What's for dinner?

Our friends always wonder how we can go to the lake and sail every weekend, rain or shine. "Don't you get tired of sandwiches and cold meals?" they ask.

They don't believe me when I tell them we eat better on the boat than at home. At home we always seem to be in a hurry, get home late, or just don't seem to have time to cook.

It's different on Dragonfly. We are more relaxed. We take time to enjoy the evening on the lake, the friendship of fellow sailors and a good dinner.

Our typical dinner consists of a garden salad, cooked vegetables and grilled meat. We have a Magma Marine Stove & Gas BBQ. We bought it several years ago for about $125 from West Marine. The 14" grill is great for vegetables and meat.

We use a variety of vegetables...whatever is fresh and in season at the local grocery store. Last weekend they had fresh yellow squash, baby carrots, onions, mushrooms and new red potatoes. Fresh green beans are often in the mix. We cut the veggies into bite size pieces and place in an aluminum foil cooking bag.

Lay out a double layer of foil on the counter ...about 18" long. Place the diced veggies in the middle. Add about 2 table spoons of butter/margarine, pull the ends of the foil together and roll to seal the top. Roll one end together to seal. Add about a 1/4 cup of water or your favorite marinade...we like teriyaki or Italian Dressing. Seal the bag.

We cook the bag on the Magma BBQ. Heat the BBQ on high with lid on for 2 minutes. Put on the vegetable bag and turn the heat to medium. They are cooked in about 20 minutes for a small bag for two. Two small bags or a large bag for 4 takes an extra 5 minutes.

We like to cook pork chops, sirloin steaks or chicken. Marinated in teriyaki or Italian dressing complements the vegetables. We marinade while the veggies are cooking.

Remove the vegetable bag and add the meat. One inch thick steaks cook to medium in about 5 minutes per side. Pork chops are done in about 7 minutes per side. Boneless chicken breasts cook in 4-5 minutes per side.

Add a good merlot, pinot noir, or white dinner wine and we have as good a meal as we can buy in a nice restaurant.