Pineapple Chicken Kabobs
I love grilled food…but am FAR from being a grilling expert…I tried doing kabobs for the first time the other day and totally charbroiled them. I attempted a second try last night with some fantastic suggestions from my mother-in-law and husband and their advice proved to be great!
I will try to explain what I did the first time [wrong], so you can try to avoid the same mistakes. I cooked the kabobs on medium-high heat for 12 minutes and had laid them on the grate vertically (parallel to the grate). They stuck to the grate horribly (food was left on the grate after I picked up the kabob) and they were black on the side that was down. Now, if you can cook kabobs on medium-high heat and they turn out for you, that is fantastic–do it the way that works for you. I, on the other hand, can’t avoid charbroiling anything I cook with direct heat. My husband suggested I use my grill basket to set them in and my mother-in-law (who grills AMAZING steaks) suggested cooking them with indirect heat. Result? Success! And now I am excited to share this recipe with you and hope that you enjoy it!
Pineapple Chicken Kabobs
Kabob Ingredients:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 – 1 pound bacon
1 can of pineapple chunks
Veggies (I think mushrooms, onions and peppers would be good, but didn’t have any on hand so skipped doing veggies)
Marinade Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. coconut aminos (this is a soy-free substitute for soy sauce–I use Coconut Secret brand)
3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. raw honey
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
Directions:
1. Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes.
2. Combine coconut aminos, apple cider vinegar, honey, oil and garlic in a small bowl and blend well.
3. Put chicken (and veggies, if marinating) into dish and pour marinade over top of the chicken. Stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
4. Cut bacon strips in half so you have shorter lengths to work with.
5. Wrap chicken chunks in bacon and put skewer through both bacon and chicken so bacon is secure. Alternate with pineapple chunks and veggies, as desired.
6. Preheat grill burners over high heat (my grill has 3 burners). Clean off grill, turn off middle burner, and turn down front and back burners to medium or medium-high heat.
7. Place kabobs perpendicular to the grate over the middle burner (which is off). (This is where I had them in a grill basket.)
8. Cook for 10 minutes. Use tongs to turn kabobs over and cook another 10-15 minutes or until chicken juices are clear and bacon is crispy. Enjoy!!
*Note: The amount of bacon and pineapple is not clearly defined in the ingredients because it just depends on how much you want to use. I alternated this way: chicken wrapped in bacon, pineapple, chicken, pineapple, chicken wrapped in bacon, etc., but get creative and tell me what other foods you tried with yours!
This recipe was shared on Allergy-Free Wednesdays, Proverbs 31 Thursday Link-Up, Pennywise Platter and Superfood Sundays!
Hungarian Hortobagy Pancakes (thin pancakes with meat filling and sauce)
I made these one night after I had a pregnancy craving for them. I haven’t had them since I was in Hungary nine years ago, but I never forgot their delicious taste! I have fond memories of the family I ate these with and the sweet lady who made them for my team and I. Unfortunately for me, the original recipe contains flour, sour cream and milk…but I was able to come up with substitutions and I will be making them again! I hope you enjoy this main dish!
Hungarian Hortobagy Pancakes (thin pancakes with meat filling and sauce)
Pancake Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. coconut flour
1/4 cup arrowroot
1 1/3 cup almond milk
8 eggs
2 tsp. coconut oil or butter, melted
1/2 tsp. salt
(extra oil or butter for greasing pan)
Pancake Directions:
1. Combine above ingredients in a blender and blend until just combined.
2. Preheat a 10″ skillet on medium heat.
3. Lightly grease pan with coconut oil or butter.
4. Put 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup batter in skillet.
5. Once pancake is set, use a square turner to flip pancake and cook briefly on the other side.
6. Set pancakes aside.
*Makes 11 pancakes.
Filling Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, cubed (I’ve heard pork is a great filling as well!)
1/2 onion
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 Tbsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Filling Directions:
1. Finely chop onion. Cook in a skillet with oil until transparent.
2. Add chicken, paprika, salt, and pepper.
3. Cook until tender and chicken is cooked through.
4. Remove chicken and onions from heat (I use a mesh strainer to separate juices).
5. Put juices back into pan.
6. Shred the chicken.
Sauce Ingredients:
Juices from cooking chicken/onion
1 cup coconut milk (canned)
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. arrowroot
Sauce Directions:
1. Combine coconut milk and lemon juice in a small bowl. Let sit 5 minutes. (This is our sour cream substitute.)
2. Thicken the juices in the pan with arrowroot and 2 Tbsp. of the coconut milk/lemon juice mixture.
3. Bring juice to boil and then add the rest of the coconut cream/lemon juice mixture to it. Continue to cook for 2-3 minutes or until sauce is heated through.
Assembly of Pancakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put 2 Tbsp. of the sauce into the chicken/onion mixture.
