Pork Skewers and Summer Social Retreat '09

Today’s recipe was one I found in a Rachel Ray magazine. She has a section in there called the $10 Spot where they give you a recipe for a meal to feed four. The recipe included a rice side dish, but I am leaving that out of the recipe. The rice was really bland and for me, not worth the effort you had to put for for a dish lacking in flavor. However, the skewers we amazing.
My daughter who is not a big meat eater kept asking for more meat. Also, a made a couple of skewers with the pineapple and pork together to have them for the picture. Then the rest I just did ones with only meat and ones with only pineapple. Either way works great, You just don’t have to good the ones with just pineapple on them as long. I was able to get my pork loin on sale for $1.99 a pound. You could also use loin chops if they are cheaper. I also only paid 99 cents for my pineapple. So if you go by those two prices and the other prices they listed in the magazine with the exclusion of the side dish ingredients. The skewers cost me around $5.

Pork Skewers
One 20-ounce can of pineapple chunks in their juice, drained and juice reserved
1 clove garlic, smashed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger (I used the fresh stuff in a jar)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
1 1/4 pounds pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes
In a resealable plastic bag, combine the pineapple juice (set aside the pineapple chunks), garlic, soy sauce, ginger and oil; season with salt and pepper. Add the pork and let marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Preheat an outdoor grill or grill pan to medium-high. Meanwhile, thread the marinated pork and the pineapple chunks onto skewers. (If your using those bamboo skewers make sure to soak them in water for 30 minutes before. This keeps them from catching on fire) Grill the kebabs, turning occasionally, until golden and cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes.

Summer Social Retreat ’09
Now I want to share with you my experience that I had at the recent Summer Social Retreat ’09 that was held on July 31st. It was put together by April from Sweet Life in the Valley for Utah women in social media. Let me first saw that April did an awesome job with the whole thing. It was a fabulous event! It was held in Midway, Utah at Soldier Hollow. Soldier Hollow was one of the places that held Olympic events for the 2002 Olympics that were held in Salt Lake City. April had several activities for use to choose from to start the event. There was fly fishing, horseback riding, and a train ride. I went for the train ride. It was so fun. All of the activities were put on by Rocky Mountain Outfitters. The tour for the train was called reins and trains. We got on the Heber Valley Railroad in Heber, Utah. Then, while on the train it was attacked by outlaws or robbers, whatever you like to call them. Apparently they were suppose to kidnap us from the train. However, there was a little confusion and our group was suppose to get off the train with the outlaws, but we weren’t given wrist bands so they didn’t take us off. But the people on the train got us to get off at the stop on the way back. Either way it was fun. Then they took us on a wagon ride around Soldier Hollow and gave us some fun info about Soldier Hollow.

Here’s one of the robbers.

Here’s a robber coming on the train. This one was a girl!

Inside the lodge before dinner.

Durango Soda Company provided this drink. It was Chocolate Soda made by Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

This is my dinner. The salad was good too. It had a wonderful dressing with cheese and strawberries tossed in there.

The heavenly piece of cake I devoured.

I really had a fabulous time. Thanks again April! I look forward to the next event. And if you are a Utah blogger, I hope to meet you and the next event!