Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs

Another great recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com! Jammie can back me up on this one, it is FABULOUS! I marinated the chicken separately from the veggies, more so just so the flavor of the veggies didn't overpower the chicken while marinating. I used onion, and green and red pepper the first time that I made this dish. It would also be great with button mushrooms, grape tomatoes or pineapple added into the mix! It's a very versatile recipe when it comes to the veggies.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Yummy-Honey-Chicken-Kabobs/Detail.aspx

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 cloves garlic
• 5 small onions, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 2 red bell peppers, cut into 2 inch pieces
• skewers - Don't forget to soak them!!!
  

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, honey, soy sauce, and pepper. Before adding chicken, reserve a small amount of marinade to brush onto kabobs while cooking. Place the chicken, garlic, onions and peppers in the bowl, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours (the longer the better).
2. Preheat the grill for high heat.
3. Drain marinade from the chicken and vegetables, and discard marinade. Thread chicken and vegetables alternately onto the skewers.
4. Lightly oil the grill grate. Place the skewers on the grill. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes, until chicken juices run clear. Turn and brush with reserved marinade frequently.

Hearty Vegetable Stew

My plan tonight was to make vegetarian chili...but after talking to Steph she had me craving Vegetable soup. My problem was that it's the day before payday and I've already gone WAY over my budget for groceries this month. This recipe could also be called "End of the month whatever I have left over Vegetable stew". You can throw in whatever you have on hand...well almost ;). Normally I would use a broth as the base but I have a vegetarian in the house and all I had was either chicken or beef broth, no vegetable broth. So I compromised and it turned out great!

3 ribs celery
1 small onion
1/2 a poblano pepper
1 bag frozen veggies or 3 cups fresh veggies
5 cups of low sodium V8 juice or other vegetable/tomato juice
3 cups water
1 cup of barley
1 can pinto beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen diced potatoes (I used O'brien hashbrowns)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp celery salt (optional)
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp onion powder (optional)
2 large bay leaves
2-3 cloves of garlic (crushed or chopped)
2 tbs of butter or olive oil
1 cup of morning star "meat" crumbles (optional)

Heat butter or olive oil over medium heat in a stock pot. Saute celery, onions, poblano pepper and other fresh veggies for 3 minutes. Add water and V8 juice and the rest of the ingredients except the meat crumbles. Set heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for an additional 30-40 minutes until barley and veggies are tender. During the last 10 minutes throw in the crumbles. Taste and add spices as needed. Enjoy!!

Note: I'm also cooking for a toddler so I have to watch the heat...However, the rest of us love to heat up our dishes with hot sauce. So I simply put out the hot sauce for each person to add according to their taste. If this was an adult only meal I would have added several hearty dashes of hot sauce to the stew. Also, I actually probably added a lot more salt and pepper than I mentioned in my recipe. So you might want to play around with the spices and continue to check. If you used canned veggies you'll need less salt b/c of the sodium content in canned vegetables.

Speaking of spices...I know this recipe calls for a lot of different spices..and many of my recipes might. I'm always buying new spices to stock my rack so that I'm never lacking spices. lol, in fact I bribed the movers with Pizza to allow me to pack my spices when I moved from Germany. If you don't have all the spices, that's ok...use what you have and improvise. But I do recommend stocking up here and there with different spices or at least investing in a good spice rack that comes with the spices. You can find them for $20+.

Turkey Vegetable Soup

I was in a rush to find something yummy and quick for supper. I had a package of skinless chicken thighs (and already have plans for them) and 2lbs of ground turkey. Having just a few choices mean you have to be creative. The following recipe can be followed, but really it should serve as a guideline to just help you think of things to use to help you create your own soup.

1 lb browned ground turkey
3+ cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
3 chopped and steamed carrots
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes w/ green chiles
1/2 red bell pepper
2 stalks of celery chopped
Leftover corn from last night
2 cans tomato sauce
3 chopped garlic cloves
chopped onion
Freshly ground pepper

Allow it to simmer for a while.

I wish I had had either potatoes or beans to throw in there. Black beans would have been fabulous. Any left over veggies that you have in your fridge that would blend well could be added.

I topped it w/ grated cheddar. YUMMY!



I know for a fact that Jammie's making her own Veggie Stew tonight, so hopefully we can get her to post it soon! :D