What I Ate Wednesday: Italian Roasted Veggie Kebobs and Italian Potatoes

I've recently stumbled upon two fabulous little slices of the blogosphere: Peas & Crayons, which I now officially adore, and Karla's Veggie Noms, which is effin' awesome in its own right. (Anyone who creates a recipe for Lazy Girl Guacamole is totally someone I can roll with!) 


Peas & Crayons runs a virtual pot-luck, so to speak, called What I Ate Wednesday.  I'm a newcomer to this shindig, but I want to give it a shot.  Here's hoping for a little beginner's luck...


First, as an intro to my dinner montage, let me say: there’s something truly awesome about grilling.  I know it’s traditionally considered to be a guy thing, but I say to hell with that stereotype – because grilling is fantastic.


We live in an apartment building, so we can’t have a proper gas grill. (Insert Debbie Downer “wah-waaaaaaah” noise here.)  However, my fiancé – who was born and raised in Texas, so he takes grilling very seriously – researched the best options for flameless outdoors grills shortly after we moved in together.  We eventually bought a Weber electric grill, and it’s as close to the real thing as a flameless grill can possibly be.

Although we’re a mixed vegetarian-carnivore household (I’m the former, he’s the latter), I try to cook meals we can both eat as often as possible.  Knowing how much he loves marinated and grilled chicken – and upon the realization that I had some organic bell peppers I needed to use before they turned mushy – I decided to fire up our beloved grill and make some veggie kebobs.

I’ve had veggie kebobs at our local Afghan restaurant, but they always taste under-cooked and bland.  In a bid to remedy the blandness issue, I thought it might help to marinate the veggies before impaling and grilling them.  My fiancé loves Italian dressing marinade for his chicken, so I decided to do the same for these veggies – and hot damn, it worked!  The resulting kebobs were tender and flavorful, and they went perfectly with the accompanying Italian potato dish.

And oh, the potatoes.  Lovely, happy potatoes.  In the interest of full disclosure, I should confess that I love potatoes.  I know they’ve been maligned as a weight-gain culprit in recent weeks, but…I don’t care.  I love them.  I suspect this is due to my predominantly Irish heritage: somewhere, embedded deep within my DNA, is a genetic imperative to love potatoes.  I don’t care if they’ve been getting bad press lately – I’m not about to forsake my genetic destiny to love potatoes. :)

Happily, the veggie kebobs and the potatoes were a perfect match, and I pretty much stuffed myself on both.

Gathering up the troops

Italian Roasted Veggie Kebobs:

1 Organic red pepper

1 Organic green pepper

¼ Onion

2 Cups Italian dressing (I used 365 Brand Organic Italian, which was both GF and Vegan)

Cut the peppers and onion into approximately 1-inch slices. 

If Ashton Kutcher made a cooking show, would it be called "You've Been Chop't?"

Place them into a Ziploc bag, pour in the 2 cups of Italian dressing, and marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Once marinated, put the peppers and onions onto the skewer in whatever pattern you like (I’m slightly OCD about these things, so my kebobs were all uniform and whatnot…oy). 

Must. Stop. Impaling. Vegetables.

Place on a hot grill for 7-8 minutes or until cooked.

Simple Italian Boiled Potatoes

Potatoes, preferably Red Russet or Yukon Gold – the quantity on this can vary however you like

Olive oil (the quantity here will also vary depending on how many potatoes you use)

Fresh thyme to taste

Oregano to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh chives to taste

Cut the potatoes in half if they’re large, place into a heavy pot, and cover with water. 

Boil the potatoes until they’re soft – you’ll know they’re ready when you can stick a fork into them without meeting any resistance.

Drain the potatoes and place them into a casserole pan.   Drizzle with olive oil and then stir them around to give them a good coating.  Sprinkle with fresh thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper.  Using a clean pair of scissors, cut thin slices of chive onto the top as garnish.

Pile everything onto one plate and dig in!

I can neither confirm nor deny the allegation that I stuffed my face shortly after this photo was taken.