The Perfect Diet Dinner

I love Kabobs. I think it's all very handy -- everything cooks together in one little package. I once even made a 'kabob bar' if you will for Mother's Day. When the guests arrived, they got a list of ingredients on a slip of paper. They put their name on the paper and then chose the meat and veggies that they wanted on their individual kabobs. My preferred side would be a flavored rice or couscous but since we're watching the carbs I steamed three broccoli crowns.

Beef (I used a sirloin)

2 small tomatoes (or some cherry tomatoes)

1/2 medium onion, cut into wedges and separated somewhat

14 medium mushrooms, left whole

Marinade

I cut the sirloin up into 1" cubes and marinaded them in Wish Bones Bountifuls dressing that Mary sent me from Las Vegas (from where she works). I ended up with 12 ounces of beef.

Soak your wooden skewers in water for a good while (I'm just saying this because it's the right thing to say. I never do this. It seems that they burn no matter what!)

Now....I microwave my veggies for about 3 minutes before skewering them with the meat. This way, the meat and the veg get done at the same time. I alternate the items going on the skewer, starting with a cube of beef and ending with a cube of beef (I put three cubes of beef on each skewer). So....beef, onion, mushroom, tomato, beef, onion, mushroom, tomato, beef. When finished with the six skewers I take the rest of the marinade and brush it over all the veggies and then salt and pepper the entire lot.

Now by this time your grill is screamin' hot. Oh...did I mention turning on the grill? If you didn't, do it now and get yourself a glass of wine. When the wine is gone, the grill is probably hot enough.

How long you cook these things is a personal choice. Mine are seared on the outside and then moved to the other side of the grill to cook the veg up a bit more resulting in a nice med-rare center on the beef. I don't lower the lid because I don't want the beef to 'bake.' They cook probably a total of (less than) 10 minutes. So be sure your sides are done before you put these on the grill!

Try them also with pork, chicken or shrimp! They never disappoint and you get a good portion of your '5 a Day' out of the way!