Veggie Kabobs

These have become one of our favorite summer meals.  I especially love them because Jason is the master behind them and they require very little work on my part.  :)  Jason takes whatever veggies we want- usually some combination of red and green pepper, tomatoes, eggplant, zuchini, mushrooms- and puts them on skewers along with chunks of Halloum cheese- a Lebanese cheese that is beyond yummy on the grill.  It has a very spongy consistency (maybe like tofu just because I can't think of anything better to compare it to) and it's absolutely yummy with the veggies.  We've also started doing sausage kabobs because we can now get the butterball (or healthy choice) polish style sausage in one of our grocery stores that imports a lot (yah!).  (I'm still waiting for Jimmy Dean sausage to appear but I"m not counting on it).  Anyway I make a marinade of balsamic vinegar and olive oil along with garlic and some fresh herbs, Jason works his magic, and there you have it...

Yummy Chicken (or beef) Marinade

This is a great and healthy marinade that I found.  You don't have to marinade the chicken for a long time and still end up with a great flavor.  Last time I did it the chicken only marinaded for about an hour and it still tasted great.  I use chicken breasts and cut them into smallish tenderloin size pieces.  You can then grill the chicken or cook in skillet in a small amount of olive oil.  Also, you can boil the leftover marinade and then use it to baste the meat while cooking.

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I think I used olive oil)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (I used balsamic)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
(I think I might have added some garlic as well although that's not in the original recipe)