Grilled Chicken Bell Pepper Zucchini Squash Vegetable Kebabs make an easy, healthy dinner.
Grilled Chicken Vegetable Kebabs with Chimichurri Sauce
Each summer, I think things will be calmer, quieter, and dream of all the free time I’ll have. After all, there are fewer scheduled kid activities right? Well, that might be true, but the lack of routine can sometimes be a bit unsettling too. During the summer, the boys wake up at all different times, and it can really throw me off.
I do better with routines…I’m really not very good with kids waking up at all different times. For the first month of summer vacation, three of the four kids had to wake up to work or for camp, so we had more of a routine. But, now, only my oldest son is working, so things have been in a bit of disarray, at least from my standpoint, with the other three boys rolling out of bed at all different times. One of the boys gets up early to train for cross country, but the other two stumble downstairs a lot later.
I’ve been trying to teach my kids how to cook a bit this summer, hoping they’ll become more self sufficient and confident in the kitchen. I tell them that girls really love guys who can cook, hoping that will give them a little push to learn to make a “signature” dish to impress their future girlfriends (my husband doesn’t cook, but hey, we can all dream, right?). One of the summer projects my boys have been doing is making cooking videos demonstrating what they’ve learned to cook this summer.
This cooking video project, mostly featuring my youngest son cooking, seems to have spurred some interest in the older boys. My oldest son is living off campus this fall, so he is particularly interested in learning a few easy recipes before he returns to college. Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to cook all his favorite dishes before he leaves home again. After his first year away, I think he really does appreciate my cooking now and all the love that goes into it.
So, what does this all have to do with today’s Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Skewer recipe? With all the boys home during the summertime, lunch is always a trick since breakfast time varies depending on when each of the boys wakes up. These Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Skewers, inspired by a recipe I found on The Gingered Whisk, make perfect leftovers for lunch for the boys – both the chicken and vegetables can be cut into smaller pieces and tossed into quesadillas or in panini sandwiches, which I’ve been trying to teach my boys to make on their own.
I’ve been getting lots of zucchini and summer squash in my CSA Boxes lately, so these kebabs were a great way to use them up. My kids are not huge fans of peppers, zucchini or summer squash, but I was able to sneak them by at dinnertime and also when I stuffed them in with their sandwiches and quesadillas the rest of the week. But then again, my kids will eat practically anything with Chimichurri Sauce.
Today is “reveal day” for Group D of the Secret Recipe Club, created by Amanda of Amanda’s Cookin, and now run by April of Angel’s Homestead. The host for Group D is Sarah of Fantastical Sharing of Recipes. So far, everything I’ve tried for the Secret Recipe Club has come out really well, and I’ve had the opportunity to delve deeper into some blogs more intimately and get to know the person behind the blog. This club has grown so rapidly that Amanda created four different groups that have a different reveal day during each month. The idea behind the Secret Recipe Club is to give bloggers the chance to try each other’s recipes without the other bloggers knowing it until everyone posts their results.
This month, I was thrilled to be assigned to Jenni of The Gingered Whisk because she features cuisines of all different countries and tries all different kinds of recipes. One of my favorite features on Jenni’s blog is her recipe box. You can search her recipes by cuisine, dietary requirements, cooking method, season, key ingredient, occasion, course or dessert type. Jenni has recipes from all different cultures, including Creole, Indian, Russian, Armenian, Asian, French, Spanish, German, Mexican and Vietnamese. I also enjoyed reading through Jenni’s Bucket List, something I should sit down and write.
By her own account, The Gingered Whisk is all about what actually happens in her kitchen, however messy they might be. It’s the food her family actually eats, in the house that they live in, along with stories that go along with them.
Although I chose to make these Grilled Chicken Bell Pepper Zucchini Squash Vegetable Kebabs, some of the other recipes that caught my eye on The Gingered Whisk were Breakfast Quinoa, Caramelized Brussels Sprouts, and Double Chocolate Zucchini Brownies.
Please stop by The Gingered Whisk and check out Jenni’s recipes.
