Sorry -- I'm a day later than I promised I'd be! These aren't exactly recipes, by the way... more like "suggestions." Here goes!
Bruschetta Kabobs (or, "Greek Salad on a Stick")
My original thought was to do bruschetta on the grill -- toast up some nice bread over the coals, rub it with fresh garlic, and top it with olive tapenade. One day last week, lying by the pool, I contemplated this idea and was suddenly struck with... an epiphany! I wondered what would happen if I toasted chunks of bread, olives, and onions on skewers. I am happy to report that the results were great. This was my favorite dish of the day. I bought a nice multi-grain batard and cut it into approx. 1" chunks. I threaded the bread cubes, kalamata olives, red onion slices, and pepperoncinis on my skewers, misted them with olive oil, and let them go. They only took a minute or so on each side. I got exactly the effect I wanted -- crusty, toasty bread that was still chewy on the inside, and lots of flavor from the olives, onions, and peppers. I had originally tried putting cubes of feta cheese on the skewers, too, but they just crumbled as I threaded them. Live and learn. The kabobs were still excellent. I will definitely try this one again!
Eggplant Parmesan Mini Pizzas This one is based on a recipe I recently saw in my mom's "Woman's Day" magazine.
Firtst, I cut an eggplant into 1/2" slices. I misted the slices with olive oil and put them on the grill. For this step, I used a couple handfuls of mesquite wood chips on top of the charcoal for extra smokiness. I certainly got it! When the eggplant was nice and browned, with pretty grill marks, I took it off the grill and cut it into bite-size pieces.
I got out my leftover "fiesta pizza" dough from a couple of weeks ago and made mini crusts. I grilled them on one side for about five minutes, until they were brown and, well, crusty! I took them off the grill, flipped them so the cooked side was up, and layered on the following toppings: pizza sauce, fresh mozzarella, small dollops of ricotta, eggplant chunks, dried basil and oregano (they didn't have any fresh at the grocery store!), and freshly grated parmesan. Back onto the grill, covered, for maybe ten minutes (I so rarely time anything!) until the bottoms of the crusts were brown and the cheese was all gooey and melty.
The pizzas, unfortunately, were still a little bland. We sprinkled on some crushed red pepper, which kicked them up a bit. Next time I make this, I will probably season the eggplant before I grill it, and try harder to find some fresh herbs. The smokiness of the eggplant was nice, though. And the pizzas were actually even better the next day!
Fruit Kabobs with Ginger Dip
This is painfully easy -- I put white nectarine chunks, (canned) pineapple chunks, and star fruit slices on skewers, and grilled them. Unfortunately, the coals were burning pretty low by this point, so I didn't get as much caramelization as I'd hoped I would, but they still came out OK. If you've never had grilled pineapple, you're missing out! The nectarines and star fruit were nice, too. =) The dip, which I got the recipe for at the grocery store, is also very easy -- one cup vanilla yogurt, eight ounces cream cheese, 1/4 cup honey, and two teaspoons freshly grated ginger. Mix until smooth, chill one hour, and serve with slices of your favorite fruit. I have to confess, I didn't measure the ginger -- I just grated some in until it looked like there was a lot of it, then put in a little more. It was much more gingery than the sample I had in the store (and much better)! I don't think I used as much honey as it wanted, either... but I didn't exactly measure it.
Considering how little I've actually grilled in my life, I'm very happy with the way everything turned out. This was a great way to get myself into the grilling groove. I can't wait to try it again!
We FINALLY made it out to pick strawberries today! With Kevin being in Boston half the time, my weird work schedule, and limited hours of operation at the strawberry farm, it's been a bit hard to do. But today, the Berry Fairy smiled down on us. We got in just under the wire -- today was the last day the farm was to be open for picking. Pickings were, in fact, quite slim. It took about twice as long as it should have to pick 8 1/2 quarts, but we did it. We took my nephew Kyle along with us. He's a "city boy" from San Diego, visiting for the next three weeks. He told my dad he'd "never picked anything off a tree or bush before," so he thought he would quite enjoy the excursion. He did:
That's is actually quite a rare action shot. He spent a lot more time telling Kevin stories than actually picking berries...
