Zentmrs

A Very Thankful Day

2011-11-24T22:24:00.001-08:00

Today we made turkey on the grill...

... French Onion Soup...

(doesn't the turkey look fantastic?!)

... dressing, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes...

... cranberry sauce...

... green bean casserole...

... homemade dinner rolls...

... and pumpkin cheesecake cupcakes.

The Mr and I had dinner with his parents, we shared stories (many we have told before, some new) and enjoyed our time together. After dinner we skyped with my parents, my sister and my beautiful little niece (on her very first Thanksgiving).

Some of us took naps...

Tomorrow? I tackle this!

Hope you had the chance to count your blessings on this special day.

Homecoming Preview

2011-10-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

The Girl is in Marching Band at her high school (she's a freshman this year - what fun!) and today is the big homecoming game!

The band will play the National Anthem

And we will all face the flag with the sun setting behind it.

The team will be ready!

And I expect their coach will have lots to say to them.

The Wolf Pack's mascot will be pacing on the sidelines.

The band and color guard will put on a fantastic halftime show!

And there will be more football....

... with (hopefully) a fabulous outcome!

Is there anything like a high school homecoming game on a Friday night?

Harvest Monday: October 17, 2011

2011-10-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

We're still getting some wonderful wonderful produce this fall.

We picked the last of the corn - my goodness was it tasty!

The green onions are (finally!) starting to be harvestable.

We've got a ton of hot peppers on the vine. I only picked a few, and we'll get a bunch more next week.

And the strawberries keep coming too, though still a little at a time.

And the peas? Fabulous!

Tomatoes....

And the rest of the watermelon (someone didn't take a picture of them). A lot of watermelon.

Such pretty colors - I have loved having all of these plants this summer!

Total Harvest for the Week: 37 pounds, 5.9 ounces
Total Harvest for the Year: 89 pounds, 15.5. ounces

Oh my! I never thought we'd get that much out of our garden.... though I have to say the watermelon feels a little bit like cheating. On the other hand, it did overtake EVERYTHING so perhaps we've gots some justification there.

Linked up with Daphne's Dandelion's Harvest Monday... hop on over and see what else is being picked this week.

Quick Chicago Trip

2011-10-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had a conference in Chicago and dragged The Mr with me. He vacationed, I worked. At least some of the time. I did take a couple of days to enjoy myself. Here's a quick pictorial summary!

We walked around downtown the first day we got there. This is inside Water Tower Place. We enjoyed being inside because it was quite a downpour outside!

They have a fabulous Lego store there - The Boy would have loved it.

After the rain stopped, we walked down to the Navy Pier. Lots of restaurants and shopping and activities... and lots of opportunity for walking (one of our favorite vacation pastimes).

We never quite got around to riding the Ferris Wheel. Something we can put on our list for our next visit.

A quick break and a couple of Diet Cokes.

We also went to the Field Museum. They've got the largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered (her name is Sue).

This is how big her footprint would have been!

At the Museum of Science and Industry we saw a U-505, a German World War II Type-IXc Unterseeboot (submarine) that was captured in battle. Uber-cool!

The Mr has a friend who is a professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee... which is just about a 90 minute drive form Chicago, so we went to Milwaukee for a few hours to see him. He took us to see the Milwaukee Art Museum - the fountain out front was dyed pink in preparation for their Breast Cancer Race.

We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel, right downtown. Next door is the Chicago Tribune building. An interesting fact is that the Tribune Tower contains many famous stones incorporated in the wall, including rock fragments from the Alamo, the Colosseum and the Chinese Wall. A steel fragment from the World Trade Center in New York is also added to the wall. All these objects are labeled and visible from the street level. The most famous part of the collection is a moon rock which is not incorporated in the building but on display behind a glass window.

We also went to the top of the Sears Tower (actually called Willis Tower now). The one with the glass box the goes out over the street. About a million miles above the street. Here I am trying to explain to The Mr and this is NOT a good idea.

He wasn't having any part of that. See how far down it is?

Those little boxes way up there? That's where we were.

A bronze statue of a cow outside the Chicago Cultural Center. Kind of random.

We got to have dinner in the Signature Room at the top of the John Hancock building. Magnificent views!

I'll do a food recap this weekend. Lots of good eating in the windy city.

