Eat Like a Rabbit

This post's guest photographer is Garrett Nudd, an excellent and talented photographer, but an even better friend.

I came across some mini-kabob sticks while in Sarasota for our anniversary. Ever since, I was very excited to make some and did a good bit of research before I finally put the meal together. I served the kabob with steamed brown rice and the Pad Thai sauce from "Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home."

This meal was much easier than I expected, and except for the delay of threading the sticks with my designer-husband, a fast creation as well. I did find a note somewhere in my research to soak the sticks in water before use to prevent splitting. This was my first step of the meal.

I started by boiling sweet potato triangles until barely soft. I cut carrots, zucchini, onions, and Worthington Skallops (a soybean based TVP (textured vegetable protein) into bite-sized pieces.

I poured olive oil, sweet paprika, salt, minced garlic, and onion powder into a small bowl and mixed thoroughly with a basting brush. The proportions are to taste. It takes a good four tablespoons of olive oil to cover all 12 kabobs. I know there were at least two cloves of garlic in the mix. Salt should be minimal because there is soy sauce in the Pad Thai dressing, which I served from the table.

I put my wire rack on the highest level in the oven, covered my cookie sheet with aluminum foil for easy cleaning and preheated the oven to 450 degrees.

Paul and I comically threaded the kabobs and laid them on the tray. I brushed them with the flavored oil on all sides and even brushed some orange bell peppers I pulled out of the oven as a garnish and sprinkled them around the tray to grill as well. Ten minutes later, we were happily dining on a vegan meal that was a great way to start the weekend.