Grilled Teriyaki Chicken

In celebration of the beautiful weather, we had my parents over to grill on Friday night. Seeing as it was the first time Dan has turned the grill on and I actually had the stomach for it, I still decided to steer clear of a greasy burger and opted to try a recipe I saw on Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals when I was home sick a couple of weeks ago.

This was a great simple recipe for me because it allowed for a bit of experimenting without having to follow an exact ingredient list. Now that I think about it, I'm not even sure I would call this a "recipe" since it is so simple.

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken
2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
teriyaki sauce
grill seasoning
olive oil

1. Trim fat off of chicken pieces, rinse with cold water, and divide if necessary (mine were 2 HUGE pieces that Dan cut in to 4).
2. Place chicken pieces in gallon-sized ziploc bag with remainder of ingredients. Seal bag and shake to coat all pieces.
3. Marinade in refrigerator for 30-60 minutes while the grill warms up.
4. Grill until browned on all sides. Serve with pineapple.

Now here was the fun part... "grill seasoning" is not sold at the teeny grocery store at the end of our street, and I wasn't about to drive to the next closest store for 1 thing, so Dan suggested I make my own. Here's what I ended up using - onion powder, garlic salt, black pepper, a teeny bit of chili powder, and paprika. Yum.

As a side dish, the original 30 Minute Meal called for a whole pineapple which was cut into wedges, drenched in lime juice, grilled, and then sprinkled with honey and lime zest. I only had pineapple chunks in a can so I skipped the fanciness on that one, but I'll definitely make this again and try it with the grilled wedges.

I don't have much to say as far as "learnings" with this because it was so simple... but Dan's Aunt Claire told me that my notes are her favorite part of my recipe postings, so here they are!

A couple notes about this dish -
1. I didn't go anywhere near the grill, so I have no idea about the actual cooking of this. Thankfully, Dan is a grill master and I had perfectly cooked chicken for dinner.
2. Making your own grill seasoning at home is easy, and for a novice like me - exciting! I liked being able to just toss together the flavors I wanted and knowing that adding or subtracting something in the future can make the chicken a little different every time. I also enjoyed the fact that my experimenting did NOT result in a disaster. :)