Chicken & Veggie Kebab Skewers
Great for entertaining (inside or outside), great for snacking – and loved by kids and adults alike! This recipe actually makes enough for four to six people – but just to give you an idea of where they sit on the health scale, if it’s shared between 4 people, you’ll be taking in about 570 calories each.
Ingredients
Instructions
13 steps
Cut the yellow squash and zucchini into medallions.
Cut the bell peppers into square-ish pieces – about 1” in diameter.
Peel and quarter the onion then separate each layer.
Take your head of cauliflower (or broccoli), cut off the stalk and then chop the head in half. After that, snap off the “florets” with your hands.
Put your tomatoes into the bowl with all the other vegetables.
Cut your chicken into cube-like chunks – snipping them up with scissors is a quick and easy way to do this!
Now prepare the sauce in a separate bowl – start with ½ cup olive oil, add the lemon juice, add your basil, oregano, salt and pepper and mix it up with a fork.
Drizzle the oil mixture over vegetables and chicken and mix with a fork or your hands (if using your hands, remember to wash them well after handling the chicken)
Preheat the grill / barbeque
Make your kebabs while the grill is heating up – it works well if you put some vegetables on first, then some chicken, then more vegetables.
Put the kebabs on a plate so you can carry them out to the barbeque, or else you can position them on the grill pan while it’s out of the oven and then put them all under in one go.
They should be cooked after approx. 20 minutes, but keep checking on them – they will need turning at least once, halfway through.
When the kebabs are ready, you can either eat them as they are or, if you’re willing to take in a few extra calories, you could serve them with a side of tzatziki or guacamole.
Notes: Ingredients
Vegetables
- One of the five main food groups established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1916
- The other food groups are fruits, grains, protein foods and dairy
- The vegetable group is divided into five subgroups of nutritionally similar vegetables:
- Dark green vegetables – eg. broccoli, dark leafy greens such as spinach and kale.
- Starchy vegetables – corn, potatoes, plantains and green peas
- Beans & peas – lentils and mature legumes
- Red & orange vegetables – tomatoes, red peppers, sweet potatoes and carrots
- ‘Other’ veg – cabbage, beets, avocado, celery and mushrooms are some of the vegetables categorized as “other vegetables.”
- The USDA counts frozen, canned and dried or dehydrated vegetables as the same.
This dish is packed with vegetables, but what quantity of vegetables should we be eating each day?
- USDA intake recommendations for each group are based on age, gender and level of physical activity. But in general…
- Moderately active women and men -50 should eat 2 ½ cups of raw or cooked veg per day
- Adults 50+ should reduce their daily intake to 2 cups
