Chili-Lime Chicken Kebabs

Today is a beautiful but rather hot day here and it feels more like summer than it does spring.  We ran our errands early this morning with our usual breakfast stop and Einsteins for a power bagel and coffee.  Tonight I am making Chili-Lime Chicken Kebabs over brown rice for dinner.  I found a delicious sounding chili-lime marinade that I modified slightly...and the best part about it is that it gives me a chance to use some of the fresh limes I bought a bag of last week.  I also picked up some beautiful fresh white corn on the cob to serve with our meal.  Before I go on, I need to share something that I am so excited about...we picked our first 2 tomatoes off of our tomato plant today!

The chicken marinated for about 3 hours.  I also had a Ziploc bag of Vidalia onions marinating separately from the chicken and another big Ziploc bag full of red, orange and yellow bell peppers marinating too.  Even though kebabs look really pretty when you thread the meat and vegetables together on the skewers, I prefer to have separate skewers of meat and separate skewers of veggies.  That way the meat and veggies can cook thoroughly according to when they are done.  Usually the veggies and meat cook a little differently time wise.  I grew up eating Shish-kebab that my mother would make out of either lamb or beef and they were absolutely delicious...it was one of my father's favorite meals.  Since I tend to prefer chicken to beef, I mostly use boneless chicken breast for my kebabs...but I like both.  Most of the flavor really comes from the marinating and grilling.  This marinade is quite a bit different than the typical marinade used for classic Shish-kebab; this one has a Southwestern twist with the chili powder and lime juice. If you don't want to go through the trouble of cutting the chicken and threading it on skewers, you could also marinate the boneless chicken breast halves whole and grill them that way too.  The lime flavor in this marinade really came through -- I believe the lime zest really intensified the lime flavor.  As usual I will post some pics of our dinner below as well as the recipe. Enjoy!

Check out these beautiful peppers

The chicken kebabs, pepper kebabs and Vidalia onion kebabs are grilling away

Voila!

BOOM!

BOOM! BOOM!

Chili-Lime Chicken Kebabs

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons olive oil 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar 3 limes, juiced Zest from one lime, optional 2 teaspoons chili powder 1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon onion powder 1-2 cloves garlic, minced Cayenne pepper, to taste Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast (cut into 1-1/2” pieces)

Directions:

1.	In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, and lime juice. Add chili powder, paprika, onion powder, garlic, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper. Place the chicken in a shallow baking dish or Ziploc bag with the marinade, and stir/toss to coat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
2.	Preheat the grill for medium-high heat. Thread chicken onto skewers, and discard marinade.
3.	Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill skewers for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the chicken juices run clear.