Honey Chipotle Shrimp & Kielbasa Kabobs

IT Guy just fixed my grill for me...just in time for summer! And to reward him for a job well done, I fixed him a steak. And since I'd rather have shrimp than steak, I decided to make me some kabobs! I threw some kielbasa in for good measure...then spiced things up a little bit with some chipotle barbeque sauce. These were SO good! And SO simple! They only took a matter of minutes to cook since shrimp only take a matter of minutes to cook. Funny how that worked out, huh? Kielbasa is fully cooked...just needs to be browned. So next time you've got your grill fired up, think about these! They're yummy!

Honey Chipotle Shrimp 
and Kielbasa Kabobs



1 pound large shrimp ~ cleaned and deveined
1 pound kielbasa sausage
1 green bell pepper ~ chunked
1 medium red onion ~ large dice
1 cup chipotle barbeque sauce ~ recipe follows

Soak bamboo skewers in water for about 10 minutes.

Thread ingredients onto skewers.

Season with salt & pepper if deisred.

Brush lightly with BBQ sauce.

Grill over medium flame until shrimp are cooked...about 3 minutes per side. 

Brush with BBQ sauce a few times while grilling then once more after you take them off.


Honey Chipotle BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 tablespoons chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor and combine until smooth. (You probably won't use all of this. Store unused sauce in the fridge.)

Okay....here's the stuff for the kabobs. 

Just dice the green pepper and the onion 

and cut the kielbasa into large chunks.

Then thread everything onto 

a soaked bamboo skewer.

Now for the sauce.

Place everything into a blender 

or food processor....

and whizz until smooth.

Then brush the kabobs with some 

of the sauce. I poured some of the 

sauce into a separate bowl since I 

was working with raw seafood and 

didn't want to contaminate ALL of 

the sauce. Place unused sauce in a 

covered container in your fridge.

Grill these babies UP!!!!

10 Recipes for the Grill

Grilling season is almost in full swing so here are a few grilling recipes for you. If you don't have a grill...and I didn't for a long time, you can always do these inside on your stove top in a grill pan. I've included a rub, marinade and a bbq sauce for you to try as well. Now...get to grillin'!!!

Links for recipes and Pinterest HERE!

Honey Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Our dinner tonight was really no big deal....just chicken strips. But I served them with this sauce. Can I just say how yummy this is???? You've GOT to try it. I've put it on chicken, meatloaf and meatballs. You can make it as spicy or as mild as you want depending on how many chipotle peppers you use. I like it to have a kick to it!!! It's so easy to prepare. Just throw everything in your food processor and it's ready to go!!  Please try it...it's SO good. That is all.

Honey Chipotle Barbecue Sauce

1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 tbsp chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
4 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
pinch ground pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until very smooth, 1-2 minutes. If a thinner consistency is desired, add a tablespoon or two of water to thin the mixture.

Makes about 2 cups of sauce


 
Here's everything ready to get all whizzed together.


Here's everything whizzed together and ready to be served!!

 

 

 

 

Glazed and Grilled Ham Steaks

This was so easy...it's almost embarrassing. When I find something that feeds two or three people, I am all over it. As you can imagine, there's a lot of food cooked here and if I can do without leftovers a couple of nights a week, that means my fridge can breathe a little bit. I had two small ham steaks in my freezer and some apricot preserves in my fridge that were calling to be used with the ham. Below is the result....and IT Guy proclaimed it delicious!


Grilled & Glazed Ham Steaks



2 tablespoons apricot preserves
2 teaspoons prepared mustard (I used Dijon)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
dash ground cinnamon
1 (1 pound) 1 inch thick ham steak

Combine preserves, mustard, lemon juice and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set glaze aside. Score one side of each ham steak. Grill, uncovered, over medium heat for 5 - 7  minutes on each side, brushing with glaze during the last few minutes of grilling.

Serves 2 - 3

Here's what you'll need. I used apricot 

preserves but peach would be great, too!

Mix together the preserves, 

mustard, cinnamon and lemon juice.

