy: I think that thermometer has changed the way I cook both inside in the oven and on the stove, but especially the grill, it makes such a difference.

Marianne: Yeah, it really does. And you know, look, chefs have them in their chef coats all the time. It is an absolutely essential piece of equipment. So, and then of course, with all your meat, with possibly the exception of fish, you want to let that meat rest.

Always. So, so take that, that chicken off, that steak, let it hang out a little bit. Maybe you have some veggies on the grill that you can finish up. I would say minimum of 10 minutes, you can do it. Let them rest up to 20. Depending on how many pieces you have, it really redistributes that juice because you have taken, you know, sort of a room temperature thing. It went to heat and now you're taking it off the heat and, all those juices need to sort of redistribute throughout and then it becomes that beautiful, juicy, lovely piece that you were hoping for.

Amy: That is such a good reminder. It's so easy to just bring it in and start cutting it right away. So good reminder to let it rest.

Tips for simple marinades & sauces

So let's talk a little bit about flavor, because I think it's so common when you're grilling people kind of forget about the real food thing, right? They go pick up that bottle of barbecue sauce or the easy bottle of marinade. But if you look at those ingredients and the nutrition facts, they're really big sources of sugar, right?

High fructose corn syrup is usually at the top of the label there. So we also want to keep it simple and we understand not wanting to buy a lot of extra ingredients and taking a lot of time to make a marinade from scratch when you can buy a pre-made bottle. So, Marianne, do you have any tips for simple marinades you can make at home?

Marianne: Yes, absolutely. And I'm going to say all the stuff that's in the sort of the door, the door of your refrigerator can become the easiest ways to marinate. So, think about, really simple vinaigrette. So, so there's a, there's a basic formula. You want a certain amount of acid, fat, and then whatever flavor profile you're going to use.

In my world the ratio of acid, which is a vinegar or maybe, you know, lemon, lime juice, that sort of thing to your fat, which again, depending on how you're going to cook this, which side, direct or indirect, you're going to use a high heat oil as a rule. And, I do two to one. So a two parts fat to one part acid.

Then the flavor part is where you can go in a million different directions. So just open up that spice drawer. You've got a lot of dry spices. If you want to do Italian, maybe we do balsamic vinegar. I like to use avocado oil, which is pretty neutral and it's high heat. And then throw your, you know, Italian seasoning, your oregano, basil.

Or maybe we want to do sort of a, an Asian inspired flavor. So I would do rice vinegar with my avocado oil, and then maybe I'd put a splash of, tamari or fish sauce, soy sauce, some, maybe a little sriracha. So things like I want you to think that way as your flavoring. And then of course timing.

You know, you, you have to get that protein in with your marinade. I think it doesn't have to be as long as you think, especially for chicken, which is very neutral. It can be as little as 20 minutes. So maybe that's the time that you are taking it out of the fridge and letting it hang out before it goes on the grill.

Throw it into that marinade, and then maybe you're making your potato salad or you're doing something else. You know, getting your vegetables on a skewer while your your meat is in that marinade. I also caution you not to do it for too long because the acid can denature your protein in a, in essence, it'll cook your protein, which can change the texture. So, so there's sort of, I know with chicken, 12 hours is kind of the, is kind of the end. And. I don’t know, do you, do you marinade Amy?

Amy: You’re making my life easier? I always feel bad if I haven't let it sit too long, but 20 minutes that I can definitely do.

Marianne: Yeah, it's, it doesn't have to be too complicated. Like fish, you certainly don't want to do that for very long with an acid, because then you're going to turn it into ceviche. Right? Which isn't necessarily bad either, but that's not your objective. So, but the great thing about marinades, it can actually reduce some harmful compounds that can be produced when we're, when we're grilling.

So that’s an added bonus. Anything that has a little bit of sugar in it. So even if you did say an Asian inspired marinade and you had just a little bit of maple syrup, like on your, I know salmon, there's a lot of recipes out there with, you know, like Bragg’s aminos and a little bit of maple.

