Vidalia Marinated Chicken Kabobs with Barbecue Veggies Prepared on the Grill

When the fall sets in and the air is crisp why not fill the crisp air with the smell of grilled food. These kabobs are simple to prepare and grill. The recipe below is delicious, but any salad oil based dressing and/or barbecue sauce can make these kabobs fabulous: be creative and enjoy!

Vidalia Marinated Chicken Kabobs with Barbecue Veggies Kabobs
Makes 2 meals
8 6 Inch Bamboo Skewers or Skewers of Choice

1 Half Pound Chicken Breast
1/4 Cup Vidalia Onion Salad Dressing
1/2 Cup Premium Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Chives (dried or fresh)
Veggies of Choice (faves: grape/cherry tomatoes, onions, broccoli, mushrooms, bell peppers.)
Barbecue Sauce (fave: Masterpiece Kansas Honey.)


1. Cube skinless chicken breasts into equal size cubes that are at least 1 square inch cube, about the size of four game dies. Uniform size is important, the food cooks more evenly and at the same rate.

2. Mix marinade for chicken: In a medium bowl mix 1/4 cup Vidalia Onion salad dressing, 1/2 cup premium virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of chives (dried or fresh.) Add chicken, coat thoroughly, cover and refrigerate at least two hours to overnight.

3. One hour before grilling soak bamboo skewers in warm water, make sure they are submerged completely.

4. Before skewering meat and veggies preheat grill to medium-high.

5. Cut and skewer veggies of your choice. Do not cut veggies that are super tender, such as mushrooms. Baste with your favorite barbecue sauce.

6. Skewer meat on their own skewers; do not mix veggies with meat because they cook at different times.

7. Place prepared skewers on grill at a vertical angle to the grill grate. Cook veggies until they are tender re-baste with sauce and turnover. Cook chicken on each side at least four minutes, change times based chicken size, and re-baste chicken.

8. Remove from skewers and plate. Enjoy.

Shared with Verde Farms Farm Friend Friday & The Barn Hop at Homestead Revival

Fall in the Mountains

After an evening of watching our local high school team play ball in chilly winner when two weeks ago we were burning up lets us know fall is setting in. So much will change and God will give it all a rest to hopefully come alive again. What does fall mean to you.

P.S. Sorry there are still no photos; but, I promise their will be a blog overload once I finally get a new home computer (and stop using the work computer!)

The Hen and Rooster Game

At two a.m. Monday morning I helped (not too much) unload 8,900 plus hens and roosters in to a church members chicken house. It took four hours to unload the chickens, that is two tractor trailer loads of chickens in that little amount of time. It was an art form watching the skilled men grab the chickens two at a time in each hand and guide each of them to their elevated nesting boxes where water and feed awaited the animals. The reason it was so early was because chickens die in the heat very quickly, the early cool hour prevented this. It was a great experience and I hope you may have the opportunity to see where your food comes from.

What's Growin' Up in Your Neck of the Woods?

Tell us what is growing in your garden or anything else around you, include animals and projects too. Just put your story in the ramblings below.

~~We have cucumbers and squash already coming out of the garden and the corn has just started producing tassels, yeah!

Revival of Benefits

What are Summers known for in the south: VBS (Vacation Bible School), revivals, and baptisms. Have you ever thought of the benefits of being a christian? We sometimes think we have a heaven to gain and a hell to loose when we have repented, but their are so many other benefits of being a christian. I am a proud southern baptist and I have gained so many internal benefits, a peace that can only God can give. I know this is a different topic than what I have posted before, it is because I am happy to be renewed. God has given us the fruits and flowers I usually post about and why ignore that fact? Let your summers be about learning the benefits of God and his graces.

Disappearing for a While

I will be gone from the blog for a while; my home computer was damaged in a lightning storm last Thursday. I hope to  post at least once a week from another computer, but there will be no photography until I find some way to upload my pictures onto a public computer, sorry. I hope that you will not forget that I am still here, healthy and alive. I hope you all have a wonderful Summer!

Update: The garden has been fully planted except for a few transplants. Corn started to appear today and everything else is on its way.
             I made an appron, my first apparel item I have sewn, yeah!!

Stink Bugs on the Loose

Smelly Situations begin with a terrible problem that you just can not solve in time. Around 1998 an Asian shipping crate is said to have brought a little critter along with the cargo; the critter being Stink Bugs. Stink Bugs have now over wintered in the south and are emerging with great vigor. This year they have already began to destroy crops right and left. Have you noticed these:

The above picture is a deceased bug that I just had to kill. The damage they have been causing has been tremendous to our newly started plants that are ready for transplanting.

 

Here is proof of the damage. Stink bugs suck the sap from plants causing decay. The decaying location will be partly orange to brown. The eggs of the stink bug will be on the under side of the plant, they are globular to oblong gold specks about the size of a ball point pen ball.

If you find these bugs you should pick them off the plant while wearing gloves, yes they do stink. Place the bugs in a solution of acetone and seal the jar, the bug will die soon after being sealed in the jar. Eggs are best burned until they pop like popcorn from their hulls, this is the only solution I have discovered to eradicate these insects.

How to Divide & Pot Calla Lilies & Other Rhizome Plants

Rhizomes are plant bulbs that are flat in shape and very bulbous in size, a typical example of a rhizome is ginger. Ginger is the bulb of a tropical plant, mainly found in Hawaii, Asia, and the Philapens. Plants that you may know that have rhizome bulbs may include Irises and Calla Lilies. Rhizome, like other bulb forms, are perennial bases for plants, so they come back each spring or summer.

You walk outside and find this, a weedy mess. There is also a few plants emerging that must not be cut down: Calla lilies. Here is a tutorial on divide and pot rhizome based plants.

