Grill on fire! and then there was dinner....

Okay, it has been a crazy busy week so far. Big things happened on Monday. I got a great deal on some movie tickets from Groupon – if you haven’t heard of them, I highly suggest you check them out! What are you waiting for? Oh wait, read this first and then go check out Groupon for your area. Thanks. – Thing 1 got her learner’s license (LOOK OUT FLORIDA DRIVERS!!!) and … oh, yeah, I guess that’s it. But those are big – really BIG! And it was only Monday! Phew! Tuesday was the day for running around a chicken with my head cut off and today is Strep Throat day – guess Thing 2 felt she needed to outdo Thing 1’s flu. Thing 2 is my overachiever. Anyway, I actually tried a new recipe on Monday and, because we’ve been so busy, haven’t had time to tell you about it. And it’s really worth telling. So, a couple of sunsets later……

You know I love grilling. The other night, the grill caught fire – like, not on purpose. This is one of the downsides of a gas grill. If you don’t clean the drip pan and heating elements as often as you should, sometimes the drippings get REALLY fired up (ha!). Especially, if you turn the grill on to heat up and your ADD gets the better of you and you sort of forget to get back out there to turn it down to the actual temp you want. Anyway, we got the fire put out and cleaned the grill and I’ve been happily grilling since. No, my grilling privileges didn’t get revoked! Are you kidding? We might starve if that happened!! But that’s enough about my sometime forgetfulness. Back to the actual grilling of food.

We’ve had fabulous weather lately – okay, pretty much every day since we’ve been down here minus the one day we had severe thunderstorms and tornados…no, I didn’t grill that day – and I found a great recipe for chicken skewers. I love skewers. There’s something satisfying about food on a stick – why is that? Perhaps it reminds me of good times at fairs and amusement parks and being a kid? I don’t know and I don’t care. Skewers are fun. And this recipe, creatively called Sunset Chicken with Grilled Vegetable-Rice Pilaf (Cooking Light, May 1999) sounded really delicious and super easy. Actually, this is a great weeknight recipe for a busy parent. The chicken marinates for an hour according to the recipe but I see no reason that you can’t marinate the chicken for longer or even just 30 minutes. 30 minutes is enough time to get the flavors in. The rice takes 20 minutes and the chicken and veggies can grill while the rice is cooking. Very little chopping time and viola! You’ve just outdone Rachel Ray with a 20-minute meal! Woohoo! (okay, really, I’ve made some of her recipes and while they are yum-O, they usually require more than 30 minutes to accomplish. Hm….maybe I’ll test a new 30-minute meal soon and see how it works out.)

The chicken turned out really well but I think my personal favorite was the grilled vegetable-rice pilaf. Oh my goodness, it was so good! I can see this being just as tasty with a steak or a pork chop or pork tenderloin. Feel free to experiment! Here’s the recipe. Happy cooking, eating and drinking!

Sunset Chicken with Grilled Vegetable-Rice Pilaf

Marinade:
½ cup fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)
2 tablespoons hot sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
6 (4-ounce) skinned, boned chicken breast halves – I used boneless, skinless because I didn’t want to deal with the skin and bones, worked out just fine! And the chicken got more of the seasoning.

Rice:
½ cup golden raisins
1 (16-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup uncooked basmati or long-grain rice

Spice mix:
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Remaining Ingredients:
1 large onion, cut into 12 wedges
1 cup (1-inch) pieces red bell pepper
1 cup (1-inch) pieces green bell pepper (I used orange because it was what I had)
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons chopped cashews
2 teaspoons olive oil

1. To prepare marinade, combine first 3 ingredients in a shallow dish, and add chicken, turning to coat. Cover and chill 1 hour. Drain; discard marinade.

2. To prepare rice, bring raisins and broth to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add rice. Cover, reduce heat. Simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Keep warm.

3. To prepare spice mix, combine chili powder, cumin, salt and black pepper in a small bowl. Rub 1 tablespoon spice mix over chicken. Combine remaining spice mix, onion and bell peppers in a bowl, tossing to coat. Thread vegetables alternately onto 3 (12-inch) skewers.

Ready for grilling!

4. Prepare grill. (Seriously, that’s all it says. So helpful. Medium heat is what I went for.)

5. Place kebabs and chicken on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 7 minutes on each side or until chicken is done and vegetables are tender.

6. Remove the vegetables from the skewers. Combine cooked rice, vegetables, cashews, and oil in a large bowl; toss well. Serve with chicken.

Come and get it!

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and 1 cup pilaf)
Calories 348 (13% from fat); Fat 5.1g (sat 1g, mono 2.4g, poly 1g); Protein 30.4g; Carb 43.6g; Fiber 2.9g; Cholesterol 66mg; Iron 3.7mg; Sodium 415mg; Calcium 48mg