Turkey Kabobs, Corn Salad, Roasted Broccoli and Sweet Potato Spears

“Because It’s Always Been Done That Way”

Did you hear the story about the mom who always cut off the front and back of her roast before putting cooking it.  When her daughter asked, “Why do you cut the ends off the roast?”, her reply was simply “..because that’s how my mom did it.”.  So she asked her grandmother, “Why do you cut the ends off your roast before cooking it?” and she received the same reply, “..because that’s how my mother taught me.”.  Luckily the girl was persistent and even luckier because her great-grandmother was still alive.  So she asked her great-grandmother, “why did you always cut the ends of the roast off?”.  The great-grandmother replied, “…dear, I had to cut the roast, a little off the front and a little off the back, because otherwise it would not fit in my roasting pan.”. 

Do you ever do something but have no idea why other than because it’s always been done that way?  Sometimes I wonder why I feel the need to scrub my poultry so clean I may as well use bleach.  My mom, my nanny, and my great-aunt all taught me do that.  They all “schkeev” (aka were grossed out by) unscrubbed chicken.  I understand the need for chicken to be clean but to this extent?  Perhaps, just maybe somewhere in my ancestry someone got sick from poultry and created this aversion that now my poor 7-year-old daughter is stuck with in 2010.  Who knows, but the real question is, how long will it continue?

TURKEY KABOBS (also good with chicken):

I like to use turkey because you can get a lot of squares of meat out of just one Turkey London Broil (turkey cutlets work too).  My buddy, “Matt the Butcher” (a culinary school graduate) at Fresh Market cubed the meat for me and explained that a turkey london broil is simply a turkey breast and the tenderloin in one piece.  The tenderloin is extremely tender just like a filet or pork tenderloin.

• Mix your marinade in a Ziploc bag (olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, pepper, fresh or dried rosemary or basil)
• Put your meat cubes in the marinade and leave Ziploc in fridge for 3 minutes, 30 mins. or all day
• Stick cubes on sticks and grill (I like to grill on tinfoil, it doesn’t char as much – the kids don’t like that “burnt taste”)
• Grill for 5-10 minutes on each side until almost completely cooked (cover with tin foil on plate to finish cooking)
• Obviously NEVER eat poultry pink or bloody in any way

If you want to do veggie kabobs I recommend doing them separately so you can vary your cooking times.  The meat will always take longer so if you mix them, your veggies could end up burnt.

Corn Salad:  I usually use fresh corn and cut off the cob (big pain) but I discovered that Fresh Market’s frozen Silver Queen Corn works great!

• 1/2 bag of fresh/frozen (Fresh Market) corn cooked
• 2 diced tomatoes
• Couple leaves of fresh basil
• Optional:  add 1/2 can of black beans
• Add a drop of olive oil and rice vinegar, salt and pepper to taste

Roasted Broccoli:  You can do this on the grill on tin foil or in the oven

• Mix drop of olive oil, chopped garlic (or from spice tube), lemon juice/zest and parmesan cheese
• Drizzle on top of broccoli spears
• Bake for 15-20 minutes (on 400)

Sweet Potato Spears:  You can do this on the gill on tin foil or in the oven

• Cut sweet potatoes any shape (I like spears) and toss with olive oil (or butter), a drizzle of maple syrup, salt and pepper
• Bake on tin foil-lined baking sheet for 15-20 minutes (on 400)

How Can the Kids Help:

• Help mix the marinade in the Ziploc for the turkey (kids love to zest and squeeze the lemon juice)
• Kids can count how many pieces of turkey you put on each stick (tell them to stop you at 4 or 5)
• Tear tiny pieces of basil off the leaves for the corn salad
• Rinse black beans in the strainer and tell you when then are finished
• Sprinkle parmesan cheese on broccoli
• Drizzle maple syrup on potatoes
• Show the kids where this dinner comes from:  Turkey: http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Wildlife/Wildlife_images/turkey_Joe-Blake.jpg  Corn:  http://photos.uwex.edu/images/full/corn.jpg   Broccoli:  http://gardeninggarden.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Growing-Broccoli.jpg  Sweet Potato:  http://www.garden.org/images/App/articles/2125a.jpg

Did You Know:

• Hamburgers are the most popular food to grill at 87%, followed by steak 83%, chicken 78%, and hot dogs 76%
• Ribs must be boiled prior to grilling, because putting them on the grill for the full cooking time will leave them dried out or burned. This pre-grill step can be done up to two days ahead.