This month's Hormel challenge was a BBQ one, which was completely perfect while we were in Canada, since my dad was happy to assist in the grilling part of it all. The mission--host a delicious barbeque feast for friends or family! You must use at least three products as ingredients for your meal from the Hormel Foods portfolio.
Sounded like a plan to me, and my parents have a big garden in the backyard that was already started to produce tomatoes, zucchini and peppers. And my dad did recently buy a pineapple for the kids. All this, plus a barbecue, means kebabs, of course!
Since we were in Canada, I headed over to Buffalo for a little bit of grocery shopping with my product list. My key plan being a) kebabs and b) must go well with pineapple and zucchini (two of Ben's favorite things). On my meal planning days, I usually have a solid list, but I wanted to see this time what inspiration I could find at the store.
After a bit of shopping, I settled on Hormel pork tenderloin and Jenny-O turkey sausage for the kebabs, along with two types of House of Tsang marinades, Classic Stir Fry and Korean Teriyaki to baste the meats and veggies with.
I had a plan in my head for how I wanted the kebabs to look and, other than the pineapple, the veggies are extremely locavore, right from my mom's garden. I sliced the tenderloin into four long quartered sections and cubed those to make the pork pieces, then sliced the sausage into rounds. The meat is alternated with a combination of pineapple, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, onion and red pepper, which started out just-so, and ended with a really odd last skewer of random things that were still on the plates.
My dad fired up the grill (since I will NOT turn on a grill) and brushed it with olive oil. The skewers fit perfectly into the grooves and we opted to baste them with the House of Tsang Teriyaki marinade. It is seriously good and I'm sorry I had to leave the rest of it at my parents' house (couldn't take it on the airplane, buying my own bottle at Kroger asap!).
We served the kebabs over steamed rice with soy sauce (something F&B learned from Shaun). We also debated stir frying fresh beans from the garden with the House of Tsang Classic Stir Fry sauce, but it would have been a bit too much food, so that was tabled for a different meal. It's definitely worth trying too!
Keep reading for the giveaway for a Hormel prize pack!