Kabobs

I've found I can relax more now when I'm home. Why?

Puppy love. These two get in a good wrestling session and are out for hours. Now, if only I were home more often!

To pick my posts, I typically do whatever I had for dinner last night, or whatever pictures I like best. I've played with the Canon Rebel and I need it. Now. Just a matter of time before I drop the big bucks on that. I found these pics of some skewers that I felt I could get slightly excited about. For starters, they're taken in natural light. And I'm missing summer and grilling since NYC decided to go right into fall on us.

Chicken Kabobs (adapted from allrecipes) 


Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• Boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into cubes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:

•  In a bowl, whisk together honey, soy, pepper and olive oil. Before adding chicken, reserve a bit of the marinade for basting. 
• Add chicken and garlic to marinade and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours. 
• Pre-heat grill to medium/high heat. Thread chicken on skewers.
• Cook about 10 minutes or until cooked through, turning and brushing with marinade.

Steak Kabobs (adapted from allrecipes) 


Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4oz lemon-lime seltzer
• Sirloin steak, cut into cubes
  

Directions:

•  In a bowl, combine soy, brown sugar, vinegar, garlic powder and seltzer. Before adding steak, reserve a bit of the marinade for basting. 
• Add steak to marinade and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours. 
• Pre-heat grill to medium/high heat. Thread steak on skewers.
• Cook about 10 minutes or until cooked through, turning and brushing with marinade. 

Baby Back Ribs

Football season is here. That means I lose an entire weekend day to the TV, the bar, beers and football food. As a fan of the New England Patriots, I'm a bit disappointed in the fact that we only have four 1pm games on the schedule. There is nothing better than waking up on a Sunday morning, dragging yourself to the bar and parking yourself there for the next 6 hours to cheer on your team. With these 4:15 games, it's all about finding that perfect time to get to the bar to ensure you get the best seats for your team. You have to go a bit early to stalk the bar stools. You need to wait for the right moment when the previous team fans are getting up. It's important to keep yourself incognito. In New York, marching up in a Patriots jersey is not going to make any Jets or Giants fan eager to give their seat to you. They're not going to be nice and say "I'm leaving soon, the seats are yours". No, they see Patriots and look the other way hoping they won't make eye contact with you and have to do the "seat dance" with the enemy.

However, there is one advantage to the 4:15 game and that is the fact that it may just be broadcast on TV. So the fridge is loaded, the ribs are in the oven and my buffalo potatoes are ready to rock. Can't get this food at the bar!

Check out the recipe for the buffalo potato wedges here.

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds baby back ribs
• 1 bottle beer (Sam Adams or similar works good)
• 3 tablespoons bbq sauce
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 3 tablespoons mustard
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder

Directions:

• Add all ingredients except ribs to slow cooker and combine. Add in ribs.
• Cook on low for 7-8 hours. 
• Pull ribs from slow cooker and place on foil lined tray. Heat broiler to high. 
• I slathered more BBQ sauce on these guys since I love sauce. Placed under the broiler for a few minutes. Saucy, sticky and delicious. 

Sassy and Steak

Since Izzy was so lonely without Peeps, we have decided to take on another foster dog!

Yes, our couch is foster proofed. Izzy knows to stay on her blanket, but when new dogs come to town, the couch gets covered. Sassy is a 5 month old shepherd/husky mix and is as cute as can be. All she wants to do is snuggle. Skinny Fat Kid can't get enough of her. This was Sassy 15 minutes after arriving at our place. Snoozin in his lap! 

Ever since we got our grill last year, we've been trying hard to cook the perfect steak. SFK likes medium rare. I've always liked well done, but have learned to adjust my tastes. I can compromise with a medium steak. As long as its not juicing all over my plate, I'm happy!

Since I'm a sauce fiend, I'm always willing to try out a new sauce for meat, vegetables, whatever. I decided to work out some sort of cilantro chimichurri. I'm not sure I've ever had real chimichurri, but know that it uses more than a few herbs. I hate nothing more than spending $10 on stupid little packets of herbs that turn brown 10 minutes after I put them in the fridge.

Chimichurri Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup cilantro
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon water

Combine all ingredients in food processor until coarsely chopped. Add black pepper to season. 

BBQ Chicken & Blue Cheese Pizza

We did just fine in the storm. Thank you to all who asked! As soon as it was over, I hopped on a plane to Ohio for work, then hit up Arizona and Texas before heading home so there has just been no free time! We never lost power. Had no flooding. Just a small leak in our closet, but that has been an ongoing problem that we've been trying to fix.

I welcomed the long weekend with open arms. We headed to PA to visit Skinny Fat Kid's parents and get out of the city for a few days. On our way home, we surprised Izzy with a pit stop at her best friend Minnie's house! They played for a bit inside before we took a walk to the park. We found a nice big baseball field that was totally fenced it and let them loose. They ran a few laps before Minnie was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. 

With all this craziness, a girl's still gotta eat! I've been all about quick and mostly healthy. I've got a million things to do and don't want to be hanging out in the kitchen all night! One of my favorite go-to meals is pizza. Pick up a whole wheat dough at the pizza place, slap on some good toppings and 10 minutes later, we got dinner. Cooking Light inspired this one and SFK was a huge fan. I almost put more cheese on it but held back and was glad I did!. 

Ingredients: 

• Whole wheat pizza dough
• 1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded (grilled or I just baked my in the oven in some BBQ sauce)
• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 6oz blue cheese (less or more depending on your taste)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees. 
• Roll out dough on to baking sheet or pizza stone.
• Cover dough in BBQ sauce, leaving edge for crust.
• Layer on tomatoes, peppers, chicken and green onions. Top with blue cheese. 
• Cook for about 10 minutes, or until dough is cooked through.