Chicken, Pepper & Onion Skewers

Anything on a skewer is not only fun to make but also fun to eat!  As the hubby said tonight, "I'm not using a fork for dinner tonight!"

 I use bamboo skewers and I always try to make sure that I soak them in water before I use them.  While they don't usually burn to a crisp without soaking, it does keep the ends from getting charred on the grill. If I have the time, I try to soak them for at least 30 minutes. 

 Depending on the kind of meat that you use, you can marinate it before to give it some more flavor.  Tonight I marinated my chicken in an Asian style salad dressing.  Salad dressings are a quick way to add a lot of flavor.  I don't recommend using dairy based dressings like ranch or blue cheese and I tend to stick to vinaigrettes.  You can marinate just your meat or your veggies too if you'd like.

I usually marinate food inside of a plastic zip-top bag.  Little mess with no washing required.  

Safety tip:  Always store meat cold until you want to use it.  This includes marinating!

 

Time Saving Tip:  Put your frozen meat in the marinate in the refrigerator in the morning (or even the night before!).  It will marinate as it thaws.

Chop up any veggies that are in large pieces.  Tonight I used bell peppers and red onion.  Make sure to make your pieces large enough that they fit on the skewer without splitting the veggie in half.  It will probably be a large piece than you would normally cut.

Thread your meat and veggies on the skewers in any combination that you want.  Tonight I opted to do a mixture on each skewer.  It never fails that I end up with more veggies so I usually have one skewer that doesn't have any meat.  Don't push the pieces tightly against each other because the heat will need to surround each piece in order to cook evenly.  My pieces usually barely touch but no more than that.

Safety Tip:  As enticing as it is to snack on the leftover veggies when you are finished making your skewers, DO NOT eat them if you have touched them with hands that have touched raw meat.  Salmonella is not on the menu for dinner EVER!

I usually grill my skewers.  Low and slow is the way to cook these babies.  A grill that is too hot will char your dinner on the outside and leave it raw on the inside.  I put aluminum foil down with some cooking spray before I lay my skewers out.  This keeps them from sticking.  Nothing worse than a skewer that breaks while you are trying to pry it off of the grill!

Everyone's grill is different so cooking times might vary.  I cooked mine for about 15 minutes (I'll time it next time to be sure - I promise!) around 350 degrees.  I did turn them once or twice to make sure they were evenly cooked.

Finished!

The great thing about skewers is that you can do any combination of meat, seafood and veggies that you want.  The combinations are endless!

Happy Cooking!

Jenny

Check the board!

The first part of meal planning is obvious:  What are you going to make?  I get bored eating the same meals every week so I try to switch up my recipes.  For inspiration I'll usually grab a cookbook, a cooking magazine (Cooking Light is my favorite), a recipe website (like the Food Network) or my Recipes board on Pinterest.  Sometimes I'll do themes for a week like "International" or "Comfort Food".  But I'll talk more about my recipe choices later.  Today I want to introduce you to my menu board!

Growing up, my mother used to sit down with us at the beginning of the week and decide what we were having for dinner that week.  She would write it on the calendar so that she didn't have to answer our whiny questions about what was for dinner.  So I adopted the same plan.  In our house the answer to "What's for dinner?" is always "Check the board!"

By writing out each day's dinner plans it not only helps you get your grocery list organized but you'll find that you look forward to specific dinners.  The hubby gets excited when he sees his favorites show up on the board.  I will admit that sometimes I want to jump ahead to a specific meal and don't follow my board exactly.  But it doesn't really matter because you have meals planned for the entire week!

At the beginning of every week, I write down my list of meals on my menu board.  

From there, I figure out what ingredients I need for each meal.  By double checking what I already have, I avoid buying multiples or assuming that I have ground Cumin in my spice rack.  I'm the type of shopper that if it's not on my list then I'll forget to buy it. 

My menu board is my own crafty creation.  I got my inspiration from this pin on Pinterest.  I used my Cricut machine to cut out the letters and then glued them on a 12x12 piece of paper.  I put that inside of a 12x12 scrapbook frame, glued magnets on the back and stuck it to my refrigerator.  Because the front is glass, I can write my meals with a dry erase marker and then easily erase it at the end of the week.  Much cuter than a piece of scrap paper stuck to the fridge like I used to do!

Happy Cooking!

Jenny

Dinner...Solved!

Welcome to my new blog:  Dinner...Solved!  I love to cook and I want to share my meal planning, recipes and love of cooking with you!  I hear so many people complain that they don't know what they are going to make for dinner and I never worry about that.  I make an effort to plan all of my meals out at the beginning of the week, organize my grocery list and it takes no time at all.  

 Did you know that I can be in and out of the grocery store in under 15 minutes and get everything that I need for a whole week's worth of meals?  I'm hoping to share with you my tips along with some easy recipes to make meal planning super easy.  

I learned to cook because growing up the rule was, "Whoever cooks does not clean."  And I HATE doing dishes.  My mother rarely followed a recipe or measured and I have adopted the same culinary skills.  Everything that I know is self-taught and I've learned through trial and error.  It's best to start with easy recipes and meals to develop your skills.  Most of my weekday meals are on the table within 30 minutes.  Sunday dinners are made on Sunday for a reason!

It's so important to me to have family dinners every night.  Not enough people take the time out of their day to prepare dinner and eat together.  My goal is to help you learn to enjoy cooking and making dinner every night!

Happy Cooking!
Jenny