Kabob This!

After many requests from friends, we had our 2nd Annual Fall Kabob Cookout this weekend. (By 2nd annual, meaning the last one was like 3 years ago but we hope to start continuing this yearly from now on!)

Kittan scared me half to death by sneaking into a grocery bag while I was unloading tasty ingredients.

For dessert, I made some cheeseburger cupcakes, inspired by a friend Laura's blog. They were a huge hit and I was pretty proud of them!!

A rowdy game of flip cup! We made up all kinds of freestyle flip cup rules for different rounds, like "spin around 3 times then flip the cup then spin once each time you miss..." or "close your eyes after you drink until you flip the cup..." You get the idea :) It was a fun time!

We had a great time fixin our kabobs and grilling them on our new bright blue charcoal grill :)
All the marinades came out very well, and as requested, here are the recipes I used. I marinaded all of them for 24 hrs for ultimate taste infusion!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHICKEN "Spicy" KABOB MARINADE

1 chopped onion
1 cup honey
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
2 tbsp chili powder
1/3 cup Tabasco sauce
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
the juice from 1 lemon
2 fresh peppers

Mix the ingredients in the blender for 30-50 seconds, or
until well blended. Marinate the shish kabobs in the
refrigerator for 6 or more hours.

Submitted by: Martha Welligton (From cooks.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ASIAN CHICKEN KABOB MARINADE

(I just do it to taste)
Little bit of olive oil
lots of soy sauce
heavy sprinkle of brown sugar
4 garlic cloves minced

From the one and only Karl Meier
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BUCK's BEEF KABOB MARINADE

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup light soy sauce (not regular)
• 1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons dry mustard
• 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
• 1/2 cup wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/3 cup lemon juice

(from recipeezaar.com)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MARINATED SHRIMP KABOBS

1 (15 1/4 oz.) can pineapple chunks in juice, undrained
1/2 c. oil free Italian dressing**
1 (8 oz.) can no salt tomato sauce
1 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. prepared mustard

Drain pineapple, reserving 1/4 cup juice set aside. Combine
reserved juice, Italian dressing, tomato sauce, brown sugar
and mustard. Place shrimp in a shallow dish; add juice
mixture, and toss gently. Cover and marinade in
refrigerator at least 3 hours. Stir occasionally.

**never heard of oil free Italian dressing, so I used normal dressing

(from cooks.com)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SWEET and SOUR SAUSAGE KABOBS

1/3 c. honey
1/4 c. spicy brown mustard
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground ginger

(from cooks.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had a great time with local friends, and were also graced by the presence of Nate and Margaret Smith and Peter Daniels from out of town!


In other news: recently, I was able to spend some time at home to help mom recover and learn how to take care of herself post surgery. Mom has been recovering really well from her mastectomy-reconstruction surgery with no complications. Garrett's soccer team played their games today in her honor, donning pink armbands and a pink goalie jersey for Garrett. The Seton, home-school, and soccer communities in NOVA have been so great to the family, helping with meals, cleaning, soccer carpools, etc. It was nice knowing she was taken care of when I had to leave!

She looks great!