Grillin' and chillin'

We love when the weather warms up.  The kids get to play outside a lot more, the windows can be opened, and I don't have to cook as much.  We still eat a yummy home-cooked dinner, but I can usually con hubby into grilling it for me.

One of our favorite meals is kebabs, couscous, and salad.  So easy and so delicious.

Take chicken breasts, cube them, and marinate them in....wait, this is my secret recipe, so don't let anyone see... Kraft Zesty Italian dressing.  Yup, that's what I said.  Or, if you prefer red meat (we love venison!), cube some beef and marinate in 3/4 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup soy sauce.  Add some crushed garlic if you'd like.  Don't marinate the beef any longer than an hour or it will be too salty.  As far as what cut of beef, I wouldn't go with anything that you would roast for several hours - it will be too tough to eat after the brief grilling time.

About a half-hour to forty-five minutes before you want to start the food, start skewering.  Go ahead and put the meat nice and close on the skewer - I find it keeps it from drying out when your hubby (or you!) forgets about it and it gets a bit charred.  I skewer pieces of onion and red pepper, too, but I often make just meat kebabs because the kids don't appreciate grilled veggies.  One thing that seems to work well is to pre-cook the veggies, so they aren't so crunchy when you pull them off the grill.  Put the chopped veggies (with some of your reserved marinade) in a lidded container and cook for about five minutes in the microwave, tossing half-way through the cooking time.

Grill the kebabs over med-hi heat until nice and yummy brown.  Check the temp if you'd like, or poke the chicken and make SURE the juices run clear.  Let rest a few minutes and EAT.  While you were grilling, I'm sure you got some chicken broth boiling, right?  Then remove from the heat, toss in the couscous (the exact proportions will be on your container of couscous), stir, cover, and let sit for five minutes.  Fluff with a fork and you're ready to have with your kebabs and salad (I'm sure you had someone else chopping for your salad while you were busy setting the table, right??).