Simple kabobs on the grill!

One day and two posts... Yes, I'm playing catch up today! Last Saturday was a decent day for grilling so chicken and steak kabobs it is! Along with pasta salad and rice pilaf. Now, I'm going to plug a cookbook that everyone needs to get The Joy of Cooking. This cookbook seriously has EVERYTHING in it. Along with helpful hints on to correctly pick cuts of meat to four different ways to make pie crusts.

I was interested in finding up which cuts of beef were best for beef kebabs and here is the answer on pg. 494 of the The Joy of Cooking: boneless beef top loin, sirloin, fillet or top round steak. Kroger had a special on top round steak, so I bought that. Now for marinating meats, I picked up 2 different spice blends: a Caribbean blend for the chicken and standard steak blend. I cubed both the chicken and steak. Chicken was marinated in the spices and a cup of OJ and the steak was the spices and some oil (I probably could have used more oil). 

When making grilled kabobs, don't forget to soak your wood skewers! We don't need unnecessary fire in the grill! For the steak, I alternated green pepper, vidalia onion and red onion. I used pineapple, vidalia onion and red onion with the chicken kabobs. My mouth is watering just remembering the taste of the chicken, yum!! Both were grilled until the internal temperature was spot on (140 for the steak and 165 for the chicken).

For the sides, I made rice pilaf (pg. 355 of my favorite cook book but really, any rice pilaf box would do), pasta salad and regular salad. Dessert was a strawberry rhubarb crisp that I totally forgot to take a picture of!

Pasta Salad

1 lb. pretty pasta (I used Campanelle)

1/2 cup each of 2 or 3 veggies you like (I used tomatoes, asparagus, roasted red pepper and some olives)

Italian dressing (Quanto Basta on this)

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Once drained, rinse with cold water.

2. Cook any veggies that need it (I roasted my asparagus) and cut the others into bite size chunks.

3. In a large bowl, combine pasta and veggies. Add Italian dressing until you like how it tastes!

4. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

I am so happy it's finally grilling and croquet weather! Enjoy!

Mel P.