The Mr took a segway tour while I was working. His tour guide Joe took these photos. He had fabulous weather for his tour!

We did a lot of walking while we were there, and saw a lot of sights. This is the aquarium (we decided not to go as we live near a couple of world-famous aquariums) in the background.

Buckingham Fountain - lots of wedding pictures taken here.

Our reflection in "Cloud Gate" (The Bean) in Millenium Park.

We even got to walk by Soldier Field. Where the Bears play. I am NOT a Bears fan.

We really had a wonderful trip. We had the opportunity to meet up with a bunch of old friends, have a lot (oy!) of wonderful food and generally enjoyed ourselves!

Halloween Treats!

2011-10-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

I made these for the folks at work today -

Candy Corn Fudge

Ingredients

1 7-oz. jar marshmallow cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups candy corn (about 12 oz.)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup salted peanuts, chopped
1 ounce semisweet chocolate, chopped, optional
1 ounce white chocolate, chopped, optional

Preparation

1. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil; butter foil. Combine marshmallow cream, sugar, evaporated milk and butter in a large, heavy pan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 235°F on a candy thermometer, 10 to 15 minutes. (This is soft ball stage, and can also be measured using the method found here.)

2. Remove from heat and stir in candy corn, chocolate chips and peanuts, stirring until chocolate melts. Immediately transfer to foil-lined pan and smooth top until even. Chill until set, at least 2 hours.

3. In separate bowls over pans of simmering water, melt semisweet and white chocolate, if desired. Using forks, drizzle both chocolates over fudge. Cut fudge into squares.

Pretty tasty - though I think without the saltiness of the peanuts they would be too sweet. They didn't last long in the office kitchen!

This is an IMPORTANT Day!

2011-10-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

Our sweet niece Katy is 2!!

I can hardly believe how fast the time has flown since the day we first met her in March.....

She was such a quiet little peanut.

And smiley!

And since my sister brought her home from Ethiopia (she landed in the US in at the end of June)...

She's turned into quite the little swimmer!

She loves the water...

... and totally rocks a yellow-polka-dot bikini, don't you think?

She's loving day care....

... and playing in the back yard.

She's grown 5 (!) inches since she got here, and her little personality is really coming out!

She's the light of her mama's eye and she turns two today!

Happy Happy Birthday Katy Kat!

Tuesday Garden Party - Where Did They Go?

2011-10-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

Last summer we put a pond in our backyard. It's an above-ground pond, and we've really been enjoying it. We planted periwinkle around the rim of the pond, which has helped to keep out any critters. We added fish to the pond - we started with 12 feeder goldfish (a hefty investment of $2.00) and 5 of them lived and grew to be 6 or 7 inches long. We also added a water lily, and saw our first flower just this week!

The periwinkle has grown up and filled in the spaces just as we had hoped.

And our our water features make the backyard sound very peaceful.

Then, last weekend, we went outside to feed the fish.... and they were gone! Apparently, something had knocked over a rock in the pond, which dislodged a hose from the pump, which caused the pump to pump the water out of the pond, at least down to a fairly low level. The fish could have lived in that amount of water, but something took them.

Our top suspects are either this guy...

... or this guy....

... or potentially a rat. I couldn't put a picture of a rat here. They've made me too mad this year.

I suppose it could have been a combination of the above suspects as well. Either way, all that was left of our fish was a handful of scales and a couple of unidentifiable bones. Whatever it was, was very thorough.

We took the scales and bones and buried them in with the roses. No waste here!

And then? Well, we cleaned up the pond, refilled it, re-positioned the rocks and the pump so this couldn't happen again...

And bought another bag of feeder fish. We got 20 this time. 20 little tiny goldfish. Hopefully we'll end up with a half-dozen or so big, beautiful goldfish next summer.

And maybe next summer the circle of life won't have to include our pond. Just saying.

For more garden adventures, check out An Oregon Cottage for her weekly Garden Party.

What's in YOUR garden this week?

Harvest Monday - October 10, 2011

2011-10-10T15:52:00.000-07:00

I can scarcely believe that our summer harvest season is coming to an end. I feel like we were just watching the seedlings start to grow, and now it is nearly time to get everything prepared for our winter crops. But - before we do that, we've still got a few things left to pick. We're still getting:

Tomatoes! We've had a much better year with tomatoes this year than we did last year - and most of them are volunteers. It's made me more enthusiastic about trying them again next summer... this time intentionally.

