Shish-Kabobs

My husband and I have been saying for the past month how much we both wanted to make shish-ka-bobs for dinner. When the Kraft food and family magazine (subscribe here!) came in the mail this week, I was inspired! They have three delicious ideas to try the next time you want to grill kabobs:

• Ranch-Style Steak Kabobs
• Shrimp Kabobs with Olive and Tomato Relish
• Sweet and Sour Meatball Skewers

Some useful tips for grilling kabobs:

• Make sure to soak your wooden kabob skewers in water for at least 20 minutes (longer is better) before grilling to avoid the sticks breaking and burning over the heat. I put mine in a 9x13 baking dish to soak so that they could all soak at the same time.
• While it is appealing to have a variety of meat and vegetables on one skewer, keep in mind that different meats and vegetables all have different cooking times. One thing that we tried was having all of the one vegetable on the same skewer and all of the meat on another. This made it so that our vegetables weren't burned and our meat wasn't over or under-cooked.
• Don't stick the meat so close together on the skewer. Leave a little bit of space in between each piece so that the meat can be cooked evenly.
• Marinading is always best! This prevents the meat from being too dry. McCormick (our favorite is Garlic, Herb and Wine) does some great powder marinade mixes that just require you to add water and vinegar to the mix. We placed the meat in a gallon size ziplock bag along with the marinade and kept them in the refridgerator for at least 30 minutes.

Here's what we put on our skewers: (pictures to come soon!)

• Chicken (my favorite was marinaded in teriyaki sauce)
• Stew meat
• Red and Green bell peppers
• Red and Yellow onions
• Mushrooms
• Pineapple (MY FAVORITE!!)

What I WILL try next time:

• Meatballs
• Small red potatoes
• Possibly some other types of fruit (peaches?!)
• Cherry Tomatoes

My husband put the leftover kabobs in a large ziplock bag and took them to work for lunch the next day. He thought everything was SO much better the second time. All those flavors marinading together overnight. Mmmm. Unfortunately, he ate ALL of the leftovers, so I didn't get to try the next day goodness. Dang.

We do have some leftover pineapple, and I was thinking it would be fun to make fruit kabobs for breakfast. Place some bananas, strawberries, and pineapple (maybe some mandarin oranges, etc.) on a skewer and pour a glaze on top.

Here's a good glaze to try:

1 c. sugar

1 c. orange juice

4 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. grated orange rind

Dash salt

I'll let you know how that recipe turns out!

Here are my kids putting their favorite foods on to the skewers.

Happy Kabob Grilling! And have a GREAT Memorial Day!