I simply love grilling. Whenever possible, I like to have grilled vegetable skewers. Having grilled vegetables is one of my favorite ways to have them even though I don’t get to grill as much as I would want to. I find that grilled vegetables are way more flavorful and juicy, especially on a charcoal grilled.

Since my family hardly eats any meat or chicken, having grilled vegetable skewers is perfect for us. I always like to find different ways to served vegetables and the flavor the charcoal gives to the vegetables is just very unique and tasty. Everyone enjoys the distinct flavor it gives to the vegetables.

I decided to use Kingsford® Original Briquets. I chose my favorite charcoal, Kingsford Original because it’s ready in 15 minutes and has a long burn time besides that it lights quickly.

Believe or not grilling on a charcoal grill it is easier than you think. Here are a few tips for those that have never tried it before.

Before you light the briquets in your charcoal grill just make sure:

• If you have any leftover ash in your grill dispose of it. Link here on how to do that.
• Clean the grill grates.
• Place the briquets in a mountain shape and light them up.
• Once the briquets have been burning for 15 minutes and are a pale grey color they are ready to be used. Spread them out and place the grill grate over the briquets.
• Preheat your grill grates and oil them slightly to make sure your food won’t stick to it. Now your grill is ready for action!
• I use metal skewers that I find work best. Wooden skewers turn to burn and brake.
• Once I was done grilling, the vegetables skewers were gone in no time. I wish I had doubled the batch. If you have leftover veggies you can serve them the next day on a salad or just simply as a side dish.

Fall is a great season to get creative and use many of the vegetables available at grocery stores. Make your own combinations and use your favorite veggies. Any vegetable combination will do.

I hope you try to give charcoal grilled a go. It is the authentic way to grilling. The flavor it brings to your food is just sensational. Once you start grilling this way you will never go back!

Enjoy!

Grilled vegetables skewers

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 6 servings

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Large Zucchini
• 16 oz Mushrooms
• 2-3 red Onions
• 2-3 Large Peppers
• 1 tbsp Oregano
• 1 tbsp Garlic salt

Directions:

Alternate chicken and 2-3 pieces of veggies repeating until you have about 3-4 pieces of chicken on each skewer. Repeat until you have run out of veggies and chicken. I got 10 skewers.

Once your grill is ready place skewers in the grill and cook on each side for 4-5 minutes depending on how far you have placed the grill grate from the heat.

Serve immediately.

The post Grilled vegetables skewers appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

Today was my first time making zucchini noodles. I actually just got the attachment for my kitchen aid and tried it. It was just super awesome and extremely easy to use.

These Asian zucchini noodles turned out great. Next time I am going to be making a salad. Whichever type of vegetable noodles I make I think they will turn out fabulous in any recipe I try.  Will see what other veggies I can turned into noodles.

I served these Asian zucchini noodles along side with some rice. I didn’t want the sauce to go to waist so it was perfect with it.

For me, I just have to make sure that I cook whichever vegetable noodles I make. I have heard of stories in which raw vegetable noodles give a lot of gas. The point being is that uncooked vegetable can sometimes give bloating and gas so I will make sure I will cook mine.

For those that are going to be getting on a clean diet after the holiday these Asian zucchini noodles recipe is the perfect dish for you. Easy, healthy and nutritious.

I hope you get to make these Asian zucchini noodles. If you have not gotten on the vegetable noodles bandwagon you should.

Enjoy!

Asian zucchini noodles

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of zucchini, spiralized
• 1 lb extra firm tofu, cut into small chunks
• 3 tbs olive oil
• Sesame seeds, optional

Sauce

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp arrowroot powder or cornstarch
• 2 tsp chinese five spice powder
• 2 tbs honey
• 1/2 cup water

 

Directions:

In a small mixing bowl add the sauce ingredients and combine. Set aside.

Make noodles with your spiralizer. I used the one that goes with the kitchen aid.

Add the olive oil to your wok and and the tofu. Cook stirring occasionally until it is slightly browned. Add the zucchini noodles and cook stirring occasionally for 5-8 minutes. Add the sauce and cook further for another 2 minutes or so until the sauce thickens.