Combine it well....

Score your ham steaks on one side...or both. Whatev.

Brush the scored side with the sauce 

mixture and plop it on your grill or in 

your grill pan. Let it cook for a few minutes.

Flip it over and do the other side. 

I made sure the glaze was good and 

caramelized on each side. I think I 

turned each piece at least 4 times. 

Pretty and yummy and also pretty yummy.

Sweet Sausage Pasta with Peppers

When I'm not in the mood to heat up my kitchen, but still want something filling, I turn to pasta. Other than the noodles and the sausage, this little dish doesn't require any cooking. At least not OVEN cooking. Easy and delicious, this warm pasta dish is a great family meal!

Sweet Sausage Pasta with Peppers



12 ounces bowtie pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 sweet peppers ~ red, yellow and orange, large dice
1 small red onion ~ large dice
2 cloves garlic ~ minced
1 pound sweet Italian Sausage ~ cooked and sliced into "coins"
1/4 cup fresh basil ~ chopped

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. 

Cook sausages until done. Remove to a plate and allow to cool to the touch. Slice into "coins".

Add the diced peppers, onion, salt and pepper to the pan and cook until tender/crisp.

Add garlic, stir and cook a minute or so.

Add cooked, sliced sausage and heat through.

Stir in cooked pasta  and chopped basil.

Serve hot.

Okay....let's get going!

Cook the sausage in a large skillet.

Chop the veggies.

Remove the cooked sausage from

the skillet then add the veggies.

Add the minced garlic cook for a 

few minutes until tender/crisp.

Then slice the sausage and put it back 

in the pan with the veggies and heat through.

Add the cooked pasta and the basil and stir.

Serve warm!!

Gyro Sandwiches

I don't make a lot of sandwiches around here. I'm not sure why because I love a good sandwich. Hey...I've even been known to chow down on a cookie spread and jam sandwich when I'm desperate for something sweet! These gyros were pretty fun. I didn't have the stuff to make a traditional Greek sauce to go with them...so I used ranch dressing for mine but they would be good drizzled with a little Italian dressing. You could also do these sandwiches with chicken if you're of the mind! These were different and fun and yummy!

Gyro Sandwiches



1 2-pound chuck roast
1 medium onion ~ sliced
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Place sliced onion in the bottom of the crock pot.

Place roast on top of onions.

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, oregano, lemon juice and salt & pepper.

Pour over roast.

Cook on low 8 hours until tender.

Remove roast from crock pot and shred into large chunks.

Serve on warmed pita bread with lettuce and tomato.

I used ranch dressing for a sauce but next time I'll make some tzatziki sauce.

Makes about 6 sandwiches.

The ingredients.

Slice the onion and put in the bottom 

of the crock pot. Then place your roast 

on top of the onions.

Mix up the olive oil, lemon juice 

and the salt and pepper and pour 

over the roast. Let it cook on low 

for 8 hours or until tender.

Remove the roast and shred into large chunks.

Assemble the sandwiches along 

with some lettuce and tomato!

10 Nutty Recipes

Here's to nuts! We love almost every kind here in the SFFS house. Especially pecans and cashews. I've tried to pull together 10 recipes for you that have nuts as one of the main ingredients. There's even a jam recipe in here that has almonds in it! Crazy, huh? If you like nuts...know someone who does or if you yourself ARE a nut...then try one of these!!

10 Nutty Recipes

Links to recipes and Pinterest HERE.

Fast Turtles

A couple of weeks ago I hosted a cookie/treat/goodie exchange here at my house. There were about 15 women that showed up bringing all kinds of wonderful sweets. We had everything from cookies to flavored popcorn. From jam to pecan brittle. Yes....pecan brittle. Oh so good! But one of the most popular things that was there were these yummy little treasures. One of the young moms brought them (Hi, Tab!!) and they were a HIT! So many people asked for the recipe...me being one of them. I asked Tab if I could post the recipe and she graciously said yes. She had found it on a site somewhere....I also found it here: www.southernplate.com.

