Balsamic Marinated Vegetable Kebob's

     This past weekend I took a trip to the north end of our island with friends. It is a nearly secluded beach with pristine white sand. The day was gorgeous, relaxing and plenty of good food to enjoy! Here is an easy vegetable kebob marinate that can be made the day or night before. I used 10" wooden skewers that I soaked for an hour in water. There are many different vegetables you can use for grilling. Cut the pieces fairly even in size and not to small (1 1/2 - 2" is good). Here I used bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, tomato and Filipino eggplant. When the kebob's were assembled I used kitchen sheers to snip off the pointed end before inserting them into gallon Ziplock bags. Snipping of the pointed ends kept the skewers from poking through the bag and also made them fit perfectly into the bag.

Note: If you are making these the night before you don't need to soak the wooden skewers. Soaking the skewers helps prevent the end pieces from burning to fast. I found they soak in the marinade when in the Ziplock bags and that is enough.

Balsamic Marinate:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 T. honey or molasses
2 t. dried herbs or 2 T. chopped fresh herbs (like basil, thyme, oregano)
dash of salt & pepper

Whisk together all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl.

Assemble the kebob's and use kitchen sheers to snip off the pointed ends of the skewers.

Place the kebob's in a gallon Ziplock bag. Pour enough marinate to coat the vegetables. The marinade above made enough for 10 kebob's which I divided between two bags. Place the kebob's in the refrigerator until ready to grill. Marinate at least a few hours. Flip the bags over a few times to evenly distribute the marinate.

Before grilling remove from bag. Reserve the marinade in a small bowl for basting while grilling. Grill on moderate heat for about 10 minutes, turning a few times and basting with the marinade.

Next beach trip I am going to do some kebobs with Pomegranate Mint Glaze. I will prepare the kebobs the same, except instead of using the Balsamic Marinate I will lightly coat the vegetables with olive oil. Then when it is time to grill the kebob's I will baste them with the Pomegranate Mint Glaze. This glaze would be great with fruit such as strawberries or peaches.

Mmmmmh... I can't wait! Enjoy your grilling and time outdoors!!

Our spot for the day!