Gluten Free

Ready for a grilled salad? This late-summer mix will end your wait. No meat, just fresh, tasty grilled vegetables over baby arugula, basil, and cherry tomatoes.

PAT: Y’all know I’ve got to be smoking something for every summer holiday. No hickory chips for this bird: apple chips soaked in water and spread over hot charcoal will create a sweet, smoky flavor that’s just right. This citrus marinade works well with the apple chips, and will keep the bird nice and moist.

Since Labor Day is a holiday when most are off work, people are always stopping by the Neely house, and we’ve got to have something at the ready for our guests to munch on. This seven-layer dip is absolutely beautiful as well as flavorful, a great item to set up to get the party started!

GINA Peaches are one of my favorite fruits, and cream always complements them. This dessert is refreshing and light: you don’t want to get your man too full, or else you will be watching him sleep. The sweet champagne and fresh vanilla will relax his senses just enough.

GINA Can’t have a Mini-Moon without my favorite seafood. Lobster, lobster, lobster . . . Some people find it too expensive, but isn’t your relationship worth it? If you are going to splurge, then splurge on your biggest investment. Dip it in the drawn butter, feed it to your honey, and let your imagination run wild.

Rich pink dressing and lovely greens give this salad a splash of color. Remember: what the eye sees translates to greater taste and greater overall pleasure.

PAT Grilled corn is good enough all by itself. Here we feature it in a light, slightly smoky salad with rice, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and kidney beans. It’s an awesome combination, but once you add in the feta cheese, “Girl, you did that!” That’s what Gina’s mom always says. We used white rice, but brown will work just as well and give it an earthy, nutty flavor.

PAT When hosting on a day as important to everybody as the Fourth of July, you’ve got to have some chicken on the menu for the non–pork eaters. (We will never understand how you could be a non–porker, but that’s for another book.) GINA I’ve always loved drumsticks for their juicy dark meat, and the way they would fit so neatly in my hand when my sister Kim used to fry them for me. Now Shelbi loves drumsticks, too! The combination of honey, orange, and ancho-chile powder, with just the right amount of heat, and the smoke of a grill—baby, these drumsticks are so good they’ll make you want to smack your mama or the cook (although I wouldn’t recommend it!). Allowing the drumsticks to marinate overnight, and then “mopping” on the glaze at the end, will ensure your guests’ memberships in the clean-plate club.

PAT I told y’all, I can’t have steak without potatoes, and fingerling potatoes are my choice. These rich and creamy little darlings are about the size of my fingers, and they are firm enough to withstand the heat of my grill. A great tip for grilling potatoes is to boil them a bit first; this will give you faster and more even grilling. The olive oil will keep them moist and let the rosemary and garlic do their aromatic thing.

GINA Roasting the shallot gives it a deep, sweet flavor, and the lemon zest lightens the whole thing up. This butter would also be an excellent topping for fish or chicken.

There is nothing like a rib eye: it is the most flavorful steak you can buy. The thin streams of fat running through this cut of steak create outstanding flavor. You’ll only need to season this with salt and pepper, because we’re going to make a shallot-and-herb butter to slap on top of this baby once it’s off the grill. As with any good steak, let this one rest for a few minutes before digging in. It will be moist and tender.

This dressing is so easy and flavorful, with lots of tang as well as creaminess. Dress your greens just before serving, to avoid that limp and soggy salad sadness.

Oh my, if you love shrimp, this quick, easy grilled-seafood appetizer will make any celebration festive.

Everybody in the South has their own potato-salad recipe, and our version, using red potatoes and the coarse-ground, zippy Creole mustard, makes this a winner. Be sure to drain your potatoes thoroughly, because additional water will dilute the fantastic ingredients in the salad. It’s best to dress the potatoes while they’re still warm, so they can fully absorb the flavors.

There is nothing like grilled corn. Ours calls for butter spiked with lime, which gives it a citrus zing that acts as a perfect complement to smoky grilled corn. Rolling the husk back over the cob after adding the lime butter helps keep the corn from drying out. Some people prefer to soak the corn in a water bath beforehand, but this gives off steam when the corn is cooking inside the husk, and we prefer having the extra-smoky flavor instead.

This is it: the famous sweet and spicy slaw from the restaurant that people come and buy by the bucketful. Make extra; trust us, you’ll need it!

This “secret sauce” can be made a day ahead—in fact, we recommend that you do that, to help those flavors marry well together. (It’s called “Comeback Sauce” because they keep comin’ back for more!)

PAT Oh, how we love grilled pineapple—and everyone loves grilled shrimp. And as Gina says, “Let’s keep it pretty,” so we skewer these two favorites together. Always remember to soak your skewers in cold water so they don’t catch fire on the grill. A brush of the syrupy glaze at the end will have your guests licking their sticks.