For months now I have been seeing other bloggers posting about their delicious Summer grilling creations. And for months now I have been incredibly jealous. You see, I do not own a grill. So, all of those recipes for grilled pizzas, kabobs, and Summertime vegetables (like sweet corn!) have all just been a mere dream to me. That is until I “stole” my parents panini press the last time that I was home. They had not used it since I left and they generously agreed to pass it off to me, knowing that I would likely get more use out of it. “Grilling” pizza or sweet corn probably wouldn’t work all that well on a panini press, but do you know what does? Kabobs! Last week I was finally able to make the kabobs that I had been longing to make for months now, and let me just say…they were worth the wait!
Vegetarian Tempeh Kabobs with Hot Pepper Jelly Marinade
Servings: 2
Ingredients
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into half-moons
1/2 green bell pepper, cut into half-moons
1/2 small red onion, cut into half-moons
4 oz white whole baby bella mushrooms, cut in half
1/2 small mango, cubed
8 oz block of tempeh, cubed
3 TB hot pepper jelly (I used the Trader Joe’s brand)
1/8 cups + 2 TB Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce)
7 wooden kabob skewers
olive oil cooking spray
Directions
1. Prepare Vegetables, mango, and tempeh.
2. Place the vegetables, mango, and tempeh onto the wooden kabob skewers.
3. Whisk together the pepper jelly and the Liquid Aminos until well-combined.
4. Heat a grill or a panini press (on medium-high heat). Spray with olive oil cooking spray. Place the kabobs onto the “grill” and brush them with the marinade.
5. Cook the kabobs for approximately 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Continue to brush the kabobs with additional marinade and spray with additional olive oil spray to prevent sticking, if necessary.
6. Plate up the kabobs and admire how pretty and colorful they are ;).
The combination of the nutty-flavored tempeh with the spicy vegetables and sweet fruit was absolutely delicious. And the hot pepper jelly marinade? Well, that really put these veggie kabobs over the top. Don’t worry, the marinade is definitely much more sweet/salty than it is spicy, so even if you aren’t much of a fan of hot foods, you will certainly still enjoy these.
I ate my kabobs for dinner last Saturday night and then reheated them for lunch at work that Monday. Now I only wish that I had more leftovers. These were good! The only thing that was not so good was the disaster of a panini maker that I had to clean up afterwards. It literally took me about 15 minutes to get that sucker cleaned. I suppose this is when having a grill would be much nicer. But hey, you work with what you have! And I suppose that the plus side of using a panini maker is that you can make kabobs all year round. Guess who is going to be eating kabobs in the middle of Winter? This girl!
A Blogcation
Now before I go, I am going to say “goodbye” to all of you for a couple of weeks. I took a blogcation a few months back and found it very physically and mentally refreshing. As a result, I have decided to take a few blogcations throughout each year. It is that time again, and beginning tomorrow I will be on a “blogcation” away from my blog and the blogging world. I will likely still visit some other blogs during some downtime, but comments on mine and other blogs will be few and far between. I need to take this time to disconnect a bit and have some “me time.” I was originally only planning on being away for a week, but I had so many awesome bloggers volunteer to write guest posts for me….so, I will now be taking a TWO WEEK long blogcation. But don’t worry, my guest bloggers have some fabulous recipes coming your way! This really could not come at a better time, as I work as an academic advisor at a college and our Fall term begins the 26th. Therefore, these next two weeks are going to be crazy busy for me at work. I have a feeling the last thing that I am going to want to do is come home to my computer after a long day of work. So, over these next couple of weeks I may drop by your blog from time to time and I hope that you will continue to stop by mine. Trust me, you do not want to miss out on the recipes that are to come! See you all on Monday, the 26th! 🙂
