Potato Foil Packs for the Grill!

If you're like me, when you grill out, you want to make the most of every time you heat up the coals.  It feels like a waste to just cook a few burgers or chicken breasts out there, so we're always on the lookout for new things to cook on the grill.  A few years ago, our friends Tyson and Kelly introduced us to potato foil packs, and it's been one of our favorite things since!  We made these the same evening we cooked our garlic shrimp kabobs.

Basically you make a little satchel out of foil.  Then you fill it with potatoes and whatever else you'd like - the possibilities are endless!  Try cheese and bacon, sprinkle a ranch dressing packet over them, or go with red onions and spices.  This week we decided to go with onions, garlic, salt, and chicken broth.

To make the foil packs, you'll need three pieces of foil per satchel - two square pieces and one a long rectangle.  Place the two square pieces on top of each other, and fold it so it has a bottom and 4 walls.  Do this for each of your foil packets - one per person.

Then fill your packets with your desired ingredients.  Each of ours included

4 new potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 an onion, cut into thin slices
1/2 cup chicken broth
Garlic powder
Salt

Once each pack is filled, pull two opposite sides together so they meet in the middle.  Then place a pack on the longer sheet of tinfoil and wrap it up so the top is closed.  You'll want to make sure you don't close them too tightly, so you can easily check them when they're cooking on the grill without burning your fingers!

Transfer your packets to a hot grill, and cover.  These will take about 15-20 minutes to cook.  Check at 15 to see if yours need a little more time.

Get creative!

Garlic Shrimp Kabobs

Last weekend we had our friends Emily and Jason over for dinner.  We hadn't grilled out this season yet (I know...so bad), so we were excited to fire up the grill and hang out outside for a while.  Toby also enjoyed the time outside with everyone.  He's such a good grillin' dog.  (Insert hotdog/grill joke here...I know you wanna...)

We decided to do the first grilled meal right, so we went for surf & turf.  I love the Honey Lime Shrimp I make, but didn't think that would pair well with steak and potatoes, so this time I decided to go garlic.  They were perfect - easy to make and are bursting with flavor.  Add some smokey flavor from the coals on a grill and they're out of this world.  Just look at these babies!

Ingredients
1 pound shrimp
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon melted butter
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
4 large cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper

Directions
Mix olive oil, butter, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.  Peel and wash shrimp, then add them to the bowl and marinade.   Cover, and refrigerate for 2-5 hours.

At this point, you can either cook them in a frying pan, or do what we did and skewer them for kabobs.  If you're using wooden skewers, you'll need to soak them in water first so they don't catch on fire.  I filled a cookie sheet with water and submerged the sticks for 15 minutes.

Then skewer 5-6 shrimp per stick.

Lay the kabobs on the grill over simmering coals and cook a few minutes per side, until shrimp turn pink.  You can spoon some of the marinade on the shrimp while they're cooking, but be careful because it'll make the coals flame up!  Then carefully flip shrimp and finish cooking!

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These were the surf half of our surf & turf dinner...and really made the meal.  Give 'em a try next time you heat up the grill!