And watermelon! Lots of watermelon left, though the vines seem to be losing steam. We'll see how many we actually harvest. We're thinking we may not plant them again next year as they take up so much space and quite frankly, the watermelon that we've been getting just isn't worth the space.

The corn however? Definitely is! Our second crop is coming in just now and is even better than the first one! This is by far my favorite crop of the summer - we'll be expanding this one next year.

Total Harvest for the Week: 3 pound, 9 ounces
Total Harvest for the Year: 51 pounds, 15.6. ounces

Wow!

Linked up with Daphne's Dandelion's Harvest Monday... hop on over and see what else is being picked this week.

CatCam

2011-09-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

Do you ever wonder what your pet sees during the day? I suppose I didn't until I saw these on buy.com at a very low price. Pet's Eye View cameras!

Your pet wears it on his collar and the camera takes a picture every 1, 5 or 15 minutes. You can download them onto your computer and see what's he's been up to.

Here's some of the things they captured:

The sofa and love seat.

Another cat.

The patio.... where they all want to go until they get out there...

Lights on the floor.

A different cat.

OK, not terribly exciting. Another thing that we discovered was that they like to drink. And when they drink, the camera likes to sit in the water. Or actually, the camera doesn't like to sit in the water and decides to stop working.

Then we had a great idea - if AnnaCam and MorganCam were fun, what would zentmrsCam and TheMrCam be like? So we used them on our trip to London and Paris, and on our trip to Chicago. Mostly we attached them to our bags, either my purse/backpack or the camera bag. So mostly they take pictures of where we have been. Here's some of the fun sites:

London

Kensington Park

Hard Rock Cafe in London - some random people at a nearby table.

London tube station

National Gallery in London

Trafalgar Square (The Mr is taking a picture of me... while taking a picture of me!)

Some random people at a train station

The bus to Stonhenge

My sis at Windsor Castle

Snacking on the bus to Bath

On to Paris! The Eifel Tower

Gift shop at the Louvre

Now Chicago... The Mr on his way to dinner with friends...

Said friends at dinner...

No, these pictures are not great quality. They are not even good quality. And they are definitely not the only pictures we took on our adventures. But it has been really quite fun to see just what surprises are waiting inside our little Cams!

Our Recipe for a Fabulous Brunch (and beyond)!

2011-09-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

Not long ago my brother-in-law came down from central CA for a (surprise) visit. We had them over for a nice Sunday brunch and used our favorite brunch formula.

Guests (!)
Make Your Own Omelet Bar
Seasonal Drink (summer = strawberry lemonade!)
Selection of breads (I chose homemade Italian and Cranberry & Blueberry Sweet Bread)
Sour Cream Hash Browns (my very favorite potato dish)

We put the fixings for the omelets out and give everyone a ziplock bag with their name on it - they fill up the baggie with their choice of fixings and give it to our chef (The Mr) who makes divine omelets for everyone.

Then we serve it all up and enjoy!

This time, after brunch, we had a great opportunity to relax with family on a hot afternoon...

... watch some Padres baseball at the MIL's house (The Mr does NOT enjoy baseball...)...

... and listen to The Boy and his friend butcher some Guitar Hero songs.

All in all, a pretty good day!

Birthday Cakes

2011-08-31T14:09:00.000-07:00

The Girl turns 14 today!

I'm not sure how it is possible - I am pretty sure she just turned 6. And yet somehow she is turning into a beautiful and talented young lady and we couldn't be more proud. Happy Birthday!

Tuesday Garden Party - Pumpkin Help Needed!

2011-08-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

For those of you out there who are experts in growing pumpkins... or have had success... or whose pumpkins haven't done this:

My question is - what is happening to them? The plants seem to be growing well, and then they just die.

Some of them have this funny dusty-looking stuff. I doubt that is good.

Any ideas? I'd love to plant them again next year, but not if they are just going to die again. :-(

Come on back next week to see what another week brings - in the meantime, check out An Oregon Cottage for her weekly Garden Party.