They were very cute. Between the two of them, I think they picked about a quart and a half of berries to my seven! OK, maybe they got 2 1/2 and I got 6... =) The important thing is that we all had fun, Kyle enjoyed a new experience, and I have seven and a half quarts of fresh berries on my kitchen counter (one quart went to my parents)! There is definitely strawberry shortcake in our near future, as well as strawberry bread, smoothies (of course!), and frozen berries for future use. And rest assured that plenty will be eaten as is over the next few days. There's not much on this planet better than a sun-warmed, freshly picked strawberry.
I thought I'd show off a bit today and introduce you to my purple blender...
Ta daaaaaa!!! Isn't it cool? It's an Oster brand 14-speed 450-watt "Osterizer." I think all Oster blenders are "Osterizers..." but not all of them are purple! I got it for Christmas a few years ago, and it serves me very well. The highest, fastest, heaviest-dutiest speed is "ice crush." Boy, does it ever! It rips right through frozen fruit, ice, and lime ice cubes (some of my favorite things to crush!). Am I a little too attached to it? Probably. But who wouldn't be, when together as a team, we make the greatest soups, shakes, sauces, and of course, smoothies! Hmmm... it seems to like to make foods that start with "s."
In the blender jar, waiting to be whizzed around, are the following ingredients: one cup of frozen (organic) raspberries, one and a quarter cups of (organic) milk (cow, not soy), half a cup of (organic) raspberry frozen yogurt, and a drizzle of some absolutely fabulous local honey (probably not officially organic, but I bought it last fall at a local apple orchard, and it's the best honey I've ever had). Can you stand the organic-ness of it all? I barely can myself.
Let me tell you, this turned out to be one thick, sweet-tart, girly-girly pink shake:
It made a great supper on this not-too-hot but still humid and sticky summery evening. Protein, fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, calcium, and only about 300 calories... take that, Slim-Fast (and see ya, Whoopi!)!
With IMBB? IV just a few days away, I'm spending a lot of time thinking about what I want to grill. As I mentioned a few days ago, I'm not exactly the most experienced griller in the world. I've been poring over my new copy of "The Vegetarian Grill"and browsing the internet for ideas. I'm toying with ideas like a pizza dinner, something Mediterranean (think eggplant!), and this recipe from this website I discovered the other day (very cool site, BTW!). I, of course, would make the latter with Boca Italian Sausage. You'll just have to look up the recipe to find out what I'm talking about. =) I want to make an appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert. I have dessert all figured out, regardless of what I decide on for the main dish. If I make pizzas, I have a plan for some kind of kabob for an appetizer... herein lies the epiphany in progress. I'm thinking some kind of bruschetta-style kabob. How weird does that sound? I think chunks of good, crusty bread, along with maybe some kalamata olives and onions, could be really good. It would be almost like croutons on a skewer, I guess, with bruschetta topping ingredients in between. I'm still ironing out the details, thinking about ingredients. Little tomatoes are always a possibility, along with basil leaves and slices of garlic. It all depends on what the entree turns out to be. The trick will be to choose things that would cook in a fairly short amount of time so the bread doesn't completely incinerate.
Like this whole IMBB? thing isn't exciting enough, my 7-year-old nephew is flying in from San Diego tomorrow to spend three weeks here!! Well, he'll stay with my parents, but I plan to spend as much time with him as possible. He's such a neat kid. Yes, he's coming all by himself. He did this last year, too. He's amazing -- three weeks away from his home, his parents, his life, in a completely different environment, and it doesn't faze him a bit. I get homesick when I go away for a weekend! He just goes about his business and does whatever we plan for him. I don't have any recent pictures of him in the computer, but you can bet my new digital camera will be put to good use while he's here! I'll be sure to post a picture or two once in a while. He's the cutest little boy in the world, of course. Just wait 'til you see him! I really wish my brother and sister-in-law were coming, too, but Rick's in the Navy, so it's really hard for him to get time off, let alone coordinate with Joelle's vacation schedule. Plus, I think they enjoy some time to themselves when Kyle's here. =)
Sorry I don't have any exciting pictures to post about food today, either. It's hard to photograph an epiphany. You'll just have to be patient for a couple more days, until I finally put this whole plan into action and document it.
