[Ed-Seth: You guys remember Joe Pichey, author of the barbecuing blog GloBlueBBQ, right? He's back this year with more recipes. This year he will also be doing recipes for Eat Well Embrace Life. Have you seen this at Busch's or Kroger or Meijer or the Kroger that was Hiller's yet (map)? Try the carrot one first. Or maybe the edamame. My wife is all about the lentils one. Also you can cook with them. Also also they are the Official Hummus of your favorite sports blog. And they're paying Joe to write recipes.]
[I am not kidding: the carrot one first.]
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The season is finally upon us and the “Bo-B-Que” grills are fired up. We’ve had a great off-season and got a chance to try a ton of new recipes. We also picked up a new co-sponsor for the weekly recipes in Eat Well Embrace Life Hummus. Matt, the CEO, is a Michigan Alum and a huge fan of MGOBLOG, so its a great fit. Plus, we needed some healthy options to keep the cardiologists off our back. Hopefully, this will make the doc happy! Were also going to have some giveaways in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned. This is going to be a great season both on the field and around the pits with Stubbs and Eat well Embrace Life Hummus.
Ingredients :
- Chicken Breasts
- Red Onions (You can choose any veggie you like)
- Grilling Cheese (Brun-Uusto is my favorite)
- Pita Bread
- Eat Well Embrace Life Hummus - Red Lentil Chipotle
- Creamy Italian Dressing (Optional)
[After the JUMP: more YUM]
One of my favorite new items to throw on the grill is called Grilling Cheese. I ran across this last year and have been addicted ever since. It’s a little hard to find, but when you locate it, stock up!!! Become friends with the owner of that shop and invite him over for tea and strumpets. Make sure he never stops carrying it. This hard cheese sears perfectly over high heat and remains gooey and chewy in the center. You can toss this directly on the grill over medium high heat and it will be ready in about 5 - 8 minutes.
But for the purpose of this recipe, lets cut it up into bite sized chunks. Do the same with your chicken and veggies. Make sure they are all about the same size. If you’d like to marinate or brine your chicken pieces, go ahead. I used a creamy Italian dressing for mine and let sit for about 2 hours.
Fire the grill up to medium high heat. One of the most asked questions from the last 2 seasons is what type of charcoal I recommend. I like to stay away from the standard briquettes as they ash and don’t burn very hot. I love the FOGO brand lump charcoal. Not only is it the best out there but the owners family are all Michigan Alums. Winner Winner. They don’t pay me for this, I just like promoting great products. As the grill is heating up, start making your skewers. I prefer to keep the veggies on 1 or 2 skewers and the meat/cheese on another. Sometimes, the veggies get done a little quicker and I can remove them from the heat if they are separate. If you are using wooden skewers, make sure and soak them in water for about 30 minutes. This way, they don’t burn on the grill.
Once they are all skewered up and the fire is where you want it, oil the grates and toss 'em on. Oiling the grates really helps with the cheese. This is a great tailgate recipe as you can prepare the kabobs ahead of time and relax around the grill. Don’t worry about the cheese melting into the fire. This will hold its shape and have a perfectly charred exterior.
After a few minutes, you won’t be able to tell the difference between the cheese and the chicken pieces. They all start to develop that beautiful crispy charred crust that everyone loves. If you’d like to baste them with some creamy Italian dressing, go ahead. After about 3 minutes a side, start probing the chicken with your instant read thermometer. Y’all know which thermometer we prefer. We will be giving another away later in the season. We are looking for an internal temp of 165 on the chicken, Once we reach this temp, remove from the heat and tent with foil.
Once the chicken is off and resting, add a few pita rounds to the grill. These will cook fast, so don’t walk away. These take about 30 seconds per side if over direct heat. Once removed, you can keep them warm in a foil pouch.
Once everything is cooked, it’s time to assemble your grilled cheese and chicken kabobs. Pile on some Eat Well Embrace Life Red Lentil Chipotle Hummus along with anything on a hot skewer and dig in.
As you can see by the pic above, the cheese has a crusty exterior and a chewy interior. I’ve got to be honest and say that the chicken and veggies took a back seat to the salty cheese and spicy hummus combo. This was out of this world tasty!!!!
Give this one a shot with any number of flavor combos from Eat Well Embrace Life Hummus. They have an assortment of different flavors to choose from and can be found in most super markets and grocery stores. Excuse the typos as I’m writing this on my iPhone as I’m stranded on the tarmac in Detroit. I am also surrounded by the MSU soccer team as they travel down to Dallas for the season opener. Nice group of guys but wearing the wrong colors. Good Luck fellas.