Marinated Chicken Skewers

One of the many wonderful benefits of living in Florida is the ability to grill outdoors in the winter. Though we had rain early this morning, as the day progressed it became a gorgeous day with temperatures hitting around 72°F with the sun shining! All in all, it was a gorgeous January day!

Marinade

I decided last night that I wanted to grill some marinated chicken today so I made my marinade and let it sit in a jar in the refrigerator over night to let all the flavors get wild together. This morning, I put my marinade into my Vitamix for a quick puree. I prefer to marinade in glass jars or bowls and because I cut the chicken breasts into strips, the jar was the best choice. Marinate in the refrigerator for about an hour. The ingredients make this marinade salty so please refrain from adding salt prior to grilling.

Chicken Strips Marinating in a Jar

Ingredients:

6 cloves Fresh Garlic
1 tbs Fresh Grated Ginger
4 tbs Soy Sauce
4 tbs Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
4 tbs Teriyaki Sauce
4 tbs Olive Oil
4 tbs Worcestershire Sauce

1 lb Pastured Chicken Breasts cut into 1/4 inch thick strips

Vegetable Sides:

Fresh Brussels Sprouts
Fresh Broccoli
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Cayenne Pepper

Starch Side:

1 Cup Cache River Brand Gourmet Basmati Popcorn Rice
1 tbs Olive Oil
Pinch of Sea Salt
2 Cups Filtered Water

For the Skewered Chicken:

Drain the chicken and discard the used marinade. Thread the chicken onto your skewers making sure to pierce the chicken at the thickest parts. Place the skewers on your hot grill and grill until the chicken is done, about 4 minutes on each side. I then moved mine away from the flame and let them sit towards the cooler part of the grill for another five minutes.

For the roasted vegetables:

Preheat the oven to 425°F.
I washed and trimmed the brussels sprouts and broccoli and placed it on parchment paper on a sheet pan. Drizzle or spray olive oil on them, sprinkle with a bit of salt and ground cayenne powder. Roast for 20 minutes.

If you have a veggie basket for your grill you can cook them over the fire. You may want to move them off the hottest part of the grill unless you like them charred.

Cache River Basmati Rice

For the rice:

Into a medium size heavy pot with a lid, add water, rice, salt and olive oil.  Bring to boil while stirring occasionaly and then reduce heat to simmer, put the lid on the pot and set the timer for 20 minutes, no peeking!

It's very seldom that I'll suggest a brand name but in the case of this rice, there is no comparison to it's flavor and aroma. This rice when cooking smells like popcorn! Love it! It's a gourmet popcorn basmati rice and it's the only brand I'll purchase. It runs just under $6.00 per 2 lb bag in the grocery store but ordering it online is much more affordable especially if you can store 25 or 50 lbs easily. I have eaten it plain but my favorite way is with a pat of my own homemade vanilla-honey butter.

This is one of our favorite meals. I served it on an 8 3/4" x 7" plate with 1/4 lb (before cooking) each chicken, 1 ice-cream scoop of rice and the rest of the plate with roasted veggies! Oh, and a pat of buttah! Cheers!