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Sweet and Spicy Chicken Kabobs

Whether Mother Nature like its or not, its time to grill…… Sweet and Spicy Chicken Kabobs.

When boneless skinless chicken is on sale……. you stock up! After all you never know when a chicken idea will come across your mind.

Kabobs are a perfect summer griller. I did not use them for this recipe as I only have two and we had a few more people than that for dinner, but if you can find kabob baskets……buy them. Much easier to turn, and nothing falls off the skewer or spins around……you know what I’m talking about!

But, I used bamboo screwers for this recipe and soaked them for a few hours so they didn’t burn during cooking.

The biggest part of the recipe, is making sure you have similar size chunks of meat and veggies. I prepped my meat and veggies ahead, so when the time came I just had to skewer them.

Strips of bacon, woven in-between keeps the meat moist and gives the kabobs that smoky bacon flavor.

The real start of the show, is the sauce, sweet and spicy……..pineapple juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, and a nice pinch of red pepper flakes for heat.

So, you all know that a pinch wasn’t really how much I used, being the house of spice. But, for normal folks, a pinch will add just the right amount of heat.

Cornstarch thickens the sauce and gives it that nice shine you get from cornstarch. Brush the sauce during just the last few minutes of grilling as the sauce will burn quickly.

Serve the extra sauce on the side along with some steam rice and you have a perfect summer meal.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Kabobs ………get your grill on!

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Kabobs

★ 5 Stars ☆ ★ 4 Stars ☆ ★ 3 Stars ☆ ★ 2 Stars ☆ ★ 1 Star ☆ No reviews

Author: Marty Boyd
Yield: 6 1x

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Ingredients

Scale

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2 chunks
1 large fresh pineapple, cut into 1½ inch chunks
2 large red bell peppers, cut into 1½ inch pieces
1 large onion, cut into 1½ inch pieces
12 strips of thick applewood smoked bacon
FOR SAUCE:
1½ cups pineapple juice
1½ tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Pinch of red pepper flakes or to taste.
6 bamboo skewers, soaked in water for several hours.

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Instructions

To make the sauce: Combine cornstarch and brown sugar in a large sauce pan, whisk until combined. Add remaining ingredients and bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 2 minutes or until thickened. Set-aside until ready to use.
Begin with a pieces of bacon and weave around each piece of chicken and pineapple, then place the bell pepper and onion together and weave the bacon around both of those. Continue weaving until you have 4 pieces of chicken on each kabob. Spray kabobs with non stick cooking spray ( I use coconut oil spray)
Preheat the grill to medium high. Grill the kabobs for 10-15, turning a couple of times, until done.
Brush with sauce during the last few minutes of grilling.
Serve with remaining sauce and steamed rice.

Pierogi Lasagna

Pierogi Lasagna is the best of two worlds, pasta and potatoes.

The Polish are the originators of the pierogi. I love them, they can be eaten warm, cold, baked, fried or boiled. They taste great on the second day, grilled on a frying pan with some butter. And pasta with mashed potatoes …..LOVE!

I have never made homemade pierogis, I traditionally buy them Mrs. T’s Pierogies makes an amazing assortment and are available in the freezer section of the grocery store.

I tweaked a recipe from Mr. Food. Pierogi Lasagna. Mr. Food does super simple dishes, so I had to embellish a bit.

When I use the frozen pierogis I like to cook them in bacon, with onions and cabbage. So…….light bulb moment……why not add bacon, and cabbage to the recipe from Mr. Food?

The recipe is really simple! I used no boil noodles, I can never seem to boil lasagna noodles with any success……go figure.

I did make my own mashed potatoes and added roasted garlic. Roasted garlic adds a mellow garlic flavor. Roasting garlic is super easy, just cut the top off of a garlic bulb, place it on a piece of tin foil, drizzle with olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Close the foil around the garlic, and place in a 400* oven for about 45 minutes. Allow to cool, then squeeze the bulb to release the roasted, buttery, mild flavored garlic.

Fry up the bacon until crisp, reserving the fat. Set the cooked bacon aside. In the bacon fat cook the onions, and cabbage until just starting to brown. Set aside.

To assemble place a layer of noodles in the bottom of a 13 X 9 inch baking dish, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cover with 1/3 of the mashed potatoes, 1/4 of the cabbage, and 1/3 of the bacon. repeat the layers, ending with noodles and the remaining 1/4 cabbage/onion mixture.