3. Spread chicken mixture on pancakes. Fold up.
4. Put (8) rolled up pancakes in a 9×9 baking dish and pour sauce over the top of the pancakes. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until sauce is bubbling. (You will have 3 leftover pancakes…save these for fruit and coconut whipped cream for dessert later!)
*To roll-up the filled pancakes, I just folded in two opposite sides and then folded the other two sides in and laid them in the pan, folds down.
Lemon Chicken Bake
Lemon Chicken Bake
Ingredients:
2 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. pepper
3/4 tsp. salt
3-4 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup oil (I used melted butter)
4 chicken breasts (I used frozen)
1 onion
2-3 carrots
1 large sweet potato
(other veggies of choice!)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine lemon juice, pepper, salt, garlic, and oil or butter in a bowl.
3. Cut up onion, carrots and sweet potato into wedges or chunks.
4. Baste chicken with a bit of the lemon mixture then pour the rest of the lemon mixture over the veggies and stir to coat.
5. Place chicken and veggies in a large pan and bake at 375 degrees for 45-60 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender.
*I think peppers, lemon wedges or zucchini would be great add-ins as well! I just used what I had in my kitchen and we were happy with the results!
Chicken, Broccoli & “Rice” Casserole
Cauliflower rice–I’ll admit it sounds pretty strange. BUT, when you aren’t cooking with grains, it is a really nice substitute for rice! I’m not going to try and claim it tastes exactly like rice, but the texture is similar and I will say I’d much rather eat cauliflower this way than in florets! Our daughter LOVES cauliflower rice. She would be happy with a plate full of cauliflower rice and skip the broccoli and chicken altogether!
Chicken, Broccoli & “Rice” Casserole
Serves: 4-6 people
Chicken and Soup Ingredients:
2-3 chicken breasts
oil (to rub on chicken)
garlic & sea salt (to sprinkle on chicken)
1/2 cup cold almond or coconut milk
2 Tbsp. arrowroot
1 1/2 Tbsp. butter (or oil)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp. salt
Dash of pepper
(optional) 4 oz. can of mushrooms, drained
Cauliflower Rice Ingredients:
Half a head of cauliflower cut into florets (approximately 4-5 Cups of Cauliflower florets)
1 Tbsp. butter (or oil)
1 1/2 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
Choice of veggies (we like broccoli)
1. Rub chicken breasts with oil and sprinkle with garlic salt and sea salt (or a garlic and sea salt blend). Bake until cooked through. Cut into bite-size chunks.
2. Combine milk, arrowroot, butter or oil, chicken broth, salt and pepper in a saucepan and whisk together. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Continue to cook 1 minute while stirring. Remove from heat. Add mushrooms if using.
3. Cut cauliflower into florets. Steam for 3 minutes. (I steam mine in a steamer basket–works great!)
4. Remove cauliflower from steamer basket and pulse in a food processor until it resembles rice.
5. Cook cauliflower rice in a skillet over medium heat with 1 Tbsp. butter, 1 1/2 tsp. lemon pepper and 1/2 tsp. salt for 5 minutes. Add soup to skillet and mix to combine. Remove from heat.
6. Add chicken and and veggies stir to combine. (If chicken is cold, combine chicken to rice mixture, place in a casserole dish and bake for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is hot.)
7. Serve!
Notes:
*The soup recipe is close to a condensed cream soup–so try it in other dishes as well!
Chinese Cabbage Stir-Fry
The idea for this came again from Wellness Mama’s website and the original recipe is here. Once again, I never cooked with cabbage before we started eating grain-free. I never had any desire to and I certainly didn’t think I liked cabbage. I decided to try it. It was fantastic! So I tried combining a stir-fry recipe I had grown up with along with the recipe from Wellness Mama. This is what resulted! Mr. L from my husband’s work gave us this GINORMOUS cabbage–check it out! That is a chef’s knife with an 8″ long blade!!
Chinese Cabbage Stir-Fry
Stir-Fry Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
2 cups broccoli florets
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced (optional)
1 green pepper, cut into pieces
1/2 head of cabbage (a normal-sized cabbage, that is)
1 can of pineapple chunks or tidbits
2-3 Tbsp. coconut oil or oil of choice
Sauce Ingredients:
Juice from pineapple
2 Tbsp. arrowroot
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. Apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
Directions:
1. Steam carrots and broccoli to desired tenderness.
2. Chop cabbage into strips or pieces.
3. Drain and reserve juice from pineapple chunks.
4. Mix pineapple juice and arrowroot in a bowl and whisk until blended.
5. Add the rest of the “sauce ingredients” to the bowl.
6. Cook sauce in a medium saucepan over medium heat until thickened.
7. Cook onion, pepper and cabbage (and chicken, if it is not warm already) in oil in a large skillet until veggies are tender.
8. Add pineapple, carrots, broccoli (and chicken if not already in the skillet) to the skillet.
9. Pour thickened sauce into skillet and stir to coat. Cover and cook 1-2 more minutes.
Enjoy!