Shish Kabobs

One of our favorite things to grill in the summer is shish kabobs. When friends are coming over for dinner, it's one of our favorite "go-to" meals.

We have done so many variations over the years - beef, chicken, shrimp - and used a variety of vegetables.

However, no matter what kind of kabobs we're servin' up, we always include one ingredient:

Fresh pineapple.

The sweet, tart flavor of grilled, fresh pineapple served alongside grilled vegetables and beef, chicken, or shrimp is just deliciously wonderful!

This recipe is our family recipe for Shish Kabob Marinade. It comes from my husband's family, and every time we've branched out and tried a new marinade, we still come back to this one as our favorite. It's simple, doesn't overpower the meat and veggies, and gives the meat a ton of flavor.

For these kabobs, we used the following ingredients:

1 pound sirloin, cubed
1 fresh pineapple
1 large onion
1 green pepper
cherry tomatoes

This is what they look like just goin' on the grill:

And, what they look like when they're ready to come off:

Drool.

This is my favorite combination. But, you can use different types of beef, chicken, shrimp with this marinade, as well as finding your own favorite combinations of vegetables.

We serve kabobs stacked up on a long platter like this.

It's a great way to serve them when you're having company over. It makes a great presentation.

Happy kabobin'.

Shish Kabob Marinade
a family recipe...

1 pound sirloin or chicken, cubed, or shrimp
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon (or regular) mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion flakes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Combine ingredients in a gallon-sized bag, or in a covered dish. Marinate at least 4 hours, or overnight.

To grill: Preheat grill. Place marinated meat, vegetables, and pineapple on skewers (wooden skewers work great, too). Grill for 5 minutes on each side, occasionally basting with marinade. Total grill time should be about 10 minutes - may be slightly longer for chicken. Just check - you'll know when they're ready.

*When grilling shrimp, we grill the shrimp on separate skewers, as shrimp only take about 5 minutes to grill, and the vegetables take the full 10 minutes.