Meat and Veggie Kebobs

I feel like we should start talking about "summer food."  Who doesn't love a good grilled feast?  My in-laws were in town this weekend, and we made kebobs on the grill for our dinner Friday night.  Super big hit!  It was summery and light, and super fun to make (Peter might disagree...he was the one standing on the roof, with 20 mph winds and 40 degrees, trying to keep the crappy grills lit long enough to cook the skewers.  Oh well...

This should make your heart and colon smile :)

The best thing about these is that you can make them however you fancy.  Use your favorite veggies (but please use some veggies....you need them) and a variety of meats.  But the trick, I think, is to keep all the "categories" separate and mix them at the end.  Ie, don't load one skewer with 3 kinds of raw meats and veggies.  I see these at the store and I cringe...yucky raw meat all snuggled up to beautiful produce.  Lets keep Salmonella out of this, shall we?  Besides, steak, chicken, and zucchini have significantly different cooking times.

 

I marinated the chicken and beef in two kinds of bottled, store-bought marinade for about an hour before I skewered and grilled.  Then I tossed the grilled veggies in some of the marinade as well.  (ok so obviously use fresh marinade...leave the left over nasty raw marinade in the bag and toss it!!!)  You could google up a homemade recipe for marinades or make up your own (olive oil/citrus or vinegar/seasonings...something like that), but I was status post surgery final and just couldn't muster up the strength to take that last step.  They were still delicious, so there.

Meat and Veggie Kebobs

Various vegetables, like red onion, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini
Meats, like steak, chicken, sausages, or shrimp
Store bought marinades

Chop the vegetables into similar sized, large pieces.  Skewer the veggies on metal skewers (don't mix with the meat).  Set aside.

Slice the steak/chicken/sausages into 1-2" pieces.  If desired, marinade in a plastic zip-top bag for several hours in the refrigerator.  Skewer onto metal skewers, keeping all the chicken together, all the steak together, etc.  Set aside.

Salt, pepper, and drizzle oil on the vegetable skewers.  Preheat grill to medium-high heat, and grill all the skewers until appropriately cooked (until veggies are crisp-tender, until chicken is cooked through, and until steak looks like how you want it to look).  Remove from grill and place in serving dishes.  Toss veggies in a marinade.