Harvest Monday: August 22, 2011

2011-08-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

This week found our garden in a bit of a lull - just one day of harvesting... and it was....

Tomatoes!

Don't they look wonderful?!

Total Harvest for the Week: 1 pound, 2.8 ounces
Total Harvest for the Year: 36 pounds, 7.3 ounces

I'm hoping for more tomatoes and for lots of strawberries this week. And soon we'll have a wave of sweet peppers - yum!

Linked up with Daphne's Dandelion's Harvest Monday... hop on over and see what else is being picked this week.

Tuesday Garden Party - Second Crop, More of the First and a Visitor

2011-08-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

The sun and heat of the summer has been wonderful for our garden this year. We just started our second planting of corn and peas - peas are already showing the signs of the first flowers and corn is likely to be producing mid to late September... we are indeed lucky to live in such a lovely climate!

And suddenly, we've got tons of these little guys! Who knows - we may end up with a bumer crop of watermelon!

The hot pepper plants don't look very good, but they keep pumping out hot tasty peppers so I won't complain.

Habaneros are getting ready to ripen! Yum!

And our great success story - sweet peppers in their own fancy screened in porches. They are flourishing!

I'd be remiss if I didn't introduce this most recent visitor to our garden - I believe he's aSan Diego Alligator Lizard!

He's about 15 inches long - and, though I think he does have a fairly nasty bite, he's not aggressive nor poisonous. And, most importantly, he won't eat my plants. So he can stay. ;-)

Come on back next week to see what another week brings - in the meantime, check out An Oregon Cottage for her weekly Garden Party.

Harvest Monday: August 15, 2011

2011-08-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

What a colorful harvest we had this week!

Green Onions!

Red Peppers!

Orange Carrots!

Yellow and Red Tomatoes!

And Orange and Red Tomatoes!

Beautiful Yellow Lemons!

And a Green Watermelon!

Total Harvest for the Week: 4 pounds, 7.9 ounces
Total Harvest for the Year: 35 pounds, 4.5 ounces

This should be a great week for tomatoes... and our new peas are growing like crazy - a good chance we'll see something from them soon!

Linked up with Daphne's Dandelion's Harvest Monday... hop on over and see what else is being picked this week.

Tuesday Garden Party - Fruit of the Devil

2011-08-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

Today's Garden is brought to you by the letter "T"...

as in TOMATO!

I can just about say that our volunteer tomato army is going to deliver quite a few tomatoes!

This one is just about ready!

And can you see all of the ripening fruits in there?

And here?

And this guy? Is pretty big!

We just can't wait to get our hands on these when they are ripe! Yum!

Come on back next week to see what another week brings - in the meantime, check out An Oregon Cottage for her weekly Garden Party.

Harvest Monday: August 8, 2011

2011-08-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

Our garden continues to be a source of fun and vegetables (?!) for us. This week we got a pumpkin! He's just a little guy, but he's a pumpkin nonetheless.

And the last of this batch of corn. More in another month or so I think.

The pepper harvest is starting to heat up. So to speak.

And the peas keep coming! What hardy plants they are, coming back time after time, from slugs and mice and rabbits... they just keep producing more peas.

A couple of accidental tomatoes... good for fried green tomatoes perhaps?

More strawberries = love.

See the heat?

Total Harvest for the Week: 3 pounds, 5.9 ounces
Total Harvest for the Year: 30 pounds, 12.9 ounces

I think we'll have ripe tomatoes this week. At least I hope. Maybe a sweet pepper or two as well. We'll have to see - I just know we are sure having fun with the garden this year!

Linked up with Daphne's Dandelion's Harvest Monday... hop on over and see what else is being picked this week.

What's For Dinner (or Maybe Brunch?): Aebelskivers!

2011-08-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

Aebelskivers are Danish puffed pancakes, traditionally made with an apple filling. Though apple is traditional, any flavor of fruit is delicious, and cream fillings make these into tasty warm cream puffs! They look difficult to make, but if you have an aebelskiver pan, they are really a breeze to prepare.

