good eats

So I'm totally into The Food Network now. I've been hearing for years how wonderful this Rachael Ray character is (my cousin's 5 year old daughter has been obsessed with her over 1/2 her life) and I wanted to check her out. Turns out, popular opinion has been correct- she IS wonderful! She is so cute and makes such nice food, and you actually feel like you could do what she does. And Emeril gave a really good recipe for kabobs that I modified and made, and it was delicious! Just right for someone who cooks by the eyeball-fingerpinch method like me (as opposed to the measuring cup-spoon method):

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Get some good meat and cube it. In a bowl, combine 1/2 a diced red onion, about 3 good sized spoonfuls of minced garlic, a bunch of flat leaf parsley chopped up, the leaves from one or two sprigs of rosemary, some celery seed, salt (I like to use kosher) and fresh ground pepper, and a bunch of crushed red pepper flakes. Mix that up and add about 1/2 cup or so of olive oil (I'm totally guessing on that measurement - it looked like a paste after I added what I thought was enough oil). Put the meat and the marinade in a plastic ziploc and stick it in the fridge for 24 hours. I guess you could do less time, but it sure tasted good after 24 hours. Then put them on skewers (did you all know that you have to soak the wood skewers before using? It's just one of the many things I have learned since becoming a FN aficionado) with some cut up bell peppers and grill until the meat is done to your liking. I served it with a simple black bean and corn salsa which was also delicious. Or Yum-O, as Rachael would say. Wish I had taken a picture, it was so good.

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All this being said, I recommend the Food Network for practical tips and also for entertainment. Have you SEEN the Iron Chef? That stuff's HILARIOUS!