Grilled loveliness... Shish Kabobs

I think kabobs are the epitome of summer. Bright summer vegetables and tasty meat on a stick, really what could be any better? Maybe some Snicker's Bars, but I'm a chocoholic at heart, so you know... These kabobs were so delicious and really easy to make. The majority of the prep work is cutting the food into small, bite-sized pieces and skewering it. Marinating the protein is an essential part to this recipe because it gives the meat such an incredible flavor and makes it really tender.

For my protein, I use a combination of chicken and lamb. If you would prefer all chicken, go for it. Maybe you want to try pork? I think that would work also. You could even go veggie and skip the meat entirely. You can be creative here. I would recommend serving between 1/4 lb. to 1/3 lb. of meat per person, so for four people, you would probably want to marinate 1 lb. to 1-1/2 lb. of meat.

I recommend being liberal with the marinade. I used a ratio of 2 parts lemon juice to 1 part olive oil for my marinade. I would recommend starting with 1/2 cup of lemon juice and 1/4 cup of olive oil and seeing how well that covers the meat. If it looks like the meat isn't completely covered add more liquid in the 2 parts lemon juice to one part olive oil ratio. Before adding the liquid to the meat, you should also add 1 clove of garlic per serving of meat (every 1/4 lb. to 1/3 lb.), and oregano, salt and pepper to taste. If you really like garlic, I would totally recommend adding more to the marinade. Because my family loves garlic, we put in 10 cloves of garlic (then we went and bought stock in a major mouthwash company...)

This should marinate for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. I would say that if you are short on time, thirty minutes would be the absolute minimum marinating time.

I served my kabobs with brown rice. Because my rice took 50 minutes to cook, I started it before I cut up my veggies.

For my kabobs, I used a mixture of small grape tomatoes, onion, red bell pepper, yellow squash, and zucchini. You could use a variety of vegetables based on your taste preferences and what is available at your market or in your garden. Some other veggies that would be tasty when grilled are mushrooms and eggplant.

When your meat has marinated for a sufficient amount of time (30 minutes to over night), cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. This size allows for the perfect all over grill-lovliness. I don't mariante the veggies because I don't want them to get soggy.

Skewer the raw vegetables and meat on wooden or metal skewers (you can find these in the kitchen gadget area of your grocery store). I usually put onion on either end of the skewer because they help to keep the other food on securely. I alternate between meat and veggies when I use the skewers, but you can do skewers of all meat or all veggies.

Depending on your grill and your choice of meat, your cooking time may vary. If you are using chicken, you will want to make sure that it is completely cooked. Beef, on the other hand, may be cooked for a shorter amount of time. I would recommend grilling four minutes per side, rotating a quarter turn, until the meat is cooked.

If you don't have a grill, you can also bake these. You won't get the same effect, but I imagine that it would still be good. I would bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until the meat is cooked.

Yum, look at all of those tasty grilled bits of love...

Serve kabobs over rice or other small grain or eat by themselves.

Shish Kabobs - serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 lb. of protein (chicken, beef, pork, lamb, etc., in any combination), cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• oregano, to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 3-4 cups assorted vegetables, cut into bite-sized chunks (i.e., onion, zucchini, yellow squash, bell peppers, mushrooms, eggplant, cherry tomatoes)

Method

1. In a large, shallow dish (9 x 13 baking dish) combine lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Add protein to dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (30 minutes to over night).
2. Thirty to forty minutes before you are ready to eat, prepare rice (if desired) according to package directions and chop vegetables.
3. Place vegetables and marinated meat on skewers. Return to fridge while grill heats up.
4. Grill vegetables and meat over medium heat, turning every four minutes until the meat is done (i.e., chicken) or has reached desired "done-ness" (i.e., beef)