Welcome to barbeque season! Have you fired up the grill yet? I’ve been collecting some easy barbecue recipes to have on hand for July and August because we’re renovating our kitchen at the end of July. I’m doing a happy dance for the Future Kitchen, but I’ll be mourning the loss of Current Kitchen for several weeks. How’s a food blogger gonna get by? Well, I have a plan, my friends. Rather than abandoning the blog for 5-6 weeks, I’ve been setting aside recipes in advance that I can post during the renovation. I’m also setting aside recipes for late September/October while I’m soaking up time with our new baby. So, if things seem a bit quieter around here lately, that’s because I’ve been working hard sneaking away recipes for the upcoming months (you might see sneak peeks on Instagram though). I’m hoping this will help make these upcoming transitions a bit smoother!
Oh, and if any of you have any suggestions for “kitchen-free” or barbeque meals to make during a kitchen renovation, I welcome them with open arms. I have a feeling the spiralizer and Vitamix are going to get lots of use. We don’t own a microwave, but I’m wondering if I should invest in a hot plate to have on hand. Of course, lots of barbeque action will be going down too. This was a great one to kick off the season.
Vegan Green Goddess Dressing with Grilled Veggie Kabobs
Yield
about 3/4 cup dressing
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This recipe is adapted from my first attempt at a vegan Green Goddess dressing a few years ago. The former version was quite different from the original Goddess Dressing recipe, so this time I wanted to make something a bit more similar to the original using the same herbs (tarragon and chives) and a bit of egg-free mayo for an authentic flavour. I also added in some fresh avocado to give it a lovely creamy texture while giving it a boost of healthy fats. You can use this tangy and fresh dressing so many ways, but we especially love it spooned over grilled veggie kabobs. It's also lovely on a wrap, as a dip, or on a veggie burger.
Ingredients
FOR THE DRESSING:
- 1 small garlic clove
- 2 tablespoons fresh tarragon
- 4 tablespoons fresh chives
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 4 tablespoons egg-free mayo (I use soy-free Veganaise)
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/3 cup avocado flesh (1/2 a small avocado)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, or to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
FOR THE KABOBS:
- Bell peppers
- Red onion
- Zucchini
- Mushrooms
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Directions
- For the dressing: Mince the garlic in a food processor. Now add in the tarragon and chives and process until minced. Finally, add in the rest of the ingredients and process until the dressing is smooth (or just about). Adjust seasonings to taste if desired. Dressing can be used immediately or stored in the fridge (in a sealed container) for 3-4 days.
- For the kabobs: Preheat the BBQ over medium-low heat. Chop vegetables into desired sizes and place on vegetable skewers. Brush oil on veggies to coat all sides and season with salt and pepper. Grill the kabobs for around 15 minutes, rotating every 5 minutes. We grilled for the first 10 minutes on the top rack and then moved them to the bottom rack for the last 3-5 minutes.
- Serve kabobs immediately with a drizzle of dressing on top.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Happy grilling!
Angela,
If you can barbeque things that look this good, you’ll be all set for kitchen reno’s. I was without one for a few months last year, and vast quantities of peanut butter were consumed! But, being constrained by lack of appliances will actually cause your creativity to flourish…you just may surprise yourself!
During that time, I couldn’t live without a kettle. Lots of calming tea, and homemade quick oatmeal. You can cook pasta by letting it soak in boiling water for a period of time & then draining. For the best corn, fresh from a roadside stand: clean the corn, put in the cooler, dump a kettle full of boiling water on it, and give it 30 minutes. Your large family backyard barbeques will forever be changed. Good luck!!
When my parents renovated, they cooked on their Coleman gas camp stove outside. You seem like a camping type :-) and once the baby is here, it will probably be easier to car camp than backpack, so the Coleman might be nice to have around (if you don’t have one already!) http://www.coleman.com/product/dual-fueltrade-2-burner-stove/3000000788?contextCategory=2020#.U5ezzl4WfQU
I think it’s so funny, because two summers ago when I was pregnant, I was traveling for the whole summer and I emailed you for ideas of what to eat! Now here you are pregnant and about to be kitchenless! At least you’ll have a fridge, right? :-) And hot water? And a place to clean dishes? I hope? Good luck!
And I second the comment that said, Thanks so much for thinking of your readers and planning ahead! It’s always fun to find a new post here; it would be so sad for you to just go quiet for weeks!! Even if you don’t have a recipe–post anyway, please!
hehe I remember that email! Too funny. Thanks for your tips. I’m sure we’ll get by just fine!