Just know that anything with a little sugar in it is, you have to be careful because it's going to caramelize and burn faster than any of your other ingredients. So keep keep that in mind. And there's just so many options. You can do a yogurt base, you could throw that into your, you know, I'm going to put, I'm, I'm doing air quotes right now that vinegarette, and make sort of a tandoori, maybe you add some curry powder.

That would be fun. And then for barbecue, I, I'll, you know, I'm going to confess, I don't usually make my own barbecue sauce, but there are some brands now that are doing a good job of getting rid of the sugar. They know that we don't want the sugar. Just make sure that it doesn't have a lot of preservatives and emulsifiers and all of those things.

It should be very simple, readable ingredients. And then there's some sauces you can put on when you're done grilling. When you make that steak, why don't you put on some chimichurri, which is also a really simple, you know, Italian, parsley, garlic, a little bit of vinegar, so you're cutting through the fat of that protein with that bright flavor or your pesto, which might be a little more fragile. Basil doesn't really like heat, so use that as a topping, and it's absolutely delicious.

Amy: I love all those ideas and I love the simplicity of that ratio you gave us. I just wrote it down myself because it's all things that you already have in your pantry, right? It's so easy, and you can just change it up all the time. That's perfect.

Tips for grilling vegetables (& even fruit!)

So what are your thoughts on veggies? Because usually it's meat that we're thinking of, right? But it's such a good way to grill those vegetables sides. So what vegetables or even fruits would you say work well on the grill and how would you prepare those and cook those?

Marianne: Yeah, I feel like it's funny, we do, tend to think about proteins first and, and I want to encourage everybody to think about those beautiful vegetables, especially when you go to the farmer's market and whatever's in season. So, so as a rule, you want to think about veggies and, and the, the density and the water content, which sounds kind of, you know, like we're really getting into the weeds here, but it's important to know that some veggies are going to cook really fast.

So your zucchini, your peppers, your cherry tomatoes, your onions, they cook pretty fast. They're sort of in the same category. You could probably put them on a skewer or if you have, you know, they have grill baskets for veggies.  

But then your denser vegetables, think potatoes, beets, carrots, they have less water content. They're going to take longer. You're going to probably need, maybe the indirect side. You're going to turn that into an oven to kind of get those, a little, you know, a, a little more al dente, I guess is what I want to say. You don't want to just bite into a hard carrot.

Marianne: So, so, and you could again use a basket for that. I have lost many a piece of asparagus through the grates of my grill, which is always like, oh man down. I can't believe it. So, so, and that maybe that's part of the discouraging part of doing veggies. You keep thinking that you're going to lose some. So I encourage you to use skewers. Baskets are great.

And then that marinade, maybe you cut that marinade in half. Some of it's going to go on your protein. Use some of that beautiful bright vinegarette style marinade on maybe a cauliflower steak, or any of those skewers, it would taste absolutely delicious. And, it's such a bright flavor. It makes your vegetables. I think you could probably get more people to eat vegetables if you did it that way. And it's delicious.

Amy: I always think of marinades for meat and I never think about it for the vegetables. I'm going to try that.

Marianne: Absolutely. And then fruit, you mentioned fruit. What a fabulous way to eat your fruit. I mean, it, it, you're not cooking it for very long, so it still holds its texture. So think pineapple like stone fruits like peaches, plums, watermelon boy, if you go on Instagram, you see everybody is grilling their watermelon, which is surprising because probably you think of the water content in watermelon, but you're just doing it, you're searing, and this is on your high heat side.

This is not the indirect side. You're doing the high heat side and then sprinkle it with a really nice, sort of flaked sea salt and it brings out the sweetness. Believe it or not, it's absolutely delicious. So just a little bit of caramelization. It's great. That can be your dessert or cut it up and add it to a salad. Absolutely delicious.