Sprinkle sesame over the noodles and serve.

I actually also served it with some rice on the side to make sure I was not wasting any sauce.

The post Asian zucchini noodles appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

It has been a bit over two weeks since my last post and to be honest I really needed the brake. I have been really busy in school with finals so having time for both was just virtually impossible. Either way, I am sure you don’t mind.

I made up the salad dressing using a especial ingredient, five spice. It actually gives the salad a very distinctive and amazing flavor. I really don’t know how I thought of this but the end result was just awesome to the palate so I hope you get to try it.

I also did something different and grated the zucchini. It gives the salad a lot of crunchiness, which I like, it is not often that I get to use zucchini in salad but this totally work so I hope you get to try it as well.

I actually ended up making triple the amount of dressing. Normally, if I make any type of dressing I try to make a bit more so whenever I make a salad again, which is at least 2-3 per week, I don’t have to make it twice.

For the salad dressing I also used Truvia Nectar. The dressing totally made the salad stand out. My husband said it was one of the best dressings he had ever had so I guess that is a good sign!

Well I hope you get to make this spicy shrimp salad soon. It is quite easy and very different from any type of salad you might have ever had.

Enjoy!

Spicy shrimp salad

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 oz of mixed greens
• 1 zucchini, grated
• 2 oz grated carrots
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 8 oz shrimp

Dressing

• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbs Truvia nectar
• 2 tsp five spice
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

 

Directions:

In a small mixing bowl mix the salad dressing ingredients and set aside.

In a separate bowl add the veggies and toss. Add the salad dressing and serve immediately.

The post Spicy shrimp salad appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

Believe or not grilling on a charcoal grill it is easier than you think.

I decided to use Kingsford® Original Briquets. These are ready in just 15 minutes and have long burn time which allows for more edges for faster lighting.

Before you light the briquets in your charcoal grill just make sure:

• If you have any leftover ash in your grill dispose of it.

• Clean the grill grates.

• Place the briquets in a mountain shape, just like in the picture below and light them up.

• Once the briquets have been burning for 15 minutes and are a pale grey color they are ready to be used. Spread them out and place the grill grate over the briquets.

• Preheat your grill grates and oil them slightly to make sure your food won’t stick to it. Now your grill is ready for action!

This grilled chicken kebab recipe it is so simple yet just plain amazing. The recipe for the marinade was passed down to me from my aunt. It is one of her grilled marinade recipe staples so be sure you will like it. She is also a great cook and she knows her stuff.

If you have any leftovers you can just leave it in the same plate you served the kabobs in and use Glad Press‘n Seal to cover them. I love this product because not only it is BPA free but because it seals tightly on a variety of surfaces including paper, plastic, metal and wood. It is so convenient.

You can buy all of these products, Kingsford Original Briquets and Glad Press‘n Seal and your local Walmart. I love how Walmart makes it easy to get everything you need to throw the perfect summer BBQ.

I really hope you get to make this grilled chicken kebabs. You can use any other veggies like onions but I wouldn’t recommend tomatoes or mushrooms, as these get cooked rather quickly and they might disintegrate in the process. You can certainly also use beef in place of chicken but for us chicken is just the best.

Enjoy!

Grilled chicken kebabs

Carolyn's original recipe

Yield: 5 servings 10 kebabs

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3-4 lbs chicken breast, cubed
• 3 peppers, colors of choice, quartered
• 2 large zucchinis, quartered

Marinade

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs Italian seasoning

 

Directions:

Place the kebab ingredients in a large bowl. You are going to need a pretty large bowl.

Add the marinade ingredients and toss to combine. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes tossing every 10 minutes or so. Alternatively you can marinade overnight covered in the refrigerator.

Alternate chicken and 2-3 pieces of veggies repeating until you have about 3-4 pieces of chicken on each skewer. Repeat until you have run out of veggies and chicken. I got 10 skewers.

Once your grill is ready place skewers in the grill and cook on each side for 4-5 minutes depending on how far you have placed the grill grate from the heat.

Serve immediately.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kingsford Charcoal and Glad . The opinions and text are all mine.

