Garlic and Herb Grilled Shrimp

On Labor Day, I decided to try several grilling recipes I had found via Pinterest.  So we had a grilled food smorgasbord...steak, chicken, and two versions of grilled shrimp.  All were good, so I have a few recipes to share.  If only I had the energy to share them all tonight!

Instead, I will start with one and slowly work my way through the others in the next week or so.

One shrimp recipe I tried is "grilled garlic and herb shrimp".

I am sure you have figured out, I have yet to meet a shrimp I didn't like.

So if you aren't a shrimp lover, come back in a few days. I will share something new.

But if you like shrimp, this is a recipe you will probably want to try.

Yum.

Of course, we grilled it (since it was "grilled" shrimp and all but I am thinking baking it in the fall/winter wouldn't be a bad thing either.  I may have to try that and let you know.

Ingredients:
2 lbs large shrimp (peeled and deveined)
2 tsp paprika
2 Tbsp freshly minced garlic (I just minced a couple cloves)
2 tsp Italian seasoning (I like the kind you can actually grind)
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (or if you are like me, bottled lemon juice because I forgot to buy a lemon...)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp dried basil
2 tbsp brown sugar

Directions: 
Whisk all of the ingredients (except for the shrimp) in a bowl. Or in my case, a Ziplock bag. 

Add in the shrimp.

Toss evenly to coat.

Refrigerate for at least two hours, turning once.

Preheat grill to medium heat.

The original directions recommended oiling the grill grate. I am pretty sure my husband didn't do that. 

Grill shrimp (discard the marinade) for 5-6 minutes or until shrimp is opaque in the center. (We skewered ours)

Enjoy!

Grilled Swai

As you know, we discovered Swai this past year. And it has quickly become a favorite. Well, with most of it. I have one who isn't keen on any fish.  But the rest of us love it. And it is cheap. And easy.  That makes me love it even more.

Recently, a FB friend of mine mentioned that he had grilled Swai. We have pan fried it and baked it but never grilled it.

Since our grilling season will wind down soon, I thought tonight was a good night to try.

Oh, yum.

Even my non fish eater ate some of it.

Ingredients:
Apple Wood Chips (soaked)

Swai (we had 6 filets)

Olive Oil

Lawry's Seasoned Salt

Directions:
After soaking the wood chips, place them in the bottom of your grill. I actually bought a metal box that is made for wood chips.  It worked wonderfully.

Heat up the chips. (350 degrees)

Be prepared. Your yard will smell SOOOOO good.

Brush the Swai with olive oil and then sprinkle some seasoned salt.  I did it very lightly so it wouldn't be too salty.

Put the swai on the other end of the grill (no heat below it) and close the lid.  After about 10 minutes, flip the swai over.  Brush with more olive oil or sprinkle with more seasoned salt if desired.  Note:  Use a large spatula to flip it. If you try using tongs, the fish WILL fall apart.

Grill for about 10 more minutes, until the fish flakes easily.

Enjoy!

We ate ours with almond rice pilaf, French bread, and a salad.

The only sad thing is there were no leftovers for me for lunch tomorrow. :(

Reba

Steak Marinade

I have one marinade for steaks/pork chops that I like to use.  But I am always looking for others to try.

Recently I had some sirloin steaks to prepare for grilling. I was trying to decide what I wanted to do with them.

My cousin P. sent me a recipe for a steak marinade.

It was easy and quick to put together.

And it sounded good.

Works for me!

Ingredients (for 2-4 steaks)

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ginger
2 Tbsp oil (I used my canola blend)

Directions
Mix together the ingredients and marinate the steaks for at least 4 hours before grilling.  (Do watch for flare ups while grilling)

I just put all of the ingredients in a large ziplock and put the meat in, then I refrigerated it for the day.  I turned the bag at one point just to make sure all of the meat was getting the "juices".

I really liked it.  It had a good flavor but was subtle (not overpowering).

Thanks to my cousin for sharing the recipe!

Reba

Grilled Smores

We are on vacation this week (if you wondered about the lack of posts...that would be due to lack of cooking :).  We typically eat breakfast at our rental (in this case, a beach house) and then eat a light lunch or dinner there also.  We then go out to eat for the other meal.

Tonight we had some friends come over (also vacationing here) for dinner.  We grilled burgers and hot dogs and tried to use up some of our extra foods from the week since it is the last night.

But I wanted some sort of dessert.

I was in the mood for smores or something chocolatey.  It is really hard to cook in someone else's kitchen though.  So I needed simple.

I went to my first choice (always).  Pinterest.

Nope.

Good food but nothing as simple as I wanted.

It just so happens I was reading a magazine at that time that had a recipe for Grilled Smores.

And it was simple.

We just needed to pick up a few basic ingredients.

I will say that they taste nothing like smores (or I didn't think so).  But that didn't stop me from eating one.  And wanting to eat more.

Ingredients:
frozen pound cake (I used the Sara Lee family size...actually 2 since we had so many people), thawed and cut into slices

a bag of mini marshmallows

a bag of mini chocolate chips (though really the little Hershey's bars would work too)

Directions:

Place some mini marshmallows and chocolate chips on the sliced pound cake.  Top with another slice. 

