Tasty Tuesday: Chicken Teriyaki Pops

It's hard to believe that it was just last week that we were at our rented beach house about to celebrate New Year's Eve!  On that night, we had decided to do a cocktail party and the menu was looking pretty dip-heavy.  Now I love a dip as much as the next person (probably even more so), but considering this was going to be our dinner, I wanted to contribute something that may be a bit more substantial.
  So I took to Pinterest and there I found the Pioneer Woman's "Skewers of Glory."  They seemed to fit the bill, but they were made with shrimp.  Josh is allergic to shrimp, so I switched it out for chicken and the result was perfection!  Seriously, so good!  They're a bit of work, but definitely worth it if  you're looking to make something that will impress!
One of my friends suggested we change the name to pops instead of skewers because it was just so much more appealing, so I went ahead and did that too!

Chicken Teriyaki Pops

• 1/2 cup thick teriyaki sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp. minced ginger
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• dash of kosher salt
• 2 green onions, chopped
• fresh pineapple, cubed
• 1 pound chicken, cubed
• 1 pound thin bacon, cut in half
• about 30 skewers

1. Soak skewers in water for 30 mintues.

2. Preheat oven to 400.  Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and place cooling rack on top.

3.  Make marinade by combining teriyaki, garlic, ginger, sugar, red pepper, lemon, salt, and green onions.  Stir together and set aside.

4.  Assemble by putting pineapple chunk on top of chicken chunk.  Wrap both in bacon and secure by sticking skewer through all.  Lay on cooling rack (on top of foil-lined cookie sheet).  Repeat until all chicken, pineapple, and/or bacon is used.

5.  Brush each pop generously with sauce.

6.  And this is when things get a bit dicey.  Our oven was really slow at the house (everyone's stuff took way long to make for some reason), so there these took about 55 minutes to cook!  But I'm thinking elsewhere it should be about 35-40 minutes high side.  I guess just watch them!

Oh and by the way, in case you're curious, my other contribution that night was an amazing, easy chocolate trifle.  I literally didn't modify the recipe at all, though, so instead of retyping the whole thing, I'll just send you there!