Amy: And that's so simple. So for just like for a weeknight, a nice low sugar dessert, or even for a nice dinner party to have that. I think people would love that.

Marianne: Yeah, I agree.

Tips for avoiding flare-ups & burning

Amy: Okay, so how about avoiding flare-ups and burning? I think that's kind of a reason people shy away from grilling, right? Because they're worried about burning their food or causing a grease fire.

Marianne: Yeah. It, it is. That is, again, this goes back to the, like, this isn't happening in my inside kitchen, you know? So, so, those flare-ups are going to happen, especially if you are cooking things with the skin on. There's a lot of good fat under your chicken and it's delicious.

And unfortunately, it's going to release some of that fat. It falls down into the, to through the grates and it causes a flare up, and that is why we have that indirect side, and you're going to have to keep an eye on your grill during the time that you are searing them. And this can happen with your steak as well, so you, you can have some fat on that steak.

If there's really a lot of fat, like on the, the side of say a rib eye, cut off some of that fat. You don't need that much fat. It's really just enough to keep it juicy. So move it over. You don't want to overcrowd your grill. You want enough air flow through your grill, in between your proteins so that it almost creates a convection, which is, you know, kind of like a fan.

It allows it to move around. And just don't panic. You can, some people have a little squeeze bottle of water that they, if it gets really bad that you can just squeeze that side and it will tamp down some of those flames and stay calm and move it to the indirect side and it'll be just fine.

Amy: It's good to know. It's a normal part of grilling. Not a big deal. Okay. I love it. Well, and some people prefer the taste of their meat a little burnt and so they overcook it on purpose. But we really advise against eating burnt meat, even if you really like that flavor, because it can create those harmful compounds that you were talking about earlier that could be carcinogenic.

So if sometimes your meat becomes a little charred, I would say okay. Every once in a while on occasion, like some grill marks, but if you can maybe just cut that excessively burnt or charred part off. And that brings me to another related topic, Marianne, of using things like aluminum foil packets or parchment paper to avoid burning food and making cleanup easier. Are these things you recommend or what would you do to help kind of minimize cleaning, if anything?

Tips for simplifying & minimizing cleanup

Marianne: Yeah, absolutely. I am not a fan of my food directly touching aluminum foil. So here's my little trick. So I take my aluminum foil sheet and I just line it with unbleached parchment paper, and then I put the veggies in that and create a little pocket. You know, I close it up, so that you can roast those potatoes.

Be sure to throw in a little rosemary, a little oil, salt and pepper. It tastes delicious. So you can use your foil packs, but just line it with parchment. Especially if you are using that marinade and there's an acidic quality to that, the acid can react with the aluminum.

So we don't want that, but it also makes cleanup so much easier. Things do not stick to that parchment. And it's just a great way to have that little packet. You can start it on the hot, the direct side. If it gets too hot, just move it over to the indirect. Because remember that's the oven side of your, of your grill.

Amy: Okay. So smart. And then that stainless steel grill basket that you talked about, right? I use that.

Marianne: Yeah. Yeah. And, and tongs, some good stainless steel tongs are essential, I think nice and long. Because remember that four second rule or six second rule, you want a nice long tong so you're not, burning the hair off your arms.

And I would say if you're going to use skewers, get some really good stainless steel skewers, you can use them over and over. You don't have to worry about them soaking them and starting them on fire. I feel like I've always had an issue with wooden skewers. Invest in some, some really nice, and they're inexpensive. You can get them anywhere and it just is easier to use.

Amy: I agree. Kebabs are such a fun dinner. I think that's a great idea.

Marianne: Yeah.

“Fill the grill!”

Amy: And so brings me to a technique we like to encourage people to use that fill the grill. I feel like I talk about that with clients in the summer all the time. So kind of batch cooking to make enough food for several meals. I use it all summer long, so I have lots of protein in the fridge and I'm always telling people, giving people that suggestion. So, Marianne, explain how you would do this.