Oh yes we have been grilling! This sounds awesome! We are trying to eat more vegetables anyway and my husband has a harder time with it than me. Sauces are going to be the answer for us I believe.
Congratulations on the kitchen reno! I have heard people use their grills for a lot of their food prep during renos, also freezing lots of leftovers. Wow y’all have a lot of life changes going on this summer. Totally exciting!
We managed without a kitchen for 8 weeks with an outdoor grill and a slow cooker – the latter for oatmeal, soup, curry, etc. Even made a cake in it – delicious, though it was reluctant to leave the pan. You’ll be amazed what you can cook in there and it’ll be great for after the baby arrives, as you can time shift your cooking. Good luck with it all.
So excited to see the new kitchen- PLEASE do a tour when it’s done!
youtube.com/user/sparklesandsuch26
baby bump! :-))
Congrats on the new kitchen! How exciting! One of my favorite non-stove tools, besides my grill, is my crockpot. It’s actually a pressure cooker/ crockpot combo, but the pressure cooker part has never worked right. However, the crock itself is metal, and the thing has a browning setting, so I can get it really hot. Hot enough to sautee or boil water. It’s also great because it gets my slow-cooker things up to temp quickly (I’m paranoid about food poisoning). You might look into something like that.
Have you considered getting an Instant Pot? I think if I had a grill, toaster oven and Instant Pot, I wouldn’t really need a stove!
You can make a lot more than just regular grilled item on the grill – although it’s not the most efficient heat mechanism, you can make skillet breads, stir-frys, campfire style stews, and simple soups (just have long gloves and tongs/grill utensils. In the summer it seems most of our meals are some grilled item on top of a salad with some grilled bread of some sort.
I’m glad you were able to manage the renovation now. We redid the kitchen ourselves when baby #1 was about 2 years old. It was completely fine, although we literally were running/sprinting through paint/appliance/floor install during naps, because one of us was always on duty with baby at the other times. It’s easier to accomplish big projects at this point.
These look awesome – love me some grilled veggies in summer! And I love the baby bump shots :) Also, great for you for being proactive about the renovation and thinking of your readers – you rock!
But I do have a recipe/substitution question: I can’t eat avocados (I know, bummer…) – they make me really ill so I try to avoid them at all costs – what kind of substitute could I use for this dressing? Usually in other recipes where avocado is present, I can just leave it out, but this one seems to really depend on the avocado. Thanks so much!
Looks delicious as always! Love the baby bump in the background:-)
Hi Angela.
Yet another recipe has now been added to my must-try-list!
Also… having followed you for years I thought I’d just let you know that there seem to be some problems with Bloglovin. I don’t know how many of your readers are affected by this (maybe it’s just me!) but all your wonderful pregnancy posts are lost in cyberspace. I only get info on your food-related posts… but then again, that only makes me check OSG even more often :P
I don’t know if you can do anything about it, but here’s a heads-up at least.
Loads of hugs,
/Kristina from Sweden.
Oh, how exciting!
We’re in the process of renovating our house at the moment, and judging by the time it is taking to do just the laundry, I’m dreading how long it will take to do the kitchen!
Whenever we’re out of action in the kitchen, the BBQ always gets a good workout, and we also have a handy camp stove that gets brought out at times like those too.
Great idea to squirrel away recipes.
Robyn xx
OMG!!! I’d surely be happy to volunteer grilling those pretty kabobs you prepared. Thank you for sharing this!
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
I made this sauce last night for our kebobs and I am pretty sure my boyfriend would have licked the bowl if I wasn’t there watching! So yummy and fresh! Thanks:)
I’ve done the kitchen reno with wee ones underfoot. My advice is try to keep the sink in until the last possible minute (my husband cut the counter to remove all but the sink and minimize the time without). The bathtub worked good for washing up with an extra plastic tub for washing and a drying rack alongside to let them drip. Good deep squat work:) He also pulled out the stove and returned it every night until the time for flooring came. We made it! And we could eat REAL food the whole time.
Sounds delicious! I especially love the sound of that sauce and am immediately thinking of other things I can pair it with! :) Thanks for the inspiration!
I love all the colors on the kebobs! beautiful!
Hi! Love your recipes and doll
Hi! Love your recipes and follow you regularly. Thought I should let you know that ads for milk come up on your site. Kind of out of place for a vegan website and not sure if it’s something you want there. Just thought is let you know in case you hadn’t noticed.
Thanks for all of the great content! :)