I like to cook. I mean, I really do. I enjoy being in the kitchen, selecting ingredients, whipping things up for my family to eat with my own two hands. Growing herbs, yeah baby! I sprinkle them on everything.

Like lots of people, apparently, I gravitate to about 10 different meals. These have morphed over the years; for example, I almost never make baked chicken and rice any more because I’m thoroughly sick of it.

Now I tend to make a lot of homemade pizza because I’m a loon and obsessed with it. I make the crust in the breadmaker, make the sauce in the food processor, and whip up an obscene number of toppings on the stove or fling ’em raw from the fridge (like olives; don’t worry I’m not killing my family with raw meat). Recipes coming next week.

I also like to grill indoors. Meet George.

Specifically, this is the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat X Grilling Machine. With George Foreman signature.

George holds quite a nice amount of food. See his nice wide maw?

You will also, no doubt, notice the yucky looking spots, which are not crud but probably water spots from the dishwasher for lo, this George Foreman model grill features removable grill plates, which can be washed in the dishwasher. Let us pause for a moment and thank all the saints.

If you don’t mind cutting up a few things, you can have a decent dinner on the table in a half hour with George. Here’s what I did the other night.

Here we have some marinated pork slices, which I purchased already cut this way at the grocery. I usually marinate cuts such as this with a mixture of olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and balsamic vinegar.

Then I halved some “baby bella” portabello mushrooms, a few green peppers and half a Vidalia onion. Simple and easy peasy lemon squeezy. I steamed the broccoli in the microwave, and drank the wine.

So throw the meat on the grill.

And close the lid. After about four minutes, it’s cooked. Just put it on a plate and cover with foil, and then grill the rest of the meat, if you have more.

Now here’s the funny thing. The George Foreman grill is designed to grill things without fat. All the fat and juice runs off into the little tray below. Since I always choose lean cuts of meat, I have no problem whatsoever with saving the juice. Frequently, I’ll pour it over the vegetables so they don’t dry out. Then I grill them as well.

And so here you have it, my finished dinner. Served with broccoli, and possibly a green salad, it’s a low-carb, healthy meal that’s fun to make … if you invite George along.

Of course, now that outdoor grilling season is upon us, poor little George can go away in the pantry until next winter. But eh, I grill indoors a lot in the summer too.

It’s simple and a fairly obvious dinner, in my view. But if you’re like me and sometimes stumped for easy dinner ideas, I offer it to you … and George, if you ask him along.