Summertime brings us lots of opportunities to get outside, and this includes eating and cooking outside too. The typical kiwi BBQ can lead to a high-calorie intake and that doesn’t include our drinking habits. So how can you have an amazing BBQ get-together without all the extra calories?

Check out my top tips and recipes below.

Flavour your food smartly.

Marinating your meat is a must do, however, try to avoid store bought marinades. Make your own using a variety of herb and spices.

My favourite go too ones are: 

• Lime and lemons
• Chilli ( fresh, powder or flakes)
• Fresh garlic
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Worchester sauce, Soy sauce
• Olive oil, coconut oil
• Vinegar
• Maple syrup, honey
• Salt and Pepper

Creating healthy side dishes to have with your meat is a great way to keeps calories down.

• Green salads
• Pasta salad
• Grated vegetable salads
• Roast vegetable salads
• Rice salads
• Quinoa salads
• Zucchini chips
• Curried eggs

When you say BBQ one essential ingredient comes to mind. Meat! So make sure you follow these rules.

• Choose lean meat
• Trim of excess fat ( including the skin of chicken
• Avoid process meats
• Make your own homemade meat patties.

Vegetables are often forgotten at a BBQ, however, they are a great healthy alternative.

• Eggplant, Zucchini, and asparagus offer high levels of vital nutrients and are great to caramelize on the BBQ.
• Corn on the cobb is a favourite at my house and can be bought cheap in season from your local fruit and vegetable store.

Avoid bottle sauces.

Tomato sauce is a favourite and can be probably found in every pantry across New Zealand. Did you

Below are some recipes for you to try for an alternative for your BBQ’s.

Coconut yogurt & Chilli mayo

• ¼ cup plain coconut yogurt
• ¼ lemon (juice and zest)
• ¼ tsp. Chilli powder
• Pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients together, store in fridge until use

Quinoa, bacon, and spinach salad.

• 2 cups Quinoa cooked
• 1 cup of baby spinach
• 8 slices streaky bacon
• ¾ cup of halved cherry tomatoes

Cook Quinoa per instructions on the packet and set aside. Cook bacon and dice. Mix all ingredients together and serve.

Zucchini Chips.

• 4 Zucchini ( cut into chip shape )
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup flour
• ½ cup wholegrain breadcrumbs
• 2 Tbsp. Feta

Mix bread crumbs and feta together in a bowl, in another bowl whisk the egg, and in another bowl add the flour. Dip one zucchini chip at a time into the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumb mix. Repeat the process until all the zucchini chips are covered. Keep in fridge for at least 30 minutes until cooking time.

Homemade Beef Patties.

• 500 grams of beef mince
• 1 onion diced
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp garlic
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp oregano.

Mix all together and roll into equal size balls, coat in flour and store in the fridge until needed.

I hope the above infomation helps you out next time you host a BBQ. Thanks Heather