Kabobs are fantastic as a meal or even appetizers.

At our huge family shindig we set them out and let the people decide.

Kinda like a democracy. But not.

Here are Sandy’s thoughts on creating the perfect kabobs. We used tenderloin tips that were so, so tender. Pay close attention to Sandy’s tip about soaking the wooden skewers. Advice worth its weight in gold!

Tenderloin Kabobs

One of the ways to save money while you are eating great is to maximize your usage of your groceries.  Although perhaps an obvious point, take it to the extreme.  Buy a great cut of meat like a whole tenderloin.  To insure even cooking, you will want the piece to be symmetrical, which because it is a natural product, means you will have to trim off the ‘tail’ end.  And if you have access to a wholesale tenderloin, you will also trim the ‘chain’ meat.  What to do with all of these trimmings?  Have a great ‘second’ meal with your delicious meat – make kabobs!  Kabob-ing also stretches your budget by adding lower cost items (veggies) and decreasing the portion size of the meat. 

Kabobs also work with less tender cuts of meat, but you will have to marinate the meat overnight to make it tender.  Kabobs made with tenderloin tips are quick and easy to put together, and any marinating should be brief and just to enhance flavor.  An important tip if you are using wooden skewers – SOAK them for about ½ hour in water before you skewer anything with them – lay them in a 9×13 pan and just cover with water before you start prepping anything else.  If you don’t soak them, they will burn and disintegrate on the grill and all of your subsequent work will be wasted – still tasty, but not so pretty.

Tenderloin Kabobs

For 4 People

1# Tenderloin Tips or Sirloin

Vegetables, including sweet onion, garlic cloves, multi-colored bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini or corn on the cob would also be tasty and pretty. Also possible would be par cooked root vegetables, such as red potatoes or carrots.

Cut the meat into about 1 in chunks.  Season the meat well with salt, pepper, garlic and/or onion powder or your favorite steak seasoning.  Cut the vegetables into appropriate sized chunks, probably a little larger than the meat.  If you are using red potatoes or carrots, cook them briefly in boiling water until they can be just pierced with the sharp tip of a knife.  Toss all of your vegetables in a large bowl with a few tablespoons of oil, olive or your favorite, and season well with your favorite seasonings.  There is no rule for how to skewer the shish kabobs, but variety is always pretty.  Even people who may not eat the red peppers or onions still may appreciate how they look on the skewer and how they season the meat as it all cooks together. 

Cook the skewers over a medium high grill until they reach your level of desired doneness.

Serve with a rice pilaf.

If you care to marinate the meat, here is a quick recipe:

1 cup red wine

½ cup fresh herbs

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1-3 cloves fresh chopped garlic (1-2 tsp)

Freshly ground pepper

Combine the ingredients, and pour into quart sized zip bag. Add meat, seal and remove air and refrigerate up to 2 hours, turning every 20 minutes.

It’s almost Turkey Day and I’ve — okay, my whole family has — been having fun with the word “brine.”

It rhymes with lots of great things. Case in point . . .

“It’s time to brine so get me some wine and everything’ll be fine.”

That may or may not have actually been uttered last night during the brining process.

The word “brine” also can replace other words and instantly leave an air of mystery. A la . . .

“If you don’t stop all that ruckus I’m going to brine your behind.”

What does that mean? I’m not really sure, but it gets the job done.

We also like to use the word with a thick Southern drawl . . .

“Brine me that spatula, son.”

So, getting down to business, what exactly is brining? In short, it’s soaking meat in a salt solution — like marinating. In this case, the meat is a turkey and the mixture includes more than salt and water. And it helps the turkey to cook up really moist and flavorful.

You can read more about brining here.

So naturally, the “brine” is the mixture you soak the meat in. And here is the recipe for ours (it’s been passed around from friend to friend to friend for a few years but we understand that it came from Bon Appetit in November 1997.)

Turkey Brine

6 quarts water
2 large onions, quartered
1 cup coarse salt
1 cup choppped fresh ginger
3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
4 large bay leaves
4 whole star anise
12 whole black peppercorns, crushed

Combine ingredients in a very large pot. Bring mixture to a simmer, stirring until salt and sugar dissolve. Cool brine completely.

Rinse turkey inside and out. Place turkey in brine, pressing to submerge. Chill overnight, turning turkey twice.

Remove turkey from brine, discard brine. Pat turkey dry with paper towels. Place orange wedges in main cavity. Mix olive oil and sesame oil in a small bowl. Brush over turkey.

Arrange breast side upon grill, centering above empty pan. Cover, cook until internal temperature registers 160 degrees F, about 3 hours depending on the size of your turkey.

Here’s my husband doing the Vanna White thing with our brine. Kind of looks like a witches’ brew.

You notice the bay leaves and onions first. But see those brown things on the left that look like starfish? Those are the whole star anise. They smell like licorice — and with good reason. A chemical compound called anethol makes it smell and taste like licorice.

Now, rest assured, your turkey will not taste like licorice. It’s just a spicy flavor that helps give the brine a great taste.

So, we made up the brine and let it cool Tuesday night of Thanksgiving week. At the end of the evening when it was perfectly cool we rinsed off our turkey and lined a styrofoam cooler with a trash bag. Classy, eh?

We submerged the turkey, twisted the bag shut and put the cooler’s lid on. Then, we slipped that cooler into the refrigerator to let it work its magic over the next day.

We will turn it twice to make sure the entire turkey gets its fair share of briny goodness.

Then, we’ll cook it up Thanksgiving morning according to the recipe above.

We’ve done this on Thanksgiving AND Christmas for the past 3 years and we love the way the turkey turns out. We’ve never had it this moist and tasty before.

I’ll post photos of the final product here after Thanksgiving.

Until then, I’ll be brining for you . . .

(See what I did there? “Brining” instead of “pining?”  Aww, forget it.)

We had a trip planned for April to visit Hawaii. I’ve never been, but my husband has. We wanted to see it together to celebrate our 10th anniversary.

Then, life happened. My youngest had a hospital stay and our lives were turned upside down.

Hawaii is again in the distant future for me. And that’s okay. My little guy needs me.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the goodness and flavors of the island while I wait to get there.

Check out this recipe from homeparents.about.com using pineapple and soy sauce. It doesn’t get much Hawaiian-er than that.

(Yeah, I know that’s not a real word.)

Plus, I just like the word “bits.” It makes it sound really cute.

1 cup ketchup

1 one standard can of pineapple bits with the juice

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

1 small carrot, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients except steak in a bowl or dish. Add steak. Allow to marinate overnight, then drain off the marinade and save it. Cook in a pan until the meat is done, then add the reserved marinade plus one cup water with a tablespoon of cornstarch added. Cook until the sauce is thick. Serve with rice.

For a picnic version, don’t add the veggies and serve with tooth picks. I’ve made 10 pounds for a picnic and not had one bit left to take home!

Here’s a link to the recipe. Enjoy!