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Easy Grilled Chicken, Bell Pepper, Zucchini and Squash Vegetable Kebabs
Ingredients
- bamboo skewers
Chicken
- 3 pounds boneless chicken breast cut into 1 inch cubes
- 2 lemons
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 4 sprigs rosemary or 2 teaspoons dried oregano rosemary, thyme or a mixture
- salt and freshly ground pepper
Vegetables
- Assorted bell peppers I used red, yellow, orange
- Zucchini
- Summer Squash
To Serve
- Chimichurri Sauce
Instructions
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Place chicken in a large bowl. Add lemon, olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper. Let marinate at least one hour and up to overnight.
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Cut peppers into 1" pieces. Cut zucchini and summer squash into 1/2" thick pieces that are about 1" inch wide (I cut semi-circles for the larger pieces).
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Soak bamboo skewers for 30 minutes before grilling.
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Skewer chicken and vegetables, alternating chicken and vegetables.
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Grill until done.
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Serve with Chimichurri Sauce, if desired.
Recipe Notes
Adapted from The Gingered Whisk.
I love chimichurri and I bet it tasted amazing as a sauce for these skewers.
Anything made into kebabs are always a fun summer treat. These sound delicious, especially with that chimichurri sauce!
Melissa – the chimichurri sauce is definitely worth making. My kids would eat just about anything with this sauce on top.
i love kebabs in the summer time! They’re such a great way to make veggies tastier with the char from the grill, yumm 🙂 Your pictures look awesome!!
What a FABULOUS recipe and just the kind of food I LOVE! Anything on a skewer has my name on it! GREAT SCR post! Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Group D
I heart these. Fresh, simple and great flavours!
Thanks Carolyn – this is so easy and the leftovers are great for making sandwiches and quesadillas for the kids’ lunches the next day.
I love making kebabs in the summer and yours are so colorful and delicious looking.
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my group “A” SRC entry: Double Chocolate Mousse Cake.
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
Yum! I love kebabs and these have such great ingredients. I may have to bust out the drill for this.
Thanks Russell – all simple, fresh ingredients – you can’t go wrong. Hope you have a chance to try it.
I love kebabs! They are so versatile – I never thought of putting zucchini on them and I love zucchini! Gonna have to try this soon 🙂
oh yum, these look wonderful! + i love that we both had zucchini in our SRC picks. =) i’ll definitely have to try these soon!
Amy – there is so much zucchini around this time of year, so it’s always fun to see what everyone is doing with theirs.
So great that you’re trying to get your boys to cook! I barely knew what I was doing in the kitchen when I went off to university. I love the versatility of these kababs and that chimichurri sounds awesome!
This dish look so simple to make and love the versatility of the leftovers! Great SRC pick!
I do much better on a schedule also, so I totally get it. But I love the idea of making one big meal for lunch and then letting everyone fend for themselves as they wake up. Kind of like a lunch buffet! These kebabs are ctainly perfect for that.
Those Kebabs look AMAZING Jeannette! I’m so glad you’re teaching your boys to cook. It really is such an important life skill. My husband didn’t know how to cook before I met him and I really wish his mom had taken the time to teach him. Thanks for helping out their future wives! 🙂
Wow Jeanette! These are surely a keeper! LOVE
Ahhhhhh… Summer. How I love to grill and put things on skewers. Beautiful recipe!
This is one of our favorite recipes, so glad that you liked it! Super fun take on putting the other veggies and the chimichurri sauce with it!
this is SO on the menu the next time we have a bbq party! – it’s funny, i have a friend who has children and she’s trying to teach them how to cook too. she uses a similar tactic in convincing them that future mates might find cooking skills attractive but she goes out of her way to say “your partner will find it very attractive if you can cook”. i think it’s interesting because she’s socializing them in a way that doesn’t assume heterosexuality. i know it’s not for everyone, but i think it’s pretty rad that they know that she’ll accept and love them no matter what – just takes some of the pressure off, ya know? your post just made me think of her. i’m gonna go call her. haha.
happy belated SRC reveal day! if you feel up for it, i’d love for you to share this seasonal treat with us at the Fresh Foods Blog Hop (co-hosted every wed – fri) at Gastronomical Sovereignty.
That looks soooo delicious !
Great SRC pick.
OOOOOOO these look really really good! I’m a fellow Group D’er