And now it's HERE! If you're needing a quick little treat, make this! If you're going to a New Year's Eve party....take this! If you're having a bad day and need to go hide in the closet, make this!! You won't be sorry. Or maybe you will if you eat the whole plate. Try to refrain....it's hard, though. Just ask me...I'm still working on not going into the kitchen to gobble down the remaining few. I may need therapy.
Fast Turtles



1 12-ounce package Rolo’s candies
1 bag pretzels – small twists or squares
Pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place pretzels on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Place one unwrapped Rolo on top of each pretzel. Heat in the oven for 2 (TWO) minutes. Any longer and you will have a big, melty mess on your hands. As soon as pretzels come out of the oven, lightly squish a pecan half on top on the melty Rolo. Let set until firm. 

If you want to make a LOT of these...buy 2 or 3 bags of Rolos because you will run out of those first. I used 1 bag and scored about 50 or so turtles...which seems like a lot but really isn't. These babies need quite a while to set up. In the fridge for a few hours or overnight works best.

 
This is all you need to make 
these yummy little treats.

 
In the oven for TWO minutes!!

 
You'll notice that a few of mine 
 didn't put pecans on. We have 
someone in our family allergic to 
nuts. But I just used my finger to 
mash down the Rolo. You can also 
just add another pretzel on top.

Pecan Coconut Sauce

Don't you just love a good thick ice cream topping? I sure do and I think that's why I LOVE Mrs. Richardson's sauces. I use them in lots of recipes, not just for drizzling over ice cream. I knew IT Guy would love this sauce because it has two of his favorite things in it. Coconut and pecans. Talk about thick....you can spackle walls with this stuff. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you, but that's how thick it is. And yummy? Oh yeah...very. We plopped it on top of french vanilla ice cream the other night, but how yummy would it be with chocolate? It would be like eating german chocolate cake! It's just so good! You gotta try it!!

Pecan Coconut Sauce

 

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 egg yolks
¼ cup butter
½ cup coconut
½ cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a small sauce pan, heat sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, and butter over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Cook until thick and bubbly...maybe 5 minutes or so.
Remove from heat and add coconut, pecans and vanilla.

Serve warm over ice cream or cake.

Here's whatcha need.

Dump the SCM in a saucepan 

along with the eggs and buttah.

Cook AND STIR for 5 - 8 minutes 

until the mixture is thick and bubble. 

You gotta stir it the whole time, though. 

You don't want the milk to burn on 

the bottom of the pan. Ew.

Remove the mixture from the heat 

and add the vanilla, coconut and pecans.

Stir to combine and serve warm over ice cream!

Grilled Cheese Puffs

Okay...so these aren't actually grilled...they're more oven baked but it doesn't really matter what you call them when they're as good as these little guys. I made a small pan because I wasn't sure how they'd go over. Note to self: double the batch next time. We inhaled these gooey little dough balls of wonderment. Spice yours up any way you want...but I went the plain route. Did you know Velveeta comes in a spicy Mexican flavor? Who knew? I bet those would be super good. These are great with pasta or soup...or as snack. Just delicious!

Grilled Cheese Puffs



1 8-count container Grands biscuits 
1 16-ounce Velveeta cheese
3 tablespoons butter ~ melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a small baking pan or cake pan with cooking spray.

Remove biscuits from container and flatten out to about 4 - 5 inches in diameter.

Place a piece of cheese, about 1/2 inch x 2 inches on top of flattened biscuit. Flatten cheese a little bit.

Gather biscuit up around cheese and place seam side down in prepared pan.

Brush tops of biscuits with melted butter.

Bake for about 20 minutes until biscuits are golden brown.

Here's all you need right here.

Flatten out the biscuits then place a 

hunk of cheese on top and flatten that out a bit.

Gather up into a little ball, 

securing the cheese inside 

then place seam side down 

into a baking dish. Brush the 

tops with melted butter.

Bake!!

Ooey-gooey goodness!