Not pizza or wings. Not fried chicken or all-u-can-eat buffet. No. My kid picked chicken and veggie kabobs with a side of smashed cauliflower. Buttons are bursting!
Here's what I'm going to do while they are at Grand Prix Tampa:
Slice the organic chicken into strips
Make the marinade (recipe below)
Soak the bamboo skewers
Wash and slice the veggies
MARINADE
It's simple. It's simply the best go-to marinade.
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (or lime)
1 Tbls. minced garlic (I use: Spice World, organic)
1 Tbls. brown spicy mustard (I use: Annie's)
1 Tbls. fresh herbs (I love parsley for this marinade. Thyme is amazing too.)
S&P
Shake it up in a glass jar. Done.
Marinade for a minimum of 1 hour in the refrigerator. 4 hours is better.
Reserve a 1/2 cup or so for the veggies to bathe in. Tonight, we have quite a selection.
Zucchini ~ Yellow Squash ~ Mushrooms ~ Grape Tomatoes ~ Red Pepper
After you wash the veggies, start chopping. Drop into a glass dish and add the remaining marinade. If you didn't reserve some before you added the chicken, just drizzle olive oil, lemon and S&P on top. Never cross the marinade from raw meat to anything.
Put chicken and veggies in the refrigerator to soak up the yumminess. Switch gears to the cauliflower.
Is anyone else intimidated by this huge solid white flower of confusion? Don't be!
Simple:
Rinse it off
Cut down the middle
You'll see the 'tree trunk' in the middle.
Slice off all the 'branches', pick our the leaves and stalk.
You're left with the part you eat!
1 head of cauliflower
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk
2 Tbl. butter
S&P
Add the flowers to a large pot with only 1 cup of boiling water. Cover and simmer until tender - about 10-15 minutes depending on how big the flowers are and how big the cauliflower is. Poke it with a knife to see if it's tender.
Rinse off the water and add the milk, butter and S&P. Use immersion blender to puree until smooth.
Options you can add to Smashed Cauliflower (after you've rinsed off the water):
1-2 tsp. curry powder
Instead of milk, use coconut milk & top with toasted shredded coconut
Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese
Alteration for tonight:
I topped with some shredded cheddar cheese and put it under the broiler for a minute. That was the birthday boy's request.
SIDE NOTE: My favorite immersion blender - BRAUN!
KABOBS
Thread on chicken and vegetables in any order you want. Joshua is the only one that cares for mushrooms, so I will only put mushrooms on two of the skewers.
Here is a picture of how to thread the chicken on the skewer. Simple.
You can grill the kabobs or ... if it's raining, like it is now .... use the broiler pan in your oven.
GRILL > Medium heat for 10-12 minutes, turning once
BOILER > Preheat oven to 400F. They should be done in 10-12 minutes as well.
Perfectly paired meal.
Yum.
If you try this meal, let me know what veggies you choose to skewer!
Happy Birthday, Joshua!
