What’s For Dinner? Kitchen Superstar: George Foreman Grill

What’s for Dinner? Kitchen Superstar is a new feature on the blog. I am sharing with you busy moms and dads my favorite items in our kitchen that truly are superstars!

They help me save time, spend less or make my life easier. I will not just tell you about the item but how it helps make my life better. I hope you enjoy!

I am excited to share with you, my kitchen superstar-mostly because this is a small appliance I did not want! It is the George Foremen Grill. (also called a contact grill)

Note: I will be sharing the “recipe” for making the meal in the photo near the end of the post, but first will cover cleaning and care, so feel free to skip to the part of the post most you are most interested in!

Disclosure: I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Kitchen Superstar!

My husband came to me saying he wanted to buy this “grill” which I thought was dumb. I mean we have a BBQ, why do we need a grill. It’s the same thing, right? Besides did we really need something else on our counter taking up room?

However, when your husband makes supper almost every night, you listen. So he researched while I kept an eye on sales. We ended up purchasing our George Foreman 4 Serving Removable Plate Grill on sale, which is always great.

What I love about this grill, is that it is straightforward enough to use that your teenager can totally use it with minimal assistance. Depending on your child, of course! Unlike a BBQ you don’t need to worry about flames, lighting it etc. So it is a great starter or introduction to “grilling”.

Care & Keeping:

I had visions when my husband first mentioned the Foremen Grill of things stuck to it like glue, plates that wouldn’t come out, and being a total pain to clean.

When my mom owned one about 14 years ago, it was burned in my mind the pain it was to clean them. So I was really dreading the thought of fighting with it.

They have now improved it 110%! I must admit I was very pleasantly surprised to learn not only did the grill plates come out but they are dishwasher safe!

You can put all the plates in the dishwasher, including the oil drip pan. Therefore, cleaning is a snap. You do not grease the grill and yet, we’ve yet to have anything stick to it.

You can also wipe the plates off with a damp cloth, mild soap or invest in these sponges to clean your grill.

Using Your Grill:

The grill we purchased came with two sets of plates. One for grilling and one for waffle making.

After choosing your plates, insert the plates in the grill. They have clearly marked “top” and “bottom”, and then place the oil drip pan in the spot in front of the grill. By the drain, where you can see it will collect the oil.

Ours has a height setting, but to be honest I just keep it in the middle. After you plug it in, lights will indicate when it is preheated. (Check your manual to see how yours works)

Once preheated, you are set to go.

When you are finished allow your grill to cool completely before cleaning. Don’t forget to empty the oil try. I won’t tell you how many times I have been wiping off the counters only to send the oil tray flying across the room accidentally and covered the floor and myself in oil in the process. *Sigh!! lease empty when cooled enough.

Wipe all surfaces and clean plates/oil pan either by hand or in the dishwasher. Return plates and store. You are ready for the next cooking session.

“Recipes”: Let’s Cook!

I have “recipe” in quotation marks because it’s not really a recipe but whole food, cooked into a meal. So let’s cook the meal in the photo, shall we?

By the way, your teen can probably do this with little to no supervision depending on their comfort level/experience.

We are making: grilled steak, oven fries, and steamed broccoli.

Oven Fries:

Start with the oven fries, as they take the longest. You will need potatoes, we prefer white larger potatoes, but you can use red or sweet. You will need to adjust the oven cooking time depending on not only your oven but your potatoes and the size of the wedges.

• Scrub potatoes, chop into wedges, and soak in water to remove starch. While they soak preheat your oven to 400-410 degrees.
• Grease your cookie sheet with coconut oil or grape seed oil as this is a high heat. Pro Tip: Use parchment paper for easier cleanup!
• Drain your potatoes and pat dry, season with pepper and spices. We love Mrs. Dash spices as they have no salt or MSG.
• Spread evenly on cookie sheet and in the oven for 15-20 minutes. You want them to get crispy on the bottom, then we will flip and cook additional 15-20 minutes. Check them often as time will vary depending on potato type, size of the wedges and oven.
• Turn off the oven and let them “rest” in the oven while the rest finishes cooking.

Steamed Broccoli:

Depending on how slow your child is, you will want to help them choose when to start to cook the broccoli. You can steam broccoli a few ways depending on the tools you have. We use a Pot and Steamer Pot. You can also use a Veggie Steamer. Or you can use a pot and use a little water at the bottom.

Whatever method you choose, start with:

• Wash and shake dry the broccoli
• chop the broccoli into small bite-sized pieces

We use a pot with steamer pot, therefore, you will want to bring the water to a boil and add chopped broccoli to the steamer pot and add this to the top of the boiling water. Cover and let it cook 10-15 minutes. Until you can pierce the broccoli easily with a fork.

If you have a veggie steamer, follow the instructions included in the manual that came with the steamer.

If you are using a pot:

• add a small amount of water
• bring to a boil
• add broccoli
• cover
• keep and eye on it, don’t let it boil dry!
• Keep adding water as needed and checking with a fork to see when it has reached desired tenderness
• Remove from heat and leave covered until ready to serve.

Pro-Tip: Do not over steam broccoli it gets mushy *ick!

Grilled Steak:

Remove the steak and let rest with spices of your choice. We use Mrs. Dash Grilling Blends.(Mrs. Dash Spices)

• Preheat your grill
• Do not oil grill, add steak-CAREFULLY-the grill is hot!
• Cook for 8 minutes (time will vary depending on your grill and preferences)
• remove the steak from the grill, do not use a metal utensil to do this. The plates are non-stick and, therefore you do not want to scratch the surface. We use rubber tipped tongs, like these.
• Place steak on a plate, let rest and serve!

If you have timed it right you should end up with a well-balanced dinner! This is one of our favorite meals, feel free to swap out the fries for rice, and veggies for steamed carrots, corn or your favorite veggie!

Other Quick Tips:

We love our grill and use it for meal prepping meat for our lunches, dinner and more!

The only thing we are not crazy about grilled is chicken breast-as it seems to be hard to cook evenly. To do this, be sure to slice the chicken breast so it is thinner. This seems to assist. Great for breadless chicken fingers with ranch dressing for the dip!

My husband makes killer salmon on the grill. His tips are:

• Buy salmon with the skin on
• No seasoning is needed
• Cook 9-10 minutes, on medium heat (time and heat vary depending on your grill)
• The skin should stick to the grill and your fish comes off nicely (skin will come off easily when cooled)
• add pepper/salt and serve with lemon or vinegar, rice, and veggie

Before I go, I wanted to quickly share that we have used the waffle grill plates as well.

My husband made gluten-free waffles with a mix, he picked up at our local grocery store. They turned out great! We didn’t even need to grease the plates, and if you have used a waffle maker you know how that can be tricky. They cooked in about 8 minutes, and for this gluten sensitive momma, they were a real treat!

Yes, I do use the grill, but due to my work shifts, my husband makes most dinners 🙂

Don’t have a grill yet?  This is the one we have and love!

They are a great way to make your life easier! Thanks to my awesome readers, you can see they agree with me.

My grill allows my family to eat healthy during the winter months, as it drains away any fat and does not need oil to cook my favorite meats. It cooks meat quickly for meal prepping or everyday lunches. That’s why it is our kitchen superstar!

Do you have a grill? Any tips to share? Let me know below, I look forward to hearing from you!

Also in this series: What’s for Dinner? Kitchen Superstar: The Slow Cooker

We love to party!