Grilled Island Chicken Kabobs

I've been craving something like this lately with the surprisingly good weather (June in SoCal is usually a real bummer) and even though I'm not a fan of hot pineapple it was too pretty to forego! Plus Dave likes it so he got the skewers with hot pineapple and I got all the pieces that fell off on the way to the grill ;)

One thing to note is that the chicken should be marinated for several hours if not all day.  So please don't do what I did and excitedly return from the grocery store with all of the below ingredients expecting to make these kabobs for dinner an hour later. Also, wooden skewers should be soaked for 15-30 minutes.

Ingredients:
2-4 chicken breasts, cut into large bite-size pieces
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup lemon juice (from about 1-2 lemons if want want to use fresh juice)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, finely minced
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large red onion and 1 large green pepper, cut into large chunks
1 pineapple, cut into large chunks


Directions:
Combine vegetable oil, lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper in a large ziploc bag. Place chicken in bag and make sure all pieces are covered. Put chicken in fridge and let marinate for at least 3 hours but as many as 8-12 hours
If using wooden skewers, let your skewers soak in water for at 15-30 minutes to prevent burning. Skewer chicken, onions, peppers, and pineapple on your sticks until you run out of ingredients.
Turn on grill to medium heat. Place skewers on grill and cook for 7-8 minutes per side or until chicken is no longer pink in the middle (if using a meat thermometer, make sure it registers 165 degrees).
Remove from grill and serve!

Pizza Fish

It's always hard coming home from vacation. But especially when that vacation was a total carbfest involving endless pizza and pasta (and I don't mean the zucchini crust and spaghetti squash types.) I'm not going to beat myself up over all the wine because 1) I was in ITALY and 2) It's part of my regular lifestyle. Hehe. However, I can certainly eliminate or at least significantly cut back on starch and grain.

That said I am still craving Italian style dishes so I searched for something reminiscent of the food I was eating on vacation but that wouldn't leave me feeling heavy and bloated. Which is a perfectly acceptable and even welcomed feeling when you're, say, sailing to Capri with a Peroni in hand but not so much when you're back to your "real life." Sigh.

Ingredients:
1lb white flaky fish (cod, haddock, halibut, bluefish)
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp fresh basil
1 tbsp fresh oregano
1 tbsp fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic
4 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced (or 1/2 cup shredded)
1/4 cup grated parmesan
black pepper

red pepper flakes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350
Place fish in a pre-greased glass baking dish
In a food processor, blend tomato paste, garlic, basil, oregano and rosemary. Add water to create the desired consistency.
Spread tomato sauce over fish evenly
Top with fresh mozzarella and parmesan
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until fish is flaky

Top with black pepper and red pepper flakes