Lighten Up Blog Hop - May 2011

Welcome to this month's Lighten Up Blog Hop! When Beverly emailed that this month's theme would be picnic foods, I emailed back right away to say I would definitely be participating and would share our Grilled Vegetable Kabob recipe. Then I laughed right out loud at myself because I realized that once again, this is something we make often but don't have a recipe written down anywhere. Basically we just cut the veggies, skewer the veggies, season the veggies, grill the veggies, and eat the veggies. (Don't worry, though, I provide a little more detail & some photos below.) Then, I read Beverly's note about having the nutrition information with our recipe. So, I have been hard at work to bring you our version of Grilled Vegetable Kabobs!

Ingredients

1 medium yellow squash

1 medium zucchini

1/2 large green bell pepper

1/2 large red bell pepper

1/2 red onion

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

seasonings to taste - we use Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning 

Four servings, approximately 75 calories per serving.

1. Cut the veggies - cut all the vegetables into approximately 1 inch pieces, 1/4 to 1/2 inches in thickness.

2. Skewer the veggies - we typcially use these long skewers, but we also have some shorter ones that work great for individual servings.

3. Season the veggies - drizzle or brush the olive oil over the vegetables, then add seasonings to taste. We use Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, but the options for seasonings are unlimited.

4. Grill the veggies - wrap the skewers in tin foil with a few ice cubes inside and place on heated grill. The ice cubes will melt and the steam will begin to cook the vegetables. Cook approximately ten minutes, then open the tin foil (but leave it underneath the skewers to the veggies won't stick) and grill until vegetables are at desired tenderness. (I tend to like my veggies more cooked than crisp.) CAREFULLY remove the skewers from grill, remembering that the metal skewers will be VERY hot. (Don't ask how we know this so well.)

5. Eat the veggies - my very favorite part.

Be sure to hop around and check out the full May Menu!
http://www.BEglorious.blogspot.com/   
French Roasted Vegetable Sandwich  (Beverly)
http://www.melissagross.blogspot.com/  - you are here!
Grilled Vegetable Kabobs   (Melissa)
http://www.holadayshappyhearts.blogspot.com/ 
Pasta with Spinach and Feta  (Rachel)

http://www.overatourplace.blogspot.com/ 
Eton Mess (Amy)

The question for this month's prize is... If you had one serving of each of these dishes at your picnic how many calories would you consume? Email your answer to neusebrats{at}aol{dot}com for a chance to win this month's prize.

Since we have readers from all over the world, we want you to be able to easily convert measurements as needed. These links take you to conversion charts. We hope you find them helpful.
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/cvcookix.html

http://www.startcooking.com/blog/333/Measurement-and-Conversion-Charts
http://www.pioneerthinking.com/measure.html