Sprinkle with cheese and cover with foil. Bake at 350* for 35-45 minutes or until the noodles are cooked and the mixture is bubbly and hot. Allow to set for about 10 minutes, slice and serve.

Pierogi Lasagna is a hearty nod to a Polish favorite!

Pierogi Lasagna

★ 5 Stars ☆ ★ 4 Stars ☆ ★ 3 Stars ☆ ★ 2 Stars ☆ ★ 1 Star ☆ No reviews

Author: Adapted from Mr. Food
Yield: 8 1x

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Ingredients

Scale

12 no boil lasagna noodles
1 pound bacon, diced and cooked crisp
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large onions, onions, finely sliced
1/2 head cabbage shredded
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
6 cups warm garlic mashed potatoes, store-bought or homemade

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9- x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crisp, set side., reserving 2 tablespoons bacon grease.
Add onions, and cabbage to bacon grease and saute 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Place 3 noodles on bottom of prepared baking dish. Spread 1/3 of cabbage mixture mixture over noodles, then top with 1/3 of garlic mashed potatoes. Repeat layers until a total of 4 layers of noodles and 3 layers of potato mixture have been placed (with a layer of noodles on top). Top with remaining sauteed cabbage and onions.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake 35 to 45 minutes, or until heated through.

Grilled Sriracha Sloppy Joe’s

By Sunday we will all be screaming NO MORE TURKEY!!! How about Grilled Sriracha Sloppy Joe’s ?

Don’t get me wrong, I love turkey, but after a few days of anything left over…..I am done! I want something the polar opposite of what ever that left over was.Grilled Sriracha Sloppy Joe’s are just that!

For some crazy reason I have been craving a Sloppy Joe. I haven’t had one in years. We used to have them all the time when I was a kid.

I seem to remember a recipe that called for a can of soup, but for the life of me I can’t remember what the soup was, but it was one of those recipes that women passed around until everyone had it.

You know on the recipe cards that all women……of a certain age will remember…..from the kitchen of……..’sigh’ but that was before the digital revolution!

As you who are familiar with my blog know, Tim likes things spicy and he thinks Sriracha is ketchup. Well ketchup goes in Sloppy Joe’s …so why not srirachia?

The recipe is a basic Sloppy Joe recipe with ketchup, onion, green pepper, and brown sugar.

I added a touch of sriracha, a little soy and teriyaki, garlic, and rice wine vinegar. The combo was awesome!!!

A little spicy, a little sweet , and a little asian.Grilled Sriracha Sloppy Joe’s.

Normally a nice bun is what you want, but I wanted to grill mine and needed a bread to withstand the grilling pressure…..enter the ciabatta loaf. Ok, so it seems to be my bread of choice for a lot of sandwiches.

But it’s perfect to grill and toast. Crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I sliced the loaf in half lengthwise, then cut it into four sandwiches. I scopped out a little of the inside of the bottom halves to make a little well for the Grilled Sriracha Sloppy Joe’s mix.

Back in the day a slice of single wrapped cheese would have went on top, but I picked cheddar for more flavor. Besides, I am not sure those wrapped slices are real cheese????

Once assembled I grilled those babies up………Tim and I both thought they were the best Sloppy Joe’s we had ever tasted.

So now that you are over the turkey, try the Grilled Sriracha Sloppy Joe’s !!

Grilled Sriracha Sloppy Joe’s

★ 5 Stars ☆ ★ 4 Stars ☆ ★ 3 Stars ☆ ★ 2 Stars ☆ ★ 1 Star ☆ No reviews

Author: Marty Boyd
Yield: 4 1x

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Ingredients

Scale

1 pound ground beef
1 green bell pepper, seeded, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons Sriracha
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons teriyaki sauce
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 loaf ciabatta bread sliced
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

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Instructions

Cook the ground beef green pepper and onion, in a skillet over medium heat until beef is no longer pink.
Add in remaining ingredients, except bread, and mix well. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
Slice ciabatta in half lengthwise , then into fourths. Remove a bit of the bread from each slice to make a well for the beef mixture.
Pile sloppy joe mix on one half of 4 bread slices. Top with 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, and place top on sandwich.
Spread the outside of each sandwich with about 1 tablespoon butter.
Heat a skillet or griddle until hot over medium high heat. Grill sandwiches until golden brown and the cheese is melted.
Enjoy!