Chicken, Pepper & Onion Skewers

Anything on a skewer is not only fun to make but also fun to eat!  As the hubby said tonight, "I'm not using a fork for dinner tonight!"

 I use bamboo skewers and I always try to make sure that I soak them in water before I use them.  While they don't usually burn to a crisp without soaking, it does keep the ends from getting charred on the grill. If I have the time, I try to soak them for at least 30 minutes. 

 Depending on the kind of meat that you use, you can marinate it before to give it some more flavor.  Tonight I marinated my chicken in an Asian style salad dressing.  Salad dressings are a quick way to add a lot of flavor.  I don't recommend using dairy based dressings like ranch or blue cheese and I tend to stick to vinaigrettes.  You can marinate just your meat or your veggies too if you'd like.

I usually marinate food inside of a plastic zip-top bag.  Little mess with no washing required.  

Safety tip:  Always store meat cold until you want to use it.  This includes marinating!

 

Time Saving Tip:  Put your frozen meat in the marinate in the refrigerator in the morning (or even the night before!).  It will marinate as it thaws.

Chop up any veggies that are in large pieces.  Tonight I used bell peppers and red onion.  Make sure to make your pieces large enough that they fit on the skewer without splitting the veggie in half.  It will probably be a large piece than you would normally cut.

Thread your meat and veggies on the skewers in any combination that you want.  Tonight I opted to do a mixture on each skewer.  It never fails that I end up with more veggies so I usually have one skewer that doesn't have any meat.  Don't push the pieces tightly against each other because the heat will need to surround each piece in order to cook evenly.  My pieces usually barely touch but no more than that.

Safety Tip:  As enticing as it is to snack on the leftover veggies when you are finished making your skewers, DO NOT eat them if you have touched them with hands that have touched raw meat.  Salmonella is not on the menu for dinner EVER!

I usually grill my skewers.  Low and slow is the way to cook these babies.  A grill that is too hot will char your dinner on the outside and leave it raw on the inside.  I put aluminum foil down with some cooking spray before I lay my skewers out.  This keeps them from sticking.  Nothing worse than a skewer that breaks while you are trying to pry it off of the grill!

Everyone's grill is different so cooking times might vary.  I cooked mine for about 15 minutes (I'll time it next time to be sure - I promise!) around 350 degrees.  I did turn them once or twice to make sure they were evenly cooked.

Finished!

The great thing about skewers is that you can do any combination of meat, seafood and veggies that you want.  The combinations are endless!

Happy Cooking!

Jenny