Meats

• Grills welcome most slabs of meat with open arms. Steak, ribs and rack of lamb are among the more luxurious meats you can use to feed a crowd. For less-expensive options, try hamburgers or cheeseburgers. Liven them up with bleu cheese or grilled cheese. Give guests options of cheese, such as provolone, Swiss, cheddar or American. Grill sausages, such as bratwurst or Italian sausage, or good-old fashioned hot dogs. Make sure to give guests buns and variety of condiments, such as ketchup, mustard and relish. Try something new on the grill such as tuna steaks or salmon filets. Grind the salmon in a food process to make healthy salmon burgers.

Vegetables

• Don’t forget vegetarians in your barbecue menu. Season and grill large portabello mushrooms or slices of eggplant as you would a steak. Build kabobs on skewers, filled with tomatoes, onions, peppers and mushrooms. Grill large vegetables, like corn on the cob, directly on the grill rack. Leave the husk on the corn to protect it from the intense heat of the rack. Stuff peppers with a bread crumbs or cooked rice mixtures. Wrap in foil and place on the grill for 10 to 20 minutes, or until the skin of the pepper blisters a bit. Place a cast iron skillet on the grill and sauté a variety of favorite vegetables. You can slice zucchini, summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, fennel, or onions; drizzle them with olive oil; sprinkle with salt, pepper and other various spices; and cook in the pan on the grill alongside the meats.

Fruits

• Fruits can also be cooked on the grill. Slice the top, bottom and peel off a pineapple. Slice the pineapple into a pile of thick circles. Place them on the grill, just long enough to cook the edges and caramelize the sugars in the pineapple juice. Take them off the grill before they burn. Always grill fruits before the meat or after you have thoroughly cleaned it. You don’t want to spread the taste or potential diseases of meat to the fruit.
  You can also cook fruits, that you would normally sauté or bake in the cast iron pan. Clean the pan of any of the vegetable seasonings or use a clean plan and drizzle the fruits with vegetable oil and brown or white sugar.