1. Dig a wide base around the plant so not to damage the rhizome and delicate roots.

2. Remove non-desired plant debris including the roots of said debris. Do this gently.

3. After cleaning and sprucing the plant remove inspect the roots for any infestation of bugs or root.

3. Remove the secondary plants that have budded from the parent plant, make sure it has its own rhizome and roots intact.

4. Choose a pot to plant secondary plants that are large enough to retain water and have no need transplant the plant any time soon. Fill to the top with light airy potting soil.

5. Dig a deep hole into the soil that can support the plant base

 and wide enough to allow room for the roots.

6. Some roots may be very long, gently coil the around the base loosely.

7. Gently press the soil down firmly and position the plant as straight and natural as possible. Water thoroughly to settle the dirt and eliminate any air pockets.

8. Replant the parent plant add new mulch and water very generously until the plant is reestablished in the soil.

9. Within a month or so you'll have extra pretty plants like these to give away to friends.

~~~

Homestead Barn Hop hosted by

Homestead Revival, The Prairie Homestead, New Life on a Homestead, & A Blossoming Homestead.

and

Farm Friday/Girl Friday at

Verde Farm & Dandelion House

Wordless Wednesday: Strawberry (Delicious) Cycle

Clean and Fresh Spring

Spring has a sense of freshness, a sense of renewing. This is the time of year people clean their homes, exchange their wardrobes for dukes and t-shirts, and celebrate a new warmth of the Earth. God renews the world with the use of Spring, its crisp and vibrant feel. Spring reminds you that you are alive and that you are here for a purpose.

I have a few pots of Iris that have been in their pots for a few years, this is the first and only pot to bloom in nearly three years.

I would love to be a honey bee, the chance to smell these sweet flowers all day long would be wonderful; but, the whole living for one year is not the greatest thought though.

Do you happen to know hat this bush is? I have researched and pondered its species. It grows to over 10 feet tall and the blossoms have four white petals. Please leave your thoughts in the ramblings below.

The Sequoia strawberries are looking cute, even for an unripe berry.

The field ferns are emerging along the shaded parts of the field and around the house.

~~~

Lizards Can't Swim

I have never been able to catch up to a lizard as it slithered to and fro around the permiter of the house. There is always at least one pretty and gleaming lizard bathing on the front steps during the Summer. Those things are fast. Last week when a storm came through a lizard wash washed into one of the rainbarels and I spotted it by chance. Lizards can't swim.

This is  one of our rainbarels, it isn't realy a barrel but it serves its purpose. The little lizard fell in here and I fished it out.

It sat on the ledge for a long while as I wathced for it to move.

If lizards can swim, the shedding tail hendered this one from swimming.

It shed the tail when it finaly slithered off into a pile of leaves to continue to coperate.

See the little bugger breathing, he's alive. Yeah!

Somethings Just Go On

I planned for weeks to go on a trip to the 83rd Georgia State FFA Convention held in Macon, Georgia. I had not planned on worrying about my family and celebrating a death. I am from Catoosa County, Georgia; the town that declared a state of emergency after a tornado went through I-75 and the heart of the town. The majority of my family lives in Ringgold and I left for Macon Thursday crying in fear. I received the all's okay call Friday evening when partial cell service returned to the area, everyone is okay and spared by God's graces.

You probably never heard of celebrating a death, but our country was thrust into a war when I was really young. I haven't known an America free from war, maybe soon I will. Osama bin Laden was killed by a American troops in a mansion in Pakistan a few hours ago; I celebrate within because of the hope that the world may feel some peace. God bless those who lost loved ones because of hatred.

Now onto happier news: FFA State Convention.

For three days I watched and walked on this stage, as members received rewards for their achievements this past year. I have been a proud FFA member for 5 years and an alumni member for one. The FFA has helped mold and bring out what I could only dream of.

I never thought I would wear blue corduroy again, I did this past weekend. The FFA official dress displays this proud emblem on the back, each component standing for something good.

Cross section of corn stands for unity. The plow for hard work. The owl for the wisdom of our advisors and leaders. Rising sun for honour. Eagle for America. The component go on, this emblem will continue to be strong.

I did receive a state proficiency plack and I was stoked to receive it.

This is the first view I had of the destruction caused by the tornados. This was taken in near Forsyth, Georgia. The tornado nearly wiped out a one mile section of forest along both sides of I-75.

Below is a video of the damage, sorry for the speed we were going about 70 mph.

God showed his power and that he is still in control this past week . I hope that you may be kept safe and within the embrace of God.

~~~

An Unseen Artist

After celebrating a wonderful Easter I begin to think of what God has created. Can you imagine how he designed every little thing to work together and to sustain our lives? Imagine the artwork in it all? And what artwork it is.

As I wait until May 8, the day we plant corn,beans and everything else that goes in the garden, I get anxious. I am anxious to see a harvest, to do something. It is hard to imagine that a month ago there was a foot of snow, now foot high grass. God is an artist and shows his best work in the Spring.

Pine continues to grow in the Spring, the little pine cones and future needles are a beautiful contrast to the green needles.

Sustenance, life gives way to death to provide life to others. God designed life to be that way. Young birds are lucky to survive their first flight without a predator attack, little tufts out feathers show that life come full circle.

Spiderwort is beginning to emerge from the flower beds. It is hard to walk through the mountains and not notice their little purple flowers in clusters. Did you know that Wandering Jews are related to this wild plant known as Spiderwort.

Isn't it amazing how plants grow from the tips outward with little buds that hold the new leaves.

There are so many Dogwood blossoms, they are hard to see.

If you still don't believe in God being an artist, look at the sunrises and sunsets; they make you believe.

~~~