Grill, flipping after the chocolate and marshmallows start to melt and the pound cake gets "toasty".

Enjoy.

Like I said, simple.  And not a pure smores by any mean.

But a sweet treat just the same.

Reba

A Better Burger

Not long ago a friend of mine from high school raved about a burger he had grilled.  He shared the recipe but I couldn't remember the whole thing.  Then I saw a recipe for a "Best Burger Ever with a Special Sauce" on Pinterest. As I read it I realized it was very similar to the recipe my high school friend had shared.  And it just sounded good, so I thought, "Why not try it?"

I am not a risk taker in my regular life but for whatever reason in the kitchen, I am not afraid to try new things.  Sometimes it is with success.  Those are typically the recipes I share here. Other times, not so successful...I usually just leave those behind me. :)

Since I am sharing this, I think you can easily conclude it was a success.

I followed the recipe for the most part, just making some minor changes based upon comments I had read about it.

Oh, I will admit, I was a little nervous.  My husband is typically the burger maker in the house.  So I had high standards to uphold.

Anyway, this is nothing major but it was a nice change from just a plain old burger.

Oh, the reason I call it a Better Burger is simply because next time I will change it up just slightly and I did not make the special sauce since my family is so very picky...

Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground beef (I made 8 hamburger patties with that...and I did NOT use the leanest beef.  This needs a little fat to it)

1/4 cup Sweet Ray's barbecue sauce (that was our favorite part...I am sure any barbecue sauce would work but I highly recommend Sweet Ray's)

about 1 cup Monterrey Jack cheese (I used Cheddar Jack, and while it was okay, I don't know that the burger truly needed it IN the burger unless it is what holds it all together)

seasoned salt (to taste)

onion salt (to taste)

freshly ground peppercorn (to taste)

Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients in a big bowl. Add barbecue sauce sparingly.  Though it is good and gives good flavor to the beef, too much and your burger will NOT stay together.

If I had had more time, I would have let it sit in the fridge for a while to really get that barbecue sauce mixed in with the beef.

Shape into patties (about 1 inch thick).

Make about 1/2 inch indention in the center of the patty.  I had a hard time doing that for some reason.

Cook on a grill, skillet, or griddle.  I had read several comments that this burger tended to fall apart, so I cooked it on our pancake griddle (electric) since we have had success with burgers on it.  It took a little while longer than a typical grill but nothing fell apart.  Cook until it is to the desired doneness, flipping at least once.

Serve on a bun.

Enjoy.

Like I said, nothing fancy.  But I will say the Sweet Ray's barbecue (nope, not getting paid to advertise) makes this burger.

Yum.

Reba

Grilled Shrimp Boil Kabobs

Yet another recipe I discovered via Pinterest.

Shrimp Boil Kabobs.

I mean, shrimp, sausage, potatoes.  What more could I want?

I am not a huge corn eater but I figured someone in our house would.  They make the kabobs so pretty...

This was easy to throw together.  Peeling the shrimp took the longest time.

Just thread on a skewer, baste and grill, and then eat.

Simple.

And delicious.

My "directions" will be fairly vague since amount would depend upon the size of your family.

Ingredients:
Corn cobs (cut into thirds)

Shrimp, peeled and deveined (1/2 to 1 pound)

small new potatoes

andouille sausage (cut into small "rounds")

Scallops (optional)

1/2 stick butter

2 tbsp Old Bay seasoning

Directions:
Boil the new potatoes in lightly salted water for about 12-20 minutes.

Thread items onto skewer.

Grill on medium high heat for about 8 minutes.

Take melted butter and Old Bays out to the grill and baste the foods throughout the cooking process (the shrimp should be pink).

Oh, the original recipe used a little Tabasco but my family would have balked at that...

Reba

Enjoy!

Reba

Key West Shrimp and Chicken Kabobs

Yes, another Pinterest recipe.

Can you tell how visual I am?

I see pictures of food, read their description, and my mouth starts watering.

And some foods, some pictures, for whatever reason, get stuck in my mind. In my taste buds. In my dreams. And I just must make them.

This was one of those foods.

I saw the recipe on Pinterest not long ago, and I have just been waiting for a good day to grill.

Today seemed like that day.

At least until it started raining.

But apparently that didn't affect the food a whole lot.

There were only 2 shrimp left. And NO chicken.

I followed the recipe very closely, as well as the directions. There are only a couple minor changes I would make, and those are mainly in the preparation.

Overall, this was a winner. We WILL make it again!

Ingredients:
Chicken tenderloins (cut into small chunks) and/or peeled shrimp...I used about 5 tenderloins and 1 1/2 pounds shrimp. The shrimp was just right, size wise. I wish I had prepared more chicken and will know for next time.

2 tbsp honey

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp minced garlic (I just minced a garlic clove)

minced fresh cilantro (optional in the original recipe, but I think personally is a MUST :)

juice of a lime

Since I used both chicken and shrimp, I doubled the ingredients for the marinade.

