Mr. Sweet and I have been travelling quite a bit these days. We’ve been to Hilton Head Island, St. Simmons, Myrtle Beach, Lexington SC, Blue Ridge, Dahlonega, Helen, stay-cations in downtown Atlanta, and preparing for San Francisco and Austin, Texas. Whew. Lately, we’ve been real road hogs.

I love visiting new places, seeing new things and of course, eating new foods, because well, I’m a food-a-holic, a food junkie and food obsessed. Does that make me weird? Well, pretty much, but I’m good with that 🙂 I embrace my foodie weirdness.

Through all of our travels I have finally, at long last, determined the very best spot in the entire world to chow down. Are you ready for the big reveal? Are you breathless with anticipation? Ok…you asked. The BEST place we’ve eaten in the past year has been…

Our backyard!! I KNOW right? It was there all along 🙂

I’m really not kidding. I mean come on, you KNOW me! We don’t mess around! And we don’t charge nearly as much 😉

On the rare weekends we get to really enjoy our backyard and our grill, we savor the moments. This past weekend what we really savored was this fabulous skewered grilled chicken and vegetables with an incredibly delicious, lick the bowl clean like cake batter, Brown Sugar Sriracha Glaze, compliments of our friend Loriann at casa de la Cargill. Y’all seriously. It doesn’t get any better than this glaze. We love it like a fat kid loves cake. Like Laverne loved Shirley. Like Joni loved Chachi. Like Bo loved Hope. Like Victor loved Nikki. (I’m telling my age here.) Like Front Porch Gourmet loves casa de la Cargill ❤ Really though, I can’t wait to try it on pork chops and shrimp and more roasted veggies! I LOVED it. YOU will love it. It will be a great big, gigantic love fest on your grill!

Here’s my version used on the chicken kabobs and a grilled peach salad, and don’t miss Loriann’s original recipe with some fantastic Pork Kabobs here.

Don’t bother with plates! Use this for date night and just put everything on one big platter to share with a bottle of wine. Or three.

As far as food lovers of the world go, I think we kinda “School House Rock” it! 🙂

Grilled Chicken Kabobs over Peach & Ricotta Salad with Brown Sugar Sriracha Glaze

Ingredients:

For the Kabobs:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cubed
• 2 cups vegetables of your choice
• Cherry tomatoes for the ends
• wooden skewers
• Brown Sugar Sriracha Glaze below

For the Grilled Peach Salad:

• 3 peaches, halved and pits removed
• 1 bag Arugula Greens
• 1 recipe Homemade Ricotta
• Brown Sugar Sriracha Glaze below
• 1 package Proscuitto
• 1 loaf crusty bread

For the Brown Sugar Sriracha Glaze:

• ¾ cup chicken stock
• ¼ cup dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sriracha sauce
• ½ tbsp garlic paste
• ¼ tsp. black pepper

         

Directions:

First, prepare the Sriracha glaze. Heat all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium high heat; bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until reduced by half.

Skewer the meat and vegetables. Grill for about 15-20 minutes until chicken is cooked through but not dried. Brush with glaze during the last 5 minutes of cooking to avoid burning. Brush with additional glaze after kabobs are fully cooked for great, additional flavor.

While kabobs are on the grill, prepare the salad. Prepare a bed of greens. Lightly brush peaches with Sriracha glaze. Grill cut side down for approximately 45 seconds to one minute. You’re looking for a little caramelization and nice grill marks. Remove from grill and place peaches on the bed of Arugula. Add slices of Prosciutto, bread and a bowl of Homemade Ricotta cheese. (Recipe here) Store bought is NOT the same. Trust me on this. Because I love you and would never, ever lie to you. And it is so easy your goldfish could make it. You got this. Then you can get what’s in that photo down there. Thank me later for sharing. I could have kept it all to myself you know 😉

Life is too short to eat ugly food y’all.

*Final photo copyright casa de la Cargill 2014