Welcome to 2013

Welcome to the New Year!!  I am finally back to my routine and am able to blog again -- yay! :) I thought I would start the year out with a quick look back at some of my favorite recipes over this past year.  It went by very fast, and deserves a little reflection.  

I had to begin with something sweet and these Valentine's Day sugar cookies were perfect.  Soft, with a creamy frosting.  I can still taste them.  The great thing is you can use them anytime of year, just change the shape and the frosting color!

These Garlic and Sausage Kabobs are a recipe that a friend of mine made this summer at the lake, and I loved them!  Whoever thought of adding bread to kabobs is a genius.  Try it and tell me how awesome it is... delish! 

I remember the morning that I made these banana and peanut butter pancakes vividly.  I wanted to make something glorious for breakfast but didn't feel like going shopping.  Luckily I had the ingredients to throw this together and it tasted so great, especially because I was still in my PJ's.

This is one of the prettiest things I've made in the past year, in my opinion anyway.  Not to mention how great these blueberry walkaways taste.  Really there's nothing you can't shove in the middle of good bread that will taste bad.  Let's be real :)

I love me some popcorn.  I also love a little twist on it to spice things up!  Reese's Popcorn mixed with chocolate and caramel, sign me up.

Soup just screams fall to me, and even though this year I didn't get much fall weather (living in Arizona and all) I still had to partake in the fall food.  This chicken and pumpkin soup mixed great fall ingredients together to form a very tasty soup.  Also great as leftovers! 

Finally, the homemade Nutella I made for some of my family and friends for Christmas gifts.  Took some time and love, but it turned out great and tastes much better than anything you can buy! 

Here's to another year of great food, recipes, photos and friends!

Shrimp & Pineapple Skewers

I can't think of a more summer dinner than shrimp and pineapple cooked on skewers over the grill.  The flavor on these were so good and it's a very simple dish.  Perfect for an August evening when all you want to do is have a delicious dinner without a whole lot of effort.  

While you're cutting up ingredients, soak eight to ten wooden skewers in water for around 15 minutes. Cut 2 bunches of scallions into 2 inch pieces.

Cut 1/2 pineapple into 1 1/2 inch pieces. 

You'll need around a pound of jumbo shrimp peeled with tails left on.

Heat grill to medium high and lightly oil the hot grill.  Whisk together honey, soy sauce, and vinegar.  Reserve half the sauce for serving.

Thread shrimp, pineapple, and scallions on the skewers.  

Brush with sauce and grill until shrimp begin to turn opaque.  Brush again with the sauce and flip and cook for another 2 minutes or so.  Pineapple and scallions will be lightly charred when done.

Serve with reserved sauce.  We ate this with corn on the cob and it was the ultimate summer dinner.  The soy sauce marinade was awesome and could be easily used in other dishes, so if you want to make extra I'm sure you'll find a use. Enjoy!

Shrimp & Pineapple Skewers

Serves 4

Adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

vegetable oil for grilling

6 tablespoons of honey

3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons rice vinegar (I used cider vinegar)

1 pound large to jumbo shrimp, peeled with tails

1/2 pineapple, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

2 bunches scallions cut into 2 inch pieces

8-10 skewers

Soak eight to ten wooden skewers in water for around 15 minutes. 

Cut 2 bunches of scallions into 2 inch pieces.

Cut 1/2 pineapple into 1 1/2 inch pieces. 

Heat grill to medium high and lightly oil the hot grill.  

Whisk together honey, soy sauce, and vinegar.  

Reserve half the sauce for serving.

Brush with sauce and grill until shrimp begin to turn opaque.  

Brush again with the sauce and flip and cook for another 2 minutes or so.  

Serve with reserved sauce and eat up! 

Chicken Kabobs (minus skewers)

Can you believe it's almost the 4th of July?  I'm on a time crunch to get my red/white/blue dessert done, but hopefully I'll pull it off and be able to share it with all of you.  Kabobs are the perfect summer meal if you ask me, so I thought I'd share a great recipe for grilled kabobs that you might try for the holiday weekend.  I had pre-made chicken kabobs in my fridge from Central Market, but you could put these together yourself very easily.  We had some technical difficulties due to the wooden skewers breaking, so this isn't as pretty as I would like, but either way they were still delicious.

These kabobs had chicken, green and red peppers, onion, and zucchini slices.  You could use pieces of beef or shrimp, as the marinade would taste great on pretty much anything. 

Place around four tablepsoons of honey in a medium sized bowl.

Add oil, pepper, and balsamic vinegar.

Mix together until well combined.

I placed the kabobs in a 9x13 inch baking dish and poured the marinade over them and let them soak overnight.  Turn them at least once to make sure the other side has a few hours to soak.

This is where we had to go "off roading" and just take everything off the skewers since we couldn't really flip them anymore due to the broken skewers.  FYI if this happens to you, putting everything in a little foil packet works just as good as on the grill!  Cook them on the grill for around 10 minutes, flipping at least once, until the chicken is cooked thoroughly. 

Serve immediately.  I served with cheese and pepper pasta, which I posted about yesterday.

As promised, here's a photo of my perfect bite.  Which one looks better mine or C's?  I guess you need to be the judge because I'm a little biased.  Take a look at his bite by clicking here. These kabobs were so great, they were full of flavor, and the perfect summer dinner! 

Chicken Kabobs

4 tablespoons honey

4 tablespoons olive oil

3 teaspoons pepper

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Pour the marinade over kabobs and let soak overnight.  

*If you can't do overnight, at least 2 hours.

Turn once around half way through marinading.

Cook on the grill or in the stove until chicken is cooked through.

Serve immediately, and enjoy!