Chicken Kabobs & Mango Salsa

Ever since I moved into my new place about a year ago, I've been eager to make more use of the patio and its grills. I was envious as I saw people taking advantage of the beautiful weather.... sunbathing on the rooftop while sipping drinks, while I was "stuck' indoors finishing up some work...That's when I decided, today was the perfect day for a nice relaxing, summer barbecue and break for working so hard this past week.

I was contemplating between burgers and kabobs, but since I've already experimented with burgers, I knew making chicken kabobs would be a lot of fun. For this recipe, I used a variety of my favorite colorful vegetables. To add to this great meal, I made a colorful mango salsa to go with the kabobs since I had some nice green mangos. It was del-i-cious! I couldn't ask for better grill out.  Feel free to add more spice if you like things extra spicy like me!

Chili-Lime Chicken Kabobs 

     Ingredients:

·       1 lb chicken breast or thighs cut into 1” cubes
·       1 small zucchini cut into 1" diameter sliced
·       ½ red onion cut into triangles
·       ½ red bell pepper quartered
·       ½ green bell pepper quartered
·       5 button mushrooms

Chili-Lime Marinad

In this marinade, I used oil preferably because it allows the flavor of the spices to penetrate the meat. You can use canola oil or another vegetable oil, but Extra-virgin olive oil naturally contains monoglycerides and is a good choice for marinades because it is a natural emulsifier. However, if you want to cut the calories, you can substitute with a juice like lemon or orange or even replace half the oil with water....

     Ingredients

·       2-3 T olive oil or
·       1.5 T red wine vinegar
·       1 tsp Chili Powder
·       ½ tsp Paprika
·       ½ tsp Onion Powder
·       ½ tsp Garlic Powder
·       1 Tbsp. lime juice or 1 lime juiced
·       ½ tsp Cayenne Pepper (halve for less heat)
·       ¼ tsp salt 

      Directions

Whisk marinade together and in a Tupperware or Ziploc bag marinade chicken. Let it marinade about half an hour to an hour in the fridge.  

After marinating, skewer veggies and chicken pieces. I used about 4 pieces of chicken per skewer, mixed with assortment of veggies. I ended up making 5 skewers. Discard any leftover marinade.

Mango Salsa

Ingredients:

·      1 firm mango diced
·      _1/3 cup minced cilantro
·      ¼ cup minced red onion
·      ½ jalapeno
·      Sprinkle of salt to taste
·      Squirt of lime juice or about ½ lime 

Directions:

Mix ingredients and chill until ready to serve (at least 2 hours). 

I hope you guys really enjoy this meal. I know "B" and I had a great time barbecuing and preparing this meal together. It was really simple and the taste was over the top!!!