During this stay at home period, I have really picked up cooking dinner each night with my dad (since he works at home). We have tried many different methods of cooking: grilling, flat top grilling, baking, smoking, and stove-top cooking. Each method is very different but they are equally as good, depending on what you’re cooking.

Grilling: this usually takes a fairly short amount of time and cooks things very evenly. My personal favorite thing to grill is peppers and onions to make a side for a cut of meat. I can chop up the peppers and onions and put some sauce with it, then mix it up. It cooks very fast and tastes very good with meats like steak and chicken (which can also be grilled easily).

Flat-top grilling: obviously this is still a form of grilling, but instead of leaving grill marks, this is like a long flat pan that cooks fast and even. This type of cooking makes very good hamburgers and chicken sandwiches. It was very easy to tell when the hamburgers were ready, and we didn’t have to cut them open to check!! Delicious food, and cooked quick!

Baking: My family loves fish, and we eat salmon probably once a week. Baking is great for this fish because it keeps it from going dry, and lets the flavor soak in on the bottom from whatever seasoning or sauce you put on it.

Smoking: This would be favorite, except it takes a very long time- which is what makes the meat so good. We have an electric smoker, and it takes a while to heat up, then it takes about 3 hours on average for what we cook, to smoke. We have cherry, hickory, and apple wood that we put in the smoker to burn, and you can taste the flavor of the smoke in the meat you cook. Chicken is my favorite thing to smoke.

Stove-top: My family is pretty much addicted to pasta. So, for pasta, this is the only option and it’s fairly quick. Put some water and pasta in a pot on the stove and BAM! You’re cooking some pasta. It cooks the pasta evenly and fast, so this one is a winner in my book.