Strawberries are a wonderful dessert food, as we have already seen.  And it’s quite easy to add strawberries into your breakfast regimen.  But what about dinner?  I wanted to find a way to add this delicious summer fruit to our dinner table. One option:  slicing strawberries and adding them to a salad.  That is yummy, but not quite what I was looking for.  I wanted these red beauties to be the center point of a meal.  A search on All Recipes inspired me to make my own Strawberry Chicken Kabobs.

Strawberry Chicken Kabobs

Ingredients:

• Chicken (2 – 4 breasts, cut into chunks)
• Marinade (optional — I used Fresh & Easy Raspberry Chipotle Sauce or ingredients to make your own: Strawberry, Water, Lemon Juice)
• Fruit cut in chunks: Strawberry, Pineapple, Mango
• Veggies, kabob size: grape/cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, onions
• Kabob Skewers

Step 1:  Prepare Chicken.  I  used 4 chicken breasts and had TONS of leftovers.  [I probably used a breast and a half or two breasts for the kabobs.  The rest, I cooked on the foreman and stuck in the fridge -- it made excellent quesadillas the next day.]  Cut into one inch chunks.  Also, soak your skewers in water.

Step 2:  Flavor your chicken.  For the easy route, and how I prepared half of my chicken, just dump it into a bowl and cover with marinade, let sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, longer is better.  I used F&E Chipotle Raspberry Marinade and it was the bomb!  The other option is to make your own.  If you do this, I recommend doing it before you prepare your chicken (so switch steps 1 and 2).  Slice & mash 6 strawberries and add to 1 cup of water, bring to a boil.  Add the juice from 1 lemon and simmer for about 10 or 15 minutes.  I tried adding a bit of balsamic vinegar (1/4 cup), but it just didn’t taste right.  Not bad, just not right.  So don’t add that.  Just simmer it and then add a few dashes of spices (I used my specialty seasoning blend and cayenne pepper).  After it’s thickened up a bit, let cool and add to your chicken.  If it is too hot when you add the chicken, it will cook the outside and the chicken will be dried out after cooking on the kabobs.

Step 3:  Assemble kabobs.  Make yourself a little station with your cut fruits & veggies.  Skewer the stuff on in a random order and then set aside.  Once all are ready, you can cook them.  I cooked mine in the oven, on a rack over a broiler pan, for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees.  Just keep an eye on the chicken and watch for it to be done.  I highly recommend using the barbecue, but I was just too lazy that night.

Let me know if you use this recipe and what you think of it.  I loved the mixture of the sweet and tart/spicy flavors.  The next night, we put the leftovers (off the skewers) on a pizza with ranch dressing sauce & cheddar jack cheese.  It was a great way to use up those leftover chunks of fruit, veggies and meat.  The holes were not even noticeable, because the pizza was covered in cheese!