The post Grilled chicken kebabs appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

For this salad I also wanted to incorporate zucchini. Right now it is in season so I want to add it to as many recipes I possibly can since we all like it quite a bit.

In order to get that look for the veggies, I use a manual grater I have and grated the zucchini and carrots into strips. If you have a spiralizer or any other gadget just go ahead and use it. For me the vegetable grater works just fine.

I have heard that some people get very bloated and gassy from eating raw zucchini so I tend to place mine in the microwave already grated for a couple of minutes. This way it makes it more digestible.

This salad, even though it is not complicated at all, it will take you a bit more time to put together since you have to cook the shrimp and the kale. Either way, it is pretty straight forward and you will be done in a matter of 15-20 minutes.

If you have never had Chinese five-spice, it really has a very distinctive flavor. Very unique since it is compose of a blend of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise and peppercorns. Some recipes also contain ginger, nutmeg, and licorice. All in all everyone loved the flavor and I know I will be using this type of spice for many other recipes to come.

I hope you get to try this shrimp kale zucchini salad. If you like veggies and Asian flavors I am sure you are going to like it.

Enjoy!

Shrimp kale zucchini salad

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 6 servings

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 10 oz fresh kale
• 1 lb uncooked shrimp
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbsp Chinese five-spice
• 2 tbs fresh ginger, chopped
• 1 large zucchini, grated
• 2 large carrots, grated
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

Directions:

In a large skillet, over medium to high heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, Chinese five-spice and shrimp. Stir to combine the spices and let the shrimp cook for a minute or so. Flip over, add the ginger and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until the shrimp turns pink.

Transfer the shrimp to a large salad bowl. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and fresh kale. Cook for about 3-5 minutes until it starts to wilt and soften stirring constantly. Turn the heat off and add the kale to the bowl with shrimp.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the salad bowl and mix through. Serve immediately.

NOTE: To get the grater effect of the veggies I used a manual spiralizer

The post Shrimp kale zucchini salad appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I actually didn’t cook the macaroni prior to adding it into the cooking pan so I was a bit nervous it wouldn’t turn out ok. It actually worked so good that I ended up making regular macaroni and cheese the same method.

For this  creamy vegetable macaroni recipe only use two cups of liquid plus the cream to make it tender. The good thing about it, since it happened to me the second time I made it because I used more macaroni, is that the macaroni needed more liquid to get soft.

It really doesn’t matter, because if you find that the pasta it is still not cooked through you can add a bit more liquid and let it cook for a few extra minutes. Just make sure the flame is not too high so that the pasta doesn’t stick to the pan.

I did used whatever veggies I had on hand but if you would like to use any other the vegetables the recipe will still work just fine. You can even use chicken if you like too.

As far as the spices, I made my own taco seasoning. Since I had all of the ingredients to make it on hand, there was no need to go and buy the mix. It literally takes just an extra 30 seconds but if you prefer to buy the taco seasoning already made go ahead.

Believe or not I used no cheese for this recipe but the grated pecorino romano cheese to sprinkle a bit over the top before serving. I think cheese would be fine but it is up to you if you want to use it or not.

I hope you like this creamy vegetable macaroni, it was pretty simple to make and worth every minute of it. Comforting food at is best.

Enjoy!

Creamy Vegetable macaroni

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 5 servings

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb whole wheat macaroni
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1/2 cup marinara sauce
• 2 tbs taco seasoning
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 cup half and half
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Fresh cilantro, chopped

 

Directions:

In a large skillet, over medium to high heat, add the olive oil, zucchini and green pepper. Cook for 3 minutes until it starts to become soft. Add the marinara sauce, tomatoes and taco seasoning and mix through. Cook for another 2 minutes.

Remove vegetable mixture from the skillet and transfer it to a large plate. Set aside. Add the macaroni, half and half, 2 cups of water and salt. Turn the heat to medium low and cover the pan. Cook for 5-7 minutes.

After 7 minutes, stir the macaroni. Check how much water is left and how tender the macaroni is. I didn't have to add any extra water to mine but I had to keep cooking it for an extra minute or so until the liquid was absorbed.

Turn the heat off and add the veggie mixture with the chopped scallions and cilantro. Combine and serve with some grated cheese if desired.

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