Category: Cooking

Grilled Shish Kebob

We’ve got an old charcoal grill/smoker at our camping site, so I made some shish kebobs to cook for lunch/dinner when we were hanging out this holiday weekend. Marinaded the beef in a little soy, ginger, and garlic. Then skewered along with various peppers, zuccini, tomatoes, and broccoli.

We cooked them over a wood fire

And had a quick meal — it’s easy to overcook small chunks!

Maple Marshmallows

Marshmallows made with pure maple syrup and gelatin powder! In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 1/3 cup of cold water and 1 Tbsp of powdered gelatin. Let the gelatin hydrate.

Heat the maple to the soft ball stage (~235F) and slowly add to the gelatin whilst mixing at low speed. Once all of the maple syrup has been added, turn up to a high speed and keep whipping until it’s a firm, sticky mass. (stiff peak stage). Then put it somewhere to set. I used a 8×8 cake pan that was lined with wax paper. Refrigerate for a few hours, then remove and cut. You can dust the squares with powdered sugar if you don’t want them to be sticky. Or just deal with sticky maple-flavored fingers.

Salsa and Guacamole

There were fresh, homegrown tomatoes available … so I made some salsa:

6 large tomatoes, diced
5 jalapeno peppers, diced finely
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 large onion, also diced
juice from 1/2 of a fresh lime
Salt and pepper

The jalapeno peppers were not spicy, so I might use habanero next time, but this made a great fresh salsa. And I realized that guacamole is pretty much the salsa mixed with mashed avocado.  I took about a third of the salsa, drained the liquid, and added it to three large, ripe avocados mashed up.

Vanilla Chia Pudding

Ingredients:

  • 14.5 oz can of coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup of chia seeds
  • 1 vanilla bean

Scrape the inside of the vanilla bean into the coconut milk. Mix in the chia seeds, then place in the refrigerator overnight.

This was a dessert for a Fourth of July party, so we topped it with raspberries and blueberries to make a red, white, and blue dessert.

For a sweeter dessert, add a tablespoon or two of maple syrup or honey.