Grilled kabobs…a summer classic.
What makes this dish are the fresh vegetables and herbs as well as the combination of warm Mediterranean spices and cool tzatziki sauce.
This dish can stand alone OR be accompanied by the watermelon cucumber salad.
Grab your free Mediterranean Inspired Recipes, including both of these dishes, here http://aknutrition.net/mediterranean-inspired-recipes
Time Savings
We all love home cooked meals. Lack of time is often one of the hurdles to creating more meals at home.
Meal preparation (prep) is one of the ways my clients learn how to create more meals at home. Meal prep refers to preparing components of a recipe, or a full recipe, ahead of time. Rather than preparing recipes from start to finish at every meal, you can prepare part, or all, of the recipe in advance.
Meal prep allows you to re-allocate some, or all, of the time to prepare meals during times of the week that you are less busy or work best for your schedule. For example: meal prepping on your days off so that you are spending less time creating meals on days you work -OR- meal prepping in the evenings after dinner when you have less constraints on your time. The timing of meal prep will be different for everyone.
One of the beautiful things about this recipe is that it is PERFECT for meal prep. By cutting up the ingredients and placing the chicken in the marinade ahead of time, you can have this meal on your plate within 15 minutes after a long day.
Cardamom
Cardamom is one of the spices used within this recipe. It is widely used in Indian, Middle Eastern, Arabic and Swedish cuisine in both sweet and savory dishes.
Tea drinkers may already be familiar with its flavor as it is the main component of chai spice blend.
Cardamom has a very unique flavor. It is best described as a complex and earthy spice with a pungent flavor and aroma.
Use ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice as a substitute. You can also combine equal amounts of cinnamon and ginger in attempts of replicating cardamom’s complex flavor. However, due to its unique taste, there really is no true substitute.
Find cardamom in the spice aisle.
Garam Masala
Garam marsala is another spice used within this dish. It translates into “warm spice” and is a blend of spices used in Indian cuisine.
There are many variations of the spices used within garam masala. They shift based upon the region within India as well as personal taste preferences and family traditions. Common spices within garam masala include coriander, cumin, cardamom, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon, turmeric, saffron, and nutmeg. For example, The Private Selection brand from Kroger includes paprika, chiles, turmeric, garlic and saffron.
The garam marsala spice blends are aromatic in nature and add a warm (not spicy) and slightly sweet taste to the dish.
Find garam marsala in the spice aisle.
