My Make-Shift Oven

Summer months bring out the best in grilling. Grilled chicken, steaks, burgers, hot dogs, brawts, veggies, and many other wonderful combinations. It's part of what I love most about summer. Plus it's practical. Using the oven during the warm months makes the AC work harder and the electric bill go higher. We are on a strict "no-oven policy" through most of the months of May, June, July, August, and even sometimes September.

Practical it may be, there are times it gets old.

There are times I would kill for Ethan's home-made baked ziti, or my chicken Mexican Casserole, and not to mention chocolate chip cookies...

So tonight I attempted what I had read about, but always been to afraid of failure to try. I used the grill as an oven. I did my homework, read up on what the different techniques were and selected a dish to try.

BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Here's how I made the grill my oven...

1. I turned on the grill. Closed the lid and let it get all good and warmed up.

2. Once it was hot enough, I turned off the middle burner (we have a 3 burner grill) and closed the lid again.

3. Once the pizza was ready I put it in the middle, where the burner that is off is located.

4. I closed the lid and let it bake.

Now...I will admit. I did check it probably every 3-4 minutes. I was nervous and didn't want my pizza to burn. I tried to keep the temperature around 350 (we are lucky enough to have a temperature gage on the outside of the grill). The recipe for the pizza dough I made said to cook it at 450 for 16 minutes. I went about 15. Everything was done and looking fine so I took it out. In looking back, I could have probably left it on for a while longer, but I didn't want it to burn. It turned out great!

I can't wait to try out something else...I'm thinking ziti!