This week, I have a couple of grill-related tips to share! :) As Joshua mentioned in his Weber Q grill review last week, we love our grill and make good use of it year-round!

A grill that gets constantly used does end up getting dirty. Our grill has a cast iron grill grate, and while the metal grill-cleaning brushes work okay, sometimes charred food is just stuck... and the worn, matted brush isn't enough.

Tip #1:

Joshua's solution for a charred grill grate was to get a wire wheel that fits into a cordless drill. You can see what a wire wheel brush looks like at this Amazon.com link, but we didn't buy ours online. A simple wire wheel brush should only cost about a dollar or so at your local hardware store.

Check your grill's manual to determine what kinds of wire bristles (stainless steel, brass, etc.) are safe for your grill, and apply light pressure. :) Joshua is thrilled with this easy and inexpensive way to brush the grill grate! :)

Tip #2:

The element in the bottom of our gas grill is a metal tube with small holes for the flame to come out of. If these holes get plugged, the flame won't come out, resulting in only a partially-lit element.

Joshua uses a small Dremel tip or a 1/32-inch size drill bit in the cordless drill to re-open the holes when necessary (maybe once a year or so). The element returns to like-new performance! :)

We did get our 1/32-inch drill bits on Amazon.com, since the hardware stores we had checked at the time didn't carry that size. The 1/32-inch drill bits are so tiny that Joshua very carefully wrapped some electrical tape around the bottom of the bit to make it fit our cordless drill.

Grilled Asparagus,
one of the recipes waiting to be typed
and posted this week... :)

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Mr. Linky is on sick leave, so leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post at the end of the the day (if not sooner... depending on computer time availability). ;) Thanks so much for your patience! :)

1. Homemade vanilla extract (Mub)
2. Keeping mashed potatoes warm (Jane)
3. Getting dinner on the table on time (Stephanie)
4. Using whisks (Sharon)
5. Quick frugal defrosting tip (Jill)
6. Easier garlic peeling
7. Using flax seeds/oil (Katie)
8. Smells in plastic ware (Becky)
9. Making sunbutter (Laura)
10. Chopping veggies (Lenetta)
11. Decreasing sugar in fruit recipes (Lenetta)
12. Koolaid to clean dishwasher (Lisa)
13. Using tomatoes (Angie)
14. Draining spinach (Karen)
15. Grilling Frozen Pizza
16. Using food past its prime (Heather)
17. Puree and freeze veggies (Emily)
18. Easier pie crust (Lynn)
19. Making your own floats (Sandy)
20. Re-using butter wrappers (Alea)
21. Adding garlic butter to pizza (Tiffany)
22.
23.