Lose the bamboo skewers

Best investment I've made this summer: a couple dozen stainless steel skewers for grilling veggies. It's nice to be able to throw kabobs on the barbecue at the last minute without having to soak bamboo skewers for that requisite 30 minutes. (I don't even know if all that soaking was necessary, but I followed package directions on this, and that just slowed me down.) The heavier skewers are easier to handle than bamboo, too.

If we're grilling chicken tenders or pieces of steak, I put the meat on skewers separate from the onions, peppers and mushrooms, because generally the veggies take less time to grill than the meat. What I especially like are grilled Vidalia onions. Today I bought sweet red onions. I skewered 'em, brushed a little olive oil on 'em, and Dave threw those on the grill about 10 minutes before our pork chops were cooked. They were cooked to perfection, soft, a little translucent and not blackened-- sugary, just delightful.