Aebelskivers

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 beaten eggs
2 cup buttermilk
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup Powdered sugar
1 1/2 cup Raspberry Jam

Instructions

Melt butter in microwave safe bowl or cup (About 30 sec.).
Sift dry ingredients, add buttermilk and beaten eggs. Beat with a whisk until batter is smooth.
Heat Aebelskiver pan on medium heat, quickly add to each pan hole - 1/2 tsp. butter and batter, filling each hole a little over half full of batter. And a teaspoon of jam to each Aebelskiver.
When the batter is bubbling in the center, the pancake is probably ready to turn. Gently lift a side of the pancake with a little fork (I use toothpicks for this) and check to see if is golden. If it is firm on the sides and a nice golden color, flip it carefully to make sure it is completely inverted, so the golden cooked side is now completely on top and has no "seams" or holes in the sides. When you flip the pancake, the uncooked batter in the middle will spill into the hole and cook. If the cooked sides are sticking out, you can tuck them in with a fork. The pancake should be firm enough to invert without falling apart or collapsing. Let the other side cook for a few minutes, check for golden color and remove.
Repeat with butter and batter, until batter is finished. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve!

If you'd rather make this from a mix, Prepared Pantry has several very good mixes - traditional flavor, chocolate and jalapeno corn!

These are fabulous and quite easy to make - definitely worth buying an aebelskiver pan and frying up a batch!

Menu Planning

2011-08-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

San Diego has been hot and will continue to be hot (at least for here), which is reflected in my menu plan for the next week. Can you see the theme?

Wednesday: Steak on the Grill

Thursday: Grilled Chicken and Potatoes

Friday: Gnocchi with Tomato and Basil Sauce

Saturday: Grilled Pork Loin

Sunday: Drunken Chicken

Monday: Fajitas

Tuesday: Someone Else Cooks!

Linked here: Organizing Junkie

What's on your table this week?

Tuesday Garden Party - An Ode To Watermelon

2011-08-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

So big and green
With lovely white stripes
Red on the inside

With black dots of seeds
So sweet and juicy
It fills me up
Even when it dribbles down my chin.

We're certainly excited to see our watermelon "crop" coming in. The vines have totally taken over the rose garden...

And although they can be hard to spot when they are just little guys, we have found a couple of baby watermelons!

And check out their big brother!

Okay, to give him some perspective, he's still quite a little guy himself...

How fun are they?! I can't wait until it is time to eat them! (Don't tell them though!)

Come on back next week to see what another week brings - in the meantime, check out An Oregon Cottage for her weekly Garden Party.

Harvest Monday: August 1, 2011

2011-08-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

This week was all about corn. Frankly, if it were up to me? I'd have fresh corn from the garden every single night.

Occasionally a side of peas....

... and strawberries for dessert.

Not too much of a mystery what we will continue to plant in our garden then, is it? ;-)

Total Harvest for the Week: 7 pounds, 13.2 ounces
Total Harvest for the Year: 27 pounds, 7.0 ounces

I am pretty sure we've got a pumpkin ready for picking this week! And probably some tomatoes. Definitely more peppers. We're sure having fun with the garden this year!

Linked up with Daphne's Dandelion's Harvest Monday... hop on over and see what else is being picked this week.

Sunday Snapshot - Summer Day

2011-07-31T20:28:00.000-07:00

Our busy summer day started at Starbucks.

We took our cans in for recycling - and came away with over $150!

The recycling place is next to the mecca for all homeowners and gardeners. Recognize it?

Then I put on my swimsuit...

... to practice the fine (and somewhat forgotten art) or car waxing. Ugh. But the car does look wonderful again!

Then home to make dinner... with the garden trio - beans, squash and corn!

I caught a "great" shot of The Boy.

And I snapped this of the pretty flowers as I was waiting for our dessert to finish grilling (!)

We all liked it, as you can see.

And we are finishing off the evening discussing our vacation plans with the in-laws (next March, London).

How did you spend your Sunday?

Bread Recipe Mistake... or Was It?

2011-07-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have a favorite bread-machine bread recipe. I found it several years ago, and it is my go-to recipe whenever I bake bread.

Italian Bread
Ingredients

1 1/8 cup warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons dough conditioner (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions

Place all ingredients in bread pan in the order listed (or as per the directions for your bread machine.) Select Medium Crust setting, the French Bread cycle and press Start.
Observe the dough as it kneads. After 5 to 10 minutes, if it appears dry and stiff or if your machine sounds as if it's straining to knead the dough, add more liquid 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough forms a smooth, soft, pliable ball that is slightly tacky to the touch.
After the baking cycle ends, remove the bread from pan, place on cake rack and allow to cool 1 hour before slicing.