Marianne: So again, we're going to go back that this is, this is just your outdoor kitchen. So instead of, if we were inside, I would tell you if you preheated your oven, let's, let's fill it up, you know, get those sheet pans out. So you're going to sort of do that. Obviously, I just talked about not overcrowding your grill.

So this is, keeping that in mind. Maybe you have veggies on one side and protein on the other. But don't think about just that one grilled meal. Think about what you might want for the rest of the week and make more chicken than you might think you would usually do.

Or, your burgers, you know, cook, cook off a few of those burgers. You can add them to salads. Maybe you have taco night later in the week or, or however you want to use your protein a little differently. Of course, you know, don't overcrowd that grill. We still want a little bit of airflow and cook off extra veggies.

I mean, either make those skewers, get that basket and fill it up. If you have bigger veggies that don't fall through the grates, like, like slices of eggplant tend to, to do okay, if anybody's a fan, do that. And, and then, you know, just let, bring them up to room temperature and then you're going to store them in your fridge.

They can keep, in my world, they keep for six days from the day you make it and your proteins go ahead and freeze them. And now you've got cooked protein that you can have when you're just too tired to even think about cooking something or it's a rainy day and you're not going to be grilling on another day.

And, and so reheating, I know that's a big question. If it's a chicken, I tend to, I, I've reheated things in my air fryer, which, but you have to be careful that it can dry that out. Do it in a stock pot and you add a little bit of broth or water and just put a top on it so you kind of steam it, it keeps it juicy.

Cut it up to the size that you want. That will also prevent drying. Everything should be reheated sort of gently, not on too high of a heat. Steak is a little more challenging. You don't want to overcook your steak, but it's a little bit of a concession you make for leftover steak. I tend to heat reheat that on a low air fryer. Or if you use your microwave, you can do that too.

Amy: It's just going to make your week so much easier. Right? If you have those proteins ready, you have some veggies ready, your future self will be so happy. Right?

Marianne: Agreed. Absolutely.

Amy: Well, we've covered so much wonderful information today, and grilling can be such a great tool to make meals both delicious and nourishing. And I hope you learned from our discussion today that with a few simple techniques, it's actually easier than you think.

So I invite you to give some of Marianne's helpful tips a try during this grilling season. And if you didn't already know, you can find recorded cooking classes with Chef Marianne on our website, weightandwellness.com.

You just click on that nutrition classes tab, then virtual cooking class demos via Zoom and keep an eye out for her live classes so you can register for those too.

Sign Up For Our Cooking Classes!

That way you can interact and ask questions with her while she does the cooking demo live. Marianne, I am constantly recommending your classes to clients.

I feel like I hear so many times people say, I'm just tired of cooking. I just don't have ideas. And I think that your classes are just such a refresh for people. They're so entertaining. I always learn lots of new tips, so I'm such a fan and always such good, wonderful recipes too.

Marianne: Oh, Amy, that is so nice. I so appreciate that. And, and it is true. Sometimes we just need a little bit of inspiration and so in May we're actually doing a really fun class, Healthy Burgers and Tacos, so, so sort of, you can get some inspiration for your grilling. And then in June we have Salads for Balanced Meals, which is delicious.

I love to eat a big, like entree style salad, especially during the summer when it's hot and you can use some of those grilled proteins. So it uses a lot of those summer veggies that you're going to see in the farmer's market. And, on, you know, entree salads. They're delicious. So you can sign up for these classes on the website, weightandwellness.com. Give the office a call at 651-699-3438, and they can help you sign up over the phone if that's easier for you. And thank you, Amy, for, for having me today.

Amy: Thank you, Marianne. It was so wonderful to talk to you. You inspired me to get out that grill and I know everybody got such great ideas from you. So I want to thank everyone for listening to “Ask a Nutritionist”, our weekly mini episode of Dishing Up Nutrition.

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