Mike's Two Way Grilled Chicken Skewers

This is what my youngest culinary students do when they get bored. Like me, they grill.These kabobs were delicious kiddos! Excellent work!

Brining your chicken is optional. Just know that by brining, your chicken will be much more juicy and flavorful than it would be without. Chances are, you'll need the extra juiciness if grilling or baking. But, know that brined chicken won't char up as well.

So simple, so juicy, so delicious!Yakitori literally means, "grilled chicken." But, also refers to any skewered foods in general. Yakitori is also made with bite sized pieces of chicken meat, chicken skin, chicken offal - like chicken livers, cartilage or gizzards. Or, other meats and vegetables skewered on soaked bamboo scewers. AKA, "Kushi." It's also always grilled over binchōtan charcoal.Unfortunately, my small Yakatori Grill is currently being refurbished and my students were forced to cook them on my gas grill this evening. Just know that binchōtan charcoal under a traditional Yakitori Grill absolutely makes this dish flavor wise. You can find all of these ingredients, including the grill, at your local Asian market.

Three of my youngest students [6 years old] wanted to learn how to both brine and grill meat today. Listed is their easy grilled chicken recipe but they also grilled steaks and ribs. If interested, you can find those recipes and directions listed under my profile. ☺ Great work you little monkeys!

While this recipe may take some time on your part, you will not regret your efforts by any means. I mean that! Neither will your family or guests! Just know that this recipe is so easy to follow, my 7 and 8 year old culinary students made this dish tonight with little supervision and, minimal follow up questions.This dish is so flavorful and downright juicy folks! Between the moisture in your brined chicken, especially your oversized mushrooms and your Tzatziki Sauce, you won't even need a beer to follow it up with! Hence the need to serve them with a thick, seasoned, absorbent, oversized piece of Naan Bread!Know that this dish also makes a great vegetarian option as well. As for the Tzatziki Sauce, it's a bit untraditional with the addition of the fresh minced chives and it being heavy on the sour cream as opposed to the Greek Yogurt. But, it certainly works! Especially for those who aren't exactly fond of the bitter / sour taste known to accompany Greek Yogurt. Tho the slight amount of sour Greek Yogurt added does pair nicely with the sweetness of the Vidalia Onions.Total manual prep time will take you approximately 60 minutes if making this dish for the first time alone. Total wait time will be much longer with the brine and marinating time.Of all the dishes I make, and I make many, this is my wife's, and all her friends favorite. In fact, everyone on their birthday gets a special, "dish wish." This one is easily the most requested next to my Green Chilie Stew.Use the freshest, crispiest garden vegetables, herbs, chicken and Naan breads for best results! Tip? Go heavy on the mushrooms!All pictures and directions taken by 7 and 8 year olds! Great work kiddos! I'm SO proud! 😆

This juicy, lip smackingly sweet, tangy BBQ chicken breast sandwich on freshly baked Ciabatta bread was created by one of my youngest eight year old students. Between the fresh baked bread, the chilled firm vegetables, and the contrast of the sweet sauce and tartness of the peppers and pickles - all made for one delicious sandwich! Her choice of salt and vinager potato chips were a great pairing as well!

Recipe yields 8 -12" scewers consisting of 10 cubes chicken a piece. It's meant to feed 4 but can serve 6. Serve chicken in grilled Naan Bread or seasoned Tortillas with Sour Cream & Chives. Grilled, seasoned Corn On The Cob or Spicy Rice make wonderful side dishes!

Ah fajitas! No matter how you make em'' they're always juicy, flavorful and spicy TexMexy goodness!!All of my 6, 7, 8 and 10 year old culinary students made 20 pounds [chicken alone] of these TexMex Fajita Bento Boxes for our local women's shelter and their children last night. I'm so proud of all of them. They all worked SO late and SO hard. These were beyond delicious and totally appreciated by everyone kiddos!

Crazy easy and delicious! I had 2 kids that wanted 2 totally different types of baked chicken tonight. But know this dish could easily serve 4.

Know that you can change the spice pallet on these Kebobs in a heartbeat!Serving fish? Subtract the Italian Seasonings and add Lemon Pepper, Dill or lemon zest. Serving beef? Try adding more fresh ground black pepper a couple hints of Worchestershire Sauce. Planning on serving Mexican? Employ some Ground Cumin and Mexican Oregano instead of regular oregano. The options for seasoning these Kebobs go on and on folks!You can also add a myriad of other fresh vegetables to these scewers. So, let's clean out those crispers!

If you have the time [2+ hours] to brine your chicken breasts, it'll definitely pay off with juicier and more textured meat every time! All brining takes is equal parts salt and sugar in enough ice water to cover chicken. Place in fridge.

Tonight, my seven year olds were on an absolute mission to make their parents the BEST grilled brined chicken kabobs and charred vegetable dinner with chilled Tatziki sauce they've had in quite some time! Anyway, success! Excellent work kiddos! Delicious! Absolutely delicious! We all loved and devoured your recipes!

This evening I charged my youngest students with making the lowest calorie, lowest carb and lowest fat meal they could think of. However, it had to be high on flavor. The dried herbs definitely took care of that! Anyway, a long story short - THEY NAILED IT!Seasoned chicken cubes cooked in a T-Fal Air Fryer [with 1 tbsp oil to 2 pounds of chicken cubes] and a flavorful baked vegetable melody! Per serving, each delicious dish is less than 400 calories with a side. Excellent work kiddos!