That's the recipe. I use the dough cycle, let it rise a second time in my covered stone French bread pan and then bake for about 35 minutes at 350F.

The problem is, I was halfway into making the bread and realized that I didn't have enough bread flour. I didn't have enough all-purpose flour either. What I had was cake flour.

I asked the internet. The internet said:

Cake flour is high in starch and low in protein and when chlorinated (bleached) allows cakes and other baked goods to set faster, rise better, the fat to be distributed more evenly, and there is less vulnerability to collapse.

Bread flours have from 12-14 percent protein. They will feel decidedly more elastic while kneading, and will give full, rounded loaves. These flours are made from hard winter wheats from northern states.

But it didn't really say I should (or shouldn't) substitute one for the other.

So, rather than forgoing the bread altogether, I used cake flour instead of bread flour. I didn't think the results would be great... but they were! The bread turned out very light and very tender, with a crispy crust.

Can you see how delicate it looks?

I may not use cake flour every time, but when I want a soft and delicate bread, I will certainly be happy to use it again!

Have you had a mistake in the kitchen turn out to be a surprise hit?

What's For Dinner - Goat Cheese, Onion and Pancetta Pizza

2011-07-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion and Pancetta Pizza

Ingredients

Enough dough for two 10-12-inch pizzas (I used this recipe)
4-6 oz pancetta
1 large onion, thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
6-8 oz goat cheese, crumbled or coarsely chopped
4-oz shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup marinara sauce

Directions

Preheat the oven to 500F – with your baking stone on the oven rack, if you have one.
Cut pancetta into small cubes. Fry pancetta in a skillet coated with a little bit of olive oil or vegetable oil over medium-high heat until pancetta is crispy, about 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching
Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the crispy pancetta and place on a paper-towel lined plate to drain.
Add onions to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are golden brown and very tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
Take enough dough for one pizza and place on a lightly floured surface. Flatten the dough into an 8-inch disk, then stretch the edges gently until the dough is 10-12-inches in diameter.
Transfer pizza dough to a pizza stone or a baking sheet. Spread about 1/4 cup of marinara sauce very thinly over the crust. Top with half of the pancetta, half of the onions and half of the coarsely crumbled goat cheese. Sprinkle half of the shredded mozzarella over the pizza.
Slide pizza into preheated oven and bake for 8-12 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese has melted.
Serve pizza immediately. Repeat steps with remaining piece of dough.

I cooked ours on the grill - we preheated our gas grill for about 10 minutes, then cooked it on high for another 10 minutes or so (when the cheese was bubbly and the crust is crispy). The grill is my favorite way to cook a pizza! I also added diced red peppers for some extra flavor.

How does this recipe look to you? Would you consider making it?

What's For Dinner: Chicken Kebabs with Fresh Peach Salsa

2011-07-28T16:13:00.000-07:00

When we got peaches in our CSA box this weekend, I knew I wanted to try this recipe for peach salsa. I had seen it on a website a while back and thought I could modify it to suit my tastes.

Here's how it looked:

Grilled Chicken Kebabs with Fresh Peach Salsa

Ingredients

1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 24 (2-inch) pieces
1 large red onion, cut into 32 (2-inch) pieces
3 bell peppers, various colors, cut into 2-inch pieces
Cooking spray
2 cups diced peaches (2 - 3)
1 diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons minced seeded jalapeño pepper (I used hot cherry peppers form my garden)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation

Preheat broiler. Combine first 9 ingredients in a shallow dish; let stand 15 minutes.
Thread onion pieces, pepper pieces and chicken pieces alternately onto each of 8 (12-inch) skewers. Place skewers on grill (coated with cooking spray for ease of turning). Grill 12 minutes or until chicken is done, turning occasionally.
Combine nectarines and remaining ingredients in a bowl.
Serve - 2 skewers and about 3/4 cup salsa for each serving.

This was a great tasting dinner. The sweet and spicy mixture of the salsa was wonderful - I could eat that alone! We had it with grilled corn (!) and peas, both from the garden. Delicious!

What's on your table?