Sunday Dinner: Veggie Skewers

With my procrastination the holiday weekend and an unusual schedule at our house this week, time has slipped right by. I intended to post this yesterday, but ended up being lil suzy house-cleaner instead. I'll tell you more about that later.

Since this Sunday was the 4th of July, Jesse and I went up to Pennsylvania to spend the weekend with his family. Drew was also out-of-town for most of the weekend, but rather than skipping Sunday dinner, we planned to do Monday dinner instead. After getting back in town Monday afternoon we went straight to Trader Joe's to take care of groceries for the week. Since we were out-of-town all weekend, I didn't have time to layout my menu for the week (yes, I usually create a weekly menu ... nerd alert!), so we did a little planning in the car and walked into the store hoping for the best.

As soon as we walked into the store we saw a display case with bratwursts on sale and I thought they would be great for a holiday weekend. As we made our way through the store I kept trying to think of something to put with them. Nothing seemed to pair well -- chips and salsa: no, frozen veggies: borrrring, rice: not so much. We got to the produce department and I saw some pre-packaged vegetable skewers. Each one had a combination of peppers, onions, zucchini and mushrooms and looked really fresh. I knew they would be a lot of fun to try on the grill, and it also meant I could do the whole meal without pots and pans (I knew Jesse would be really grateful for that!). I almost picked them up, but quickly realized that I could EASILY make my own for the same price or less. So, I ran around the produce department picking out my own ingredients, then went home to begin prep. Below is my recipe for veggie skewers.

Grilled Veggie Skewers
Serves: 6
Total Time: 20 minutes

6 wooden/metal skewers
2 bell peppers (any color)
1 large onion (any variety)
2 medium zucchini
18 button mushrooms
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. dried thyme
1 Tbsp. dried rosemary
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
(all measurements are approximate)

Pre-heat grill to medium-high heat. Wash the vegetables and chop them into bite size pieces. (Quick tip: To wash mushrooms, don't run them under a faucet. Instead, dampen a paper towel and wipe off any dirt.)

To duplicate the skewers you'll need 30 zucchini slices, 36 pepper slices (half of each color), 18 onion wedges and 18 small mushrooms.

After chopping all the veggies, it's time to begin skewering. The pattern I used was zucchini, mushroom, red pepper, onion and yellow pepper. I did that three times, but on the last set I ended with zucchini, yellow pepper, zucchini instead of just a yellow pepper.

When you're all done, they'll look like this (x2).

If you are prepping ahead of time, like I did, cover them with Saran wrap and put them in the refrigerator until you're ready to grill (max: 4-6 hours).

When you're ready to begin grilling, brush the skewers with olive oil. You want to be liberal so they don't stick to the grill, but don't drown them. Then, sprinkle the skewers with thyme, rosemary, garlic powder and salt.

And now, it's grilling time! I rotated the skewers every time I rotated the brats, so about every three minutes. Depending on how hot your grill is, it may take a little more or less time. You want to get a light char on each side, so rotate them 4 or 5 times while grilling.

TA-DA, grilled veggie skewers! :)

Note: I have a gas grill, but you can easily make this on a charcoal grill or a grill pan. I also used metal skewers, so if you use wooden skewers, soak them before grilling to prevent them from catching fire.