Greek-Marinated Chicken and Veggie Kabobs

Greek-Marinated Chicken and Veggie Kabobs

Grilling season is my favorite time of the year! OK, maybe tied with soup season. But when it’s hot out, I love grilling every night. The kitchen doesn’t get hot, and it’s always easy clean up!

I marinated some chicken today in Greek seasonings, sliced up some veggies, skewered the heck out of them, then slapped them on the grill. A couple of turns later, well, it’s dinner time on the deck!

I wanted to serve this with rice, but hubby said he wanted potatoes. So I compromised and cooked pasta with herbs instead, HA! I hope you enjoy this simple summer dinner.

Greek-Marinated Chicken and Veggie Kabobs

3/4 pound boneless chicken (breasts or thighs)
Sliced or whole veggies of choice, in uniform size
1/2 large lemon, juiced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon fresh minced oregano
Ground black pepper, to taste

Prepping the Marinade and Chicken

Cut the chicken into uniform chunks, about a half-inch in width/height. Prep all your veggies and keep cool, if needed. In a small glass bowl, add the lemon juice, garlic, yogurt, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, minced oregano, and ground black pepper. Whisk until smooth and completely blended. Pour 3/4 of the marinade over the chicken in a quart zip-top/lock baggie and add the chicken and squish around until covered. Refrigerate for at least one hour or up to three.

Chicken and Veggies Ready to Grill

Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil to the remaining marinade and whisk until smooth again and refrigerate. This will be used for your veggies. After the chicken is done marinating (about 45 minutes before you want to eat), skewer the chicken and veggies, in any combination you want and place on a large baking tray. I used sliced squash, zucchini, red onion, and cherry and grape tomatoes, but really you can use any vegetables that you want. Brush the remaining marinade over the veggies on all sides.

Grilling the Kabobs

Place skewers on the grill, and cook for about 10 minutes on each side, flipping once halfway through the cooking time. Depending on the shape of your chicken, you might have to do quarter-turn flips. Remove from grill and place on tray and cover with foil for a few minutes. We served this with pasta, but you could also do rice or potatoes. Just time your cooking of that side accordingly with this, OR just eat lots of chicken and veggies! Enjoy!

p.s. (A huge Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there! My husband will be watching the U.S. Open, I’ll make him my Huevos Motuleños for brunch, then we’ll head to a friend’s house for a barbecue later on this fine, sunny  day. I hope everyone else enjoys their day, no matter who you are!)

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

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Roasted Summer Vegetable Tian

Roasted Summer Vegetable Tian Assembled

Wow! This was so darned good that I plan on putting this in my rotation as much as possible. I have to thank my foodie blog friend Richard over at REMCooks for this idea. He got it from another friend and mixed it up a bit by adding some of his homemade hot sauce. I decided to leave that out but threw on some fresh chopped herbs from my herb garden instead. One of my local stores just started selling organic produce and I made a special trip just to buy the fresh, organic veggies for this. If you cruise on over to Richard’s blog he has a great history of Tian in his post, so I won’t bother repeating that here. But wowee! This was soooo delicious! It’s a light, fresh, mouthful of summer in every bite.

Roasted Summer Vegetable Tian

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups sweet onion, diced small
2 teaspoons minced garlic
Butter to grease the casserole dish
1 medium yellow squash
1 medium zucchini
2 medium red potatoes
2 medium tomatoes
Ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil
1 tablespoon fresh chopped tarragon
Olive oil to drizzle
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

Roasted Summer Vegetable Tian

First chop and slice up all those veggies. I don’t have any fancy slicing apparatus so this took me about 15 minutes. Maybe I’m just slow. I tried to get nice even slices but even then that wasn’t very successful, but close enough! Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Add the oil to a skillet heated to medium and saute the onions and garlic until softened, about five minutes.  Grease a two-quart casserole dish (any shape) with butter. I used my Tarragon Chive Lemon Butter compound for that task, but just regular ole’ butter will do. Once the onions and garlic are soft, spread them in the bottom of the casserole dish.

Now layer the slices on edge, alternating the vegetables around the contour of the dish, then fill up the middle after that. I ended up with different amounts of slices so my alternating became messy at the end. Then I began running out of room and began stuffing the rest of everything in there willy nilly. If you are a perfectionist you may just want to compost the rest or save it for another dish. I still think it came out purdy, what do you think? Grind a bunch of black pepper over it, sprinkle the chopped basil and tarragon over it, then drizzle some olive oil over the rows.

Now pop that purdy thang in the oven, covered, for about 30 to 40 minutes. Because of high altitude I did the 40 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover, and spread the two cheeses over top. Return to oven, uncovered for 15 minutes. In the last few minutes I bumped the oven to broil to crispy up some of the cheese. Remove from oven, and let sit a few minutes before serving. This makes enough for four to six servings. We ate this with some leftover rotisserie chicken. What a truly delightful, summer-tasting dinner!

