Beef Kabobs and the Best Ice Cream Ever!

We had friends over last night for dinner. Matt made beef and veggie kabobs. I made brown rice and ice cream. It all turned out really well and we were STUFFED afterwards (didn't stop us from demolishing the ice cream though!)

Marinated Kabobs
from www.allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds flank steak

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic, and ground black pepper. Place meat in a shallow glass dish. Pour marinade over the steak, turning meat to coat thoroughly. Cover, and refrigerate.

We used top sirloin, baby bellas, onion, red and orange bell peppers, red potatoes, and pineapple. Everything was marinated most of the day except the mushrooms. They were only marinated for a couple of hours. Then Matt grilled everything. When making kabobs, we have learned (thanks to Alton Brown) that they come out best when each ingredient is kept on seperate skewers. So do all the meat together, potatoes together, and so on. Each ingredient cooks differently and need to be on the grill different amounts of time. YUM!


Baked Brown Rice
from Alton Brown

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
• 2 1/2 cups water Chicken Broth
  
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.
3. Bring the water broth, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. 
4. Once the water broth boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.
5. After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
from Annie Eats

Ingredients
For the cookie dough:

• 5 tbsp. salted butter, melted (or unsalted butter plus ¼ tsp. salt)
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• ¼ cup flour*
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• ¾ cup chocolate chips (I used mini chips)

For the ice cream:

• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 4 large egg yolks
• Pinch of coarse salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1½ cups whole milk
• 1 cup chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet)

Directions
To make the cookie dough:

1. Stir together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until smooth.  
2. Mix in the flour, then the vanilla and chocolate chips.  
3. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.

To make the ice cream:

1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Continue heating, stirring often, until the butter is a deep golden brown color, being careful not to burn it.  Whisk in the heavy cream and heat until simmering.  
2. Meanwhile in a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and the egg yolks until pale and fluffy.  
3. Once the cream mixture is warm, add a small amount to the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking constantly.  Slowly whisk in the rest of the cream.  Mix in the salt.  
4. Return the egg-cream mixture to the saucepan and heat until just slightly thickened, and the temperature reads 170-175˚ F on an instant-read thermometer.  Immediately remove the mixture from the heat and pour through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl.  
5. Stir in the vanilla extract and the whole milk.  
6. Cover and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.
7. Once the mixture is chilled, freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 
8. Chop the disk of cookie dough into small chunks.  
9. As soon as the mixture is done churning, transfer to a bowl or airtight container and stir in the chocolate chips and the chunks of cookie dough.  Store in the freezer until firm.

*1/4 cup flour for the cookie dough did not seem like much. I actually added slightly extra but didn't need to. Once it's refrigerated, it's fine. The flavor of this ice cream is absolutely amazing.