Chicken Kabobs - Grilling for Summer

It's hot. It's time to crank the grill and leave the oven off. We look for meals where almost everything can be cooked on the grill. One of our favorites is chicken kabobs. You get your meat and veggies all in one. It takes a little prep, but you can make it the night before and let it marinate so the night you throw it on the grill, it's a quick dinner.

You can use any vegetables you like, but our favorites are onion, peppers, mushrooms, squash, and grape tomatoes. Cut everything in relatively the same size. Cut chicken breasts into one inch cubes.



Remember to soak your wooden skewers in water so they don't burn. Stack your skewers in any way you want, if someone doesn't like squash or loves tomatoes, you can make the skewers to match each person or you can do them all the same. I tend to be random when I'm making the skewers. I try to make sure I have all the colors on the skewers.



For the marinade, I usually use a zesty Italian dressing. I use full fat for the oil to keep the kabobs from sticking. You could use low fat but you would have to be sure to oil your grill grates. Sometimes I will use the a Greek style marinade (olive oil, oregano, lemon juice and garlic)

These are delicious. You'll have to take my word for how good they look when they come off of the grill. They looked and smelled so good, folks were diving in before I could get my camera out. Give them a try and see how quick they will fly off of your plate.

Try Tri Tip: It's what's for dinner

I've heard about tri tip from all of my west coast friends. They all love it and tell me how great it is on the grill. I have looked for it all over. I finally found one the other day at the commissary. I grabbed it as soon as I saw it even though I had no idea what I was going to do with it when I got it home.

I talked to a couple of my friends and they all told me to grill it whole. I decided I'd give it a rub much like that we use on our briskets. I went a little less sweet and a bit heavier on the heat. I let it sit with the rub for about an hour at room temperature so the meat would grill more evenly, plus it gave it time for the rub melted into the meat. I put some hickory chips on the grill and oh man, I wish you could have been here to smell the smoke coming from the grill.



What goes better with steak than grilled mushrooms and onions? (yes more of those vidalias) Now I know why my west coast friends love the tri tip. I'll be keeping my eye out for another one.