Directions:
Mix the honey, soy sauce, vegetable oil, and garlic together. Add cilantro.

Place the mixture in a bowl or a gallon size ziplock. Then add chicken/shrimp to mixture.

Marinate the chicken/shrimp for 30 minutes (I do that in the fridge...I am terrified of food poisoning :).

Soak the skewers in water for at least five minutes.

At the end of 30 minutes (or longer), "thread" shrimp and chicken onto the skewers. I separated the food on the skewers since the chicken takes a little longer to cook than the shrimp does.  Makes it easier to regulate and not burn the shrimp.

Grill for 6-8 minutes per side for chicken, 2-4 minutes for shrimp.

Enjoy!

We had ours over the almond rice pilaf along with cheese filled breadsticks and carrots/Ranch.

Because I was running behind from my errands/outings, we didn't get to marinate the full amount of time. We will next time.

Like I said, it didn't stop us from eating it.

Two shrimps. That was all that was left...

Reba

Note:  Just made this for the second time.  Nothing left, and I even added more chicken this time!  I also made an extra batch of marinade right before grilling (minus the cilantro and lime juice) since it is so easy to make and hubby brushed it on the skewers while grilling.  It made the meat a little more moist and tasty. :)

Spicy Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

A sign of warmer weather: We move from having soup in the crockpot to food on the grill.

One of my favorite grilled food (other than flank steak) is bacon wrapped shrimp. One summer Mark's aunt and uncle had a shrimp feast (they live on the coast) for us. One of the dishes was bacon wrapped shrimp. For some reason, this combination had never occurred to me. After that night, it was all I could think of. That was before Internet was a big deal, so getting the recipe after the fact took a while. Finally one day I was coasting the Web and came upon a recipe for something similar. It is a favorite now.

I realize this meal will only appeal to a small percentage of the population which is even smaller when you consider number of readers. :) But it is a regular here during the summer. Most of the kids won't touch them, though one has recently come around. We just throw a few chicken breasts on the grill for them.

Oh, and don't let the "spicy" part fool you. It does have a little bite to it but it isn't spicy enough to bring tears to my eyes.

Spicy Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

Ingredients

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil (I always go with olive when given a choice :)
4 tsp paprika
1 tsp each: salt, pepper, curry powder, ground cumin and ground coriander
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 or 2 packages of large shrimp, easy peel, raw
1 package bacon

Peel/clean shrimp. This is the longest part of the process to me and probably keeps us from eating this more often. That and the whole cost thing...

In a bowl, combine the sugar, lemon juice, oil, and seasonings. Mix well.

Now, the real recipe says to pour 1/4 cup marinade into a large resealable (ziplock type) bag, then to save the rest for basting.

Honestly, I pour ALL of the marinade into the bag over the shrimp. In fact, I don't even mix it in the bowl first. I just pour the ingredients into the ziplock bag as I go.

Seal the bag.

Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes, though I typically do this a few hours before.

The original recipe also calls for cooking bacon over medium heat in a skillet until cooked.

Confession: I never pre-cook the bacon.

When ready to cook, remove the shrimp from the marinate and discard the marinade. Wrap the shrimp with bacon and secure with a toothpick. I typically cut each slice of bacon into thirds which is just the right size. I have also done this with skewers.

If I run out of bacon, we just throw the rest of the shrimp into the basket on the grill.

Grill shrimp, uncovered, over medium heat for 7-10 minutes or until shrimp turns pink.


I usually serve with potatoes in white sauce which seems to balance well with the spicy shrimp. (Recipe for the potatoes/sauce soon) and bread. I also put some carrots and Ranch on the table and had a lot more eaten than I expected.

If you are not a shrimp lover, you are probably gagging. However, if you ARE, this is a recipe you should try!

Happy cooking!
Reba

Flank Steak

Several years ago, we visited my sister in Kansas. She served me this recipe for the first time and it quickly became a family favorite. We don't have it as often as I would like but when we do, we enjoy it whole-heartedly!

Please disregard the lighting in this pic...it really is much yummier than it photographs.

Flank Steak:
Take a 2 lb flank steak. Score it diagonally on both sides. Rub dry mustard and black pepper into each side. (I have grown to love my "pepper grinder"...it is my new favorite toy.)

Cut the flank steak into strips against the grain (perpendicular).

Place in a shallow bowl or a ziplock bag (that is what I use).

Pour vegetable oil, soy sauce, and chopped green onion over the steak. I have no exact measurement. I just pour until at least part of the steak is covered. :)

Refrigerate overnight.

I usually try to flip my bag around to make sure it all gets the oil marinade. Usually. If I remember.

The next night, grill. I can't tell you how to grill since I have NO clue how to operate the grill. That is my husband's job. Just grill until it looks the way you like it. For us that is very little pink.

Enjoy!

We typically eat ours with black eyed peas, fried potatoes (recipe coming soon), bread (Katie's bread :), and sometimes a salad.

I didn't say it was healthy.

But it sure is yummy!

Happy cooking,
Reba
PS I have prepared it the morning of and it works. But it is much more tender and flavorful if you prepare it the night before.