Since brined meats are a little harder to penetrate with a marinade, I would not recommend it for this specific dish.

Typically I'd have my culinary students grill these chicken breasts but it's way too cold out tonight. Or, I'd have them broil them but my new oven crapped out and won't be fixed until tomorrow. With that, they were forced to pan sear then throw the breasts in to the Salamander to melt the cheeses and heat the tomatoes. Anyway, these massive deli sandwiches were just as juicy as they were delicious! Great work again kiddos! Great photos too!

So filling, so refreshing, so flavorful, so juicy and so very easy to make! My 6 and 7 year old students had a blast preparing and documenting these! And, devouring them as well! They went with Naan bread out of necessity but, Pita Bread works great as well!

Here in New Mexico, we put spicy Hatch Green Chilies in literally almost everything we eat and, usually wrap them up in warm, fresh flour tortillas. Hell, I'm surprised we haven't invented green chile pancakes or ice cream with them at this point. Yup. We're all that addicted. Even the kiddos.Anyway, my 7 to 8 year old students absolutely adore Spicy Southern BBQ Pulled Pork as well as Green Chile Stew. With that, I charged them today with creating a Mexican Green Chile Pulled Pork dish all by themselves. Well, they couldn't decide if they wanted sandwiches or stew so together, they compromised. Both dishes were made from the same green chile batch.This is such an easy recipe, know my students all ate hot dogs and hamburgers and, played endless Marco Polo in the pool while their pork roast slowly simmered away. Taking breaks only to layer their scrumptious dishes. So darned cute! ♡You do have the option of serving this dish wet or dry. Depending upon the amount of broth you add to it. If serving on the wet side - like a stew - use flour tortillas to dip in it. Dry, on the other hand, works with just about anything.Put this [dry] deliciously spicy, flavorful meat in flour or corn tortillas, on tacos, tortas, tostadas, in rolled deep fried taquitos, burritos, sopes, with tortilla chips, enchiladas, chimichangas or even on buns. This really is one heck of a versatile recipe!Created, documented and photographed solely by my imaginative, brilliant, adventurous, adorable, tiny little students! I swear - KIDS ROCK!

It was literally a BBQ Bonanza this 4th of July holiday at my house folks! Pool side even!My incredibly ambitious students made BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches, BBQ Baby Back Ribs and BBQ Baked Beans! All served with chilly Cole Slaw, sweet buttery Corn On The Cob, fresh garden salads, fresh garnishments and fresh fruits!Man! Talk about a sticky little weekend! I'm sure any one of you parents out there can imagine how big of a mess 15 tiny little students can make with fresh fruits, sugary sodas and 4 large bottles of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce huh? 😒 Jeeze! I'm still cleaning it all up! [so are the ants]Anyway, since there were too many recipes to post - I had them list the easiest and the tastiest of those presented. I'll post their recipe for the Copy Cat KFC Cole Slaw and BBQ Ribs on a separate post.Know all photos and instructions were taken and posted by my 7 and 8 year old talented icky - yicky - sticky lil' culinary monsters! Excellent job kiddos! Mom's, dad's, siblings, guests and teacher were ALL so very impressed!

I was served this dish in Mexico City years ago. While I was a bit confused by some of the ingredients, it was fantastic! Since then I've tried to recreate it. Well, I finally nailed it. This salad goes great on so many dishes. Especially any Mexican dish you can think of. I love it with sturdy salty tortilla chips. Excelente trabajo estudiantes!

Easy, sweet, tangy and delicious are four ways to describe this delectable dish. Excellent work students! These sandwiches went fast! Way to make a proper Southern Sloppy Sow!

A great healthy & tasty way to cook chicken...serving on the skewers is great for presentation & fun to eat!

So light, so crispy, so chilly and refreshing. Especially on a hot summers day! Go low carb with fresh lettuce wraps. Or, on fluffy Artisinal bread or quality crackers. Great work kiddos!

Scroll to the bottom for a super quick and easy recipe for Mad Greek Rice as well as a link to my Tatziki Sauce.

I love it when my culinary students get bored while waiting for their stews and soups to simmer. They come up with the coolest ideas. My 7 year olds created this dish and grilled it themselves. Delicious work again kiddos! I'd eat this any day of the week! Again, easy & freakin' delicious!

If you can't find granulated garlic with dried parsley - add a 1/2 tbs dried parsley to your potatoes. You'll want that extra color and flavor addition.

Thailand or, China? Who cares who the hell created this delicious dish! Just so long as it was eventually created! ;0)Chicken, shrimp, pork, beef or tofu all work great in this simple dish! In fact, this dish is so versatile and forgiving, feel free to get creative with her!My 7 year old students did a great job on this dish. Excelent work kiddos!

Just as its name promises, this moist baked chicken is just as garlicky as it is lemony and herbal!

As usual, it's, "Free For All Friday." here in the O'Brien Shire for my culinary students. This means they can create any dishes they desire. This fantastic dish was submitted by my 8 year old students. Excellent work and documentation kiddos! Delicious! Just flat out delicious!

My students wanted to make a cheesy chicken dish last night that would impress their parents. This is what they all decided upon. Man, were they juicy and delicious! [the chicken breasts - not the kids] 😊Anyway, excuse the lack of detailed pictures. They were taken but Jasmine had cranberry sauce on her lense. [don't ask] 😔 Thankfully I was able to snap a few clear shots tho.

The weather's warming up for some of us so that means it's time for lighter, juicier, chilled lunches and sides! Serve with a tall glass of iced tea and a lemon wedge.