Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs

My husband is about to embark on a very strict, six-week long diet and exercise routine. To prepare for it, we started searching for dinners that I could make that would 1.) Fall within his diet plan and 2.) I also liked because I am not making two dinners. I found this Hawaiian Chicken Kabob recipe on Pinterest, and it is amazeballs. I changed a few things. For example, I didn't have rice vinegar so I used apple cider vinegar instead--small things like that.

Ingredients

• 1/3 C ketchup
• 1/3 C packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 C low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 C pineapple juice
• 3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2-4 tsp minced garlic (about two cloves)
• 1 Tbsp powdered ginger
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• Salt and black pepper
• 6 chicken tenders, chopped into 1 1/4-inch cubes
• 3 C (heaping) fresh cubed pineapple 
• 1 large green peppers, diced into 1 1/4-inch pieces
• 3/4 large red onion, diced into 1 1/4-inch pieces

Directions

Whisk together your ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, 2 Tbsp olive oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, ginger, and sesame seed oil in a bowl. You can also add salt and pepper if that is your preference. Set aside half a cup of the mix in your refrigerator. Place your cubed chicken in a gallon size bag and pour the remaining marinade over the chicken. Let it sit in your refrigerator for 1-2 hours. I only had an hour on my hands, but it was still very flavorful. Soak seven-ten wooden kabob sticks in water for one hour as well. I only ended up needing 7, but I also packed my kabobs to the max. 

I used my Foreman Grill for this, so no preheating was required. If you are going to use an actual grill, preheat to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, drizzle the remaining Tbsp of olive oil over your pepper and onion, then toss well. Season the pepper and onion with salt and pepper.

Begin threading your kabobs with your green pepper, onion, pineapple, and chicken until they are filled to your liking. The end result should look like this:

Spray your Foreman Grill with Pam (or lightly brush with olive oil). If you are using a real grill, brush olive oil onto the grates. Brush 1/4 of a cup of your remaining 1/2 a cup of the marinade, then grill for five minutes. Rotate your kabobs 180 degrees and brush the other side with the remaining marinade. Grill another 4 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. This should be the final result:

Nutrition Information

	Calories	Fat	Sat Fat	Sodium	Carbs	Fiber	Sugar	Protein
Chicken	129	0.6	0	231.5	0	0	0	29.6
Pineapple	82	0.2	0	2	22	2.3	16	0.9
Pepper	13	0	0	1.7	2.6	0.4	1.2	0.4
Red onion	8	0	0	0.5	1.8	0.2	0.8	0.2
Olive Oil	51	6	0.81	0	0	0	0	0
Marinade	53.23	2.18	0.30	256.87	8.37	0.18	6.91	0.47
Total per 3 kabobs	336.23	8.98	1.11	492.57	34.77	3.08	24.91	31.57

Figuring out the marinade is a little tricky. It will change depending on how much of the marinade your chicken absorbs. My chicken absorbed roughly 1/4 a cup of the marinade out of roughly 1.5 cups total. I then further divided the nutrition info to get the amount for three kabobs. Below is the nutrition info for the marinade if you need to adjust it based on how much your chicken absorbs. Longer marinating time will result in more absorption.

	Calories	Fat	Sat Fat	Sodium	Carbs	Fiber	Sugar	Protein
1/3 C ketchup	89.33	0.13	0.03	725.67	21.00	0.23	17.33	1.00
1/3 C packed light brown sugar	276.33	0.00	0.00	28.67	71.37	0.00	70.57	0.00
1/3 C low-sodium soy sauce	45.00	0.07	0.03	2834.33	7.23	0.67	1.43	4.40
1/4 C pineapple juice	34.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	8.17	0.23	7.03	0.23
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided	238.00	28.00	3.80	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
1 1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar	4.50	0.00	0.00	1.50	0.15	0.00	0.15	0.00
2 garlic cloves, minced (4 tsp)	20.00	0.12	0.02	4.00	5.28	0.40	0.16	1.00
1 Tbsp powdered ginger	18.00	0.00	0.00	2.00	4.00	1.00	0.00	0.00
1/2 tsp sesame oil	20.00	2.25	0.30	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Total ~ 1.5 C	745.16	30.57	4.18	3596.17	117.20	2.52	96.67	6.63
Total for 0.25 cups absorbed	124.19	5.09	0.70	599.36	19.53	0.42	16.11	1.10
Total per 3 kabobs	53.23	2.18	0.30	256.87	8.37	0.18	6.91	0.47

This is a decently healthy and surpsingly filling meal. I originally planned to make rice to go with this, but I ran out of time and I'm glad I did. Three kabobs were enough for me.