Chicken, veggie, and fruit kabobs

Just for fun, I thought I'd throw some easy recipes out there for summertime.  John just got a new grill for his birthday, so every weekend we like to grill steaks, burgers, et cetera. However, I really want to start experimenting with things outside of the standard grill and BBQ fare, and so I am starting small and working my way up.





I decided to just wing it with this recipe, and it's probably one of the easiest things we've ever whipped up, cooked, and enjoyed.


So here's how to do it. 


You'll need:
1.5 lbs of boneless chicken breasts
1 bell pepper (I like the orange and red ones)
1 Vidalia onion* 
1 cored pineapple
1 package of white mushrooms (about 8 oz)
1 bottle of your choice of marinade**


*Vidalias are large, sweet, and delicious - and they taste amazing grilled. You can also use red onions if you prefer.
**I use Anna Mae's Smoky Sweet Chipotle Grill Sauce, shown below

So about 8 hours before you're going to grill, I recommend chopping the chicken into small chunks - maybe about 1 to 1.5 inches - and throwing the marinade on top and letting them soak.  I only let mine marinate for about 6 hours, and the flavor was strong enough that I didn't need additional sauce after they came off of the grill.  I didn't even actually need to baste them while they were cooking, although I could have. 


(Tip: Don't use the same marinade you had your raw chicken soaking in to baste the chicken while it's cooking - make sure to reserve some beforehand because you don't want to cross-contaminate.)


If you like to prep beforehand, go ahead and cut the onion, pineapple, and pepper into large chunks.  Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth to clean them, and leave them whole - or, if you don't like stems, you can take those off.


About 30 minutes before cooking, soak your wooden skewers in water to keep them from burning on the grill.  You may or may not see in photo evidence later in this blog whether or not I followed my own advice...


About 10-15 minutes before, depending on your grill, get it preheated to medium high heat - we use a gas grill so this is easy - or do whatever it is you do with charcoal on a charcoal grill. I'd love to sound more educated here, but I've never really set up a charcoal grill before, so I'm not really any help if that's what you have and you don't know how to use it already. 


Skewer your veggies, fruit, and chicken in any configuration you like onto the wooden skewers and place in a large glass dish.


Once the grill is pre-heated, place your skewers on the grill, and leave a little bit of space between them.  We cooked them for about 6 minutes on each side. 

I like to let him handle this part. 

Once the chicken is cooked through, which doesn't take long at all, gently remove the skewers from the grill, serve in a different glass dish (cross-contamination, remember?) and enjoy!

The finished product. Yum.