Here's a meal on a stick — once you've placed the stick over some couscous, quinoa, brown rice or another grain. You'll need to plan ahead a bit; the beef marinates for at least three hours (marinate in the morning; enjoy at night). Serving two is easy — just cut the recipe in half. If you're using wooden skewers, be sure to soak them in water first for half an hour.

½ pound lean beef, such as top sirloin, well trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 medium-size red onion, cut into 2–inch pieces
12 white button mushrooms, caps only, wiped clean
12 cherry or grape tomatoes

  1. Place the beef, soy sauce, lemon juice, olive oil and cumin in a bowl and stir to coat the beef evenly with the marinade. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or as long as overnight.
  2. Preheat the broiler or set up the grill and preheat it to high.
  3. Remove the beef from the marinade and thread it onto 8 skewers, alternating pieces of bell pepper, onion, mushrooms and tomatoes between the pieces of meat.
  4. Broil or grill the kebabs until the beef is tender, turning occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes.

Serves 4

Tip: If you want sweet beef kebabs instead, substitute 2 tablespoons of pineapple juice concentrate for the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. And use pineapple and mango chunks instead of the mushroom caps and tomatoes.

Nutrition Info:
1 portion provides:

Protein: 1 serving
Vitamin C: 2 ½ servings
Green leafy and yellow vegetables and fruits: 1 serving
Other fruits and vegetables: 1 ½ servings
Iron: from the beef