Easy outdoor entertaining hacks for summer
Summertime and backyard barbecues go hand-in-hand, and to help make grilling as easy as possible this year, "Good Morning America" turned to social media for some popular hacks to help home cooks fire up the flames.
Babs Costello joined "GMA" on Monday to reiterate some highly-popularized hacks that are routinely shared on grill-tok (that's "grilling TikTok" for the uninitiated) each summer. Plus, she shared a couple fresh ideas to make a stress-free dessert and the best way to ensure cold foods stay cold, even in the summer heat.
Popular grilling hacks
Don't use a wire grill brush to clean your grill -- use an onion instead. Like many food experts who have previously shared this knowledge on social media, Costello shared the simple tactic step-by-step: "Heat your grill to a high temperature. Pierce the onion half with a fork and rub the cut-side down along the grill grates. The onion's juices will release and produce steam to remove the charred bit of debris on the grill grates."
Another one beloved by grillers-in-the-know and Costello alike is to use a half of a potato to create a non-stick surface.
"Cut a potato in half and rub the flesh of the potato on the hot grill grates. The starch from the potato creates a non-stick surface so your precious dinner won't stick," she said.
Create a grazing station
For hot dogs, Costello suggests amping up the condiments and flavor by taking a page out of the Windy City's book -- Chicago dog-style.
She suggests starting with an all-beef frankfurter inside a poppy seed bun, topping it with yellow mustard, neon-green sweet pickle relish, chopped white onion, tomato slices, a dill pickle spear, Vienna Sports peppers and celery salt.
"If you can't find the right buns," she said, "you can just butter a plain bun with melted butter and add poppyseeds."
As for burgers, Costello likes to add mini flags to the top in order to distinguish cheeseburgers from plain hamburgers.
Festive red, white and blue dessert
To make patriotic-themed ice pops, Costello uses 5-ounce paper cups and combines blue sports drink, cranberry juice and lemonade to achieve a layered look.
"Just freeze in layers, after you freeze the first layer, stick that popsicle stick in and [once finished] you've got a great red, white and blue pop for the kids," she said.
Tips to keep food cold
"Remember cooling racks make great separators for beverages or food and beverages in the cooler," Costello said. "They pop right in and still allow everything to stay cold while not sitting right on top of each other."
How to keep bugs at bay while cooking outside
Her first tip to help ward off unwanted bugs, use a plastic shower cap to cover bowls or trays so that the elastic edge has a secure hold, ensuring a tight seal when people aren't serving food.
Next, she suggested another item from the bathroom that can help keep bugs away while entertaining outdoors.
"Just grate Irish Spring [bar soap] with a cheese grater all around your yard to keep bugs at bay," she suggested.