Roasted Summer Vegetable Tian

p.s. Once again we are headed to our RV property on the coastal river. We are going with my parents and will be meeting up with a childhood friend (and her three boys) that I’ve not seen in 25 years! I’m very excited for this trip, but once again, no weekend post. So I’ll see you next week!

Grilled Turkey Sausage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower Foil Packets

Foil Packets Ready to Close and Grill

I just love the start of grilling season! That, and the versatility of grilled foil packets. There are so many variations of meats and vegetables you can add to the packets, and a tried and true simple marinade goes with just about anything. Rather than make “individual” packets, I just divide the food between two large packets then dump everything onto a platter when ready to eat. (Unlike this variation I made last summer the size of a watermelon! Link here for the variation, using red peppers and mushrooms: Grilled Sausage and Vegetables in Foil Packet)

I had my husband put these on the grill, and didn’t realize he had the two middle burners set on low instead of medium, so we didn’t get the yummy crispy-crunchy browned bits all over everything, but the potatoes and vegetables were tender and we were ready to eat, so I let it slide this time. Next time I’ll remind him of the heat setting.  This recipe easily feeds five or six people, and we enjoyed the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Marinating Broccoli Cauliflower Potatoes Onions and Tomatoes

Grilled Turkey Sausage, Broccoli and Cauliflower Foil Packets

1 tablespoon olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
3 medium potatoes, washed and chopped into chunks
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup cauliflower florets
1/2 large sweet onion, chopped
1 large Roma or Plum tomato
1 large green onion, chopped
1 Smoked Turkey Sausage link (I used Jennie-O), cut into 1/2 to 1-inch chunks
1 tablespoon butter or substitute, cut into tiny chunks

In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, Mrs. Dash (or salt), and black pepper until well combined. Add all the veggies and let them marinate while you preheat a grill to medium heat. Prepare two large pieces of aluminum foil — heavy duty if you have it or double up if you don’t — to fit everything in them.

When ready to cook, add the sausage chunks to the bowl of vegetables and lightly toss around to distribute. Evenly spread the food over the center of the foil pieces, leaving enough room to close and seal the packets. Distribute the tiny chunks of butter over the top, then seal the foil packets.  Place the packets on the grill and close the lid and cook for about 40 minutes, or one hour if the hubs decides to mess with the heat settings, turning halfway through. Carefully open packets and dump contents onto a serving platter. Pass it around and help yourselves! You will be surprised how quick plates are emptied.

Grilled Turkey Sausage and Vegetables Ready to Eat

Grilled Sausage and Vegetables in Foil Packet

Sausage and Veggies Ready for Foil Packet

First off, I didn’t use a lot of seasoning in this since I figured the smoked sausage would impart a great deal of flavor along with the grilling. (It did) Second, I was quite surprised at how big my foil packet ended up. It was the size of a watermelon! I had already laid out the large piece of foil (doubled up since I didn’t have heavy-duty) and was still surprised how large it got. Next time I think I’ll try two smaller packets so it won’t take so long on the grill. The smoked sausage I used is one that looks like a Kielbasa — it comes in the horseshoe-like shape in a shrink-wrapped package, not the fresh sausage you find in casings.

Grilled Foil Packet

Grilled Sausage and Vegetables in Foil Packet

1 tablespoon olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
3 to 4 medium red potatoes
1 yellow, red, or orange bell pepper, chopped
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1/2 carton grape tomatoes
5 large white mushrooms, quartered
1 large green onion, chopped
1 Smoked Sausage or Kielbasa link, cut into 1/2 to 1-inch chunks
1 tablespoon butter, cut into tiny chunks

In a rather large bowl, whisk the olive oil, lemon, garlic, Mrs. Dash, and black pepper until well combined. Add all the veggies and let them marinate while you pre-heat a grill to medium heat. I didn’t want to marinate the sausage in the oil since it already has enough fat in it. Prepare a large piece of aluminum foil — heavy duty if you have it or double up if you don’t — about 18-inches square, or two small pieces to fit everything in it. When ready to cook, add the sausage chunks and lightly toss around to distribute evenly. Evenly spread the food over the foil, leaving enough room to close and seal the packet. Distribute the tiny chunks of butter over the top, then seal the foil packet(s). Just make sure you crimp everything really good so you don’t leak and get a flare-up on the grill. Place the packet on the grill and close the lid for one hour, turning halfway through. If you use two packets I’m sure it would greatly reduce the cooking time. Both my husband and daughter raved at how good this was! We had enough leftovers for two people, so this will easily feed four to six people, depending on appetites. Happy Grilling!

Grilled Sausage and Veggies Plated