Teriyaki Chicken

Last week while shopping at Sam's Club, I found some really great cookbooks. Not only are the recipes outstanding, but the illustrations are beautiful. I flipped through the pages of all four volumes and decide to buy my mom two of them for Mother's Day. I knew Mom would really like the new cookbooks and she would have lots of new things to make and post on them on here (and they I could have the recipes, too!)

At that same time I was also trying to decide what to cook for a teacher's luncheon (in Celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week). One recipe in particular, caught my eye: Teriyaki Chicken Barbeque. So, basically, I used Mom's gift before giving it to her!  I told her that today as she opened the gift. 

I used a huge shortcut in this chicken recipe for the teacher's lunch last week, but it was a favorite of so many of the teachers and I've had numerous requests for the recipe. I've told them that my version is so simple, I'm almost ashamed to tell them about it!  I'll share my version under the following the original recipe.

CHICKEN TERIYAKI BARBEQUE
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
2 cloves garlic, crushed

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6-8 pineapple rings
6-8 red or green pepper rings
2 tablespoons cornstarch, optional

Combine soy sauce, honey, and garlic. Reserve half of this marinade, covering the chicken with the rest. Refrigerate 6-10 hours. Drain marinade off chicken and discard. Cook chicken on the grill until almost done. Then place 1 breast, 1 slice of pineapple, and 1 pepper ring on top of a piece of foil. Spoon a small amount of reserved marinade on top. Seal foil and grill for 20 minutes more. If desired, make a sauce with reserved marinade by adding 2 teaspoons cornstarch to it, stirring over medium heat until smooth and thickened slightly.

MY SUPER-EASY VERSION OF TERIYAKI CHICKEN
1 package (use 6-8 breasts) frozen mesquite grilled chicken breasts (I used Member's Mark brand from Sam's Club. It is very good. I'm really picky about already cooked chicken and have never liked any in the past. It's nice to have found a good product with great taste.)
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
garlic powder (I used 1-2 teaspoons, but just sprinkled it in)
6-8 pineapple rings
6-8 bell pepper rings (I used green)

Place chicken breasts in large casserole dish. Pineapple and bell pepper can be added to the chicken or, what I did, since I was feeding about 50 people, was put them in a seperate container to cook - knowing that some would prefer not to have it at all. Pour marinade over the top of the chicken and some over the pineapples/bell peppers (if doing seperately). Cover dishes with foil and cook 350 degrees until chicken is thawed and heated thoroughly - probably 1 1/2 - 2 hours from frozen...less if thawed. PINEAPPLE/BELL PEPPER WON'T NEED TO COOK AS LONG IF DOING SEPERATELY.

Leftover grilled chicken would be great to use in this recipe. I didn't thicken the sauce, but that would be good to do, as well.