Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirate's Life At Home: Grilled Jerk Chicken

We're at the point of the pandemic where I honestly don't know what inspired the idea of a pirate adventure.  I planned these all out so long ago!

But for whatever reason, earlier this month we traded in our regular legs for sealegs, took a quiz to get our "pirate names"  and made some pirate masks so we could look the part.

Of course, every pirate needs a parrot.

And a boat.  We started off with cork boats,

But then some ice boats joined our armada.

Once we had the look, the parrot, and the ship, it was time to go on our treasure hunt.

The treasure chest was filled with jewels, coins, and a fun new pirate game.

After uncovering the booty, we had a Caribbean pirate lunch- grilled jerk chicken and coconut water.

After nap, we got a chance to try out our new pirate game.  It's basically battleship, but with pirate ships instead of military ones.  

And enjoyed a really authentic pirate snack.

Now, I'm not sure if you know anything about pirates, but the problem with finding pirate treasure is that some other pirate inevitable wants it.  Which leads to water battles.   So we had our very own water battle.  Instead of cannons on the sea, we had water cannons and water balloons.

Water balloon fights have become a very fun addition to our weekend adventures as the temps pick up.  The boys are already trying to figure out how to work them in every weekend.  

For dinner, Thatkid requested a meal "from the sea" and so we had shells with lobster.  Which I'm sure is what most pirates ate when out at sea. 

I was very concerned about the kids and jerk chicken, because the grownups have a much higher spice tolerance than the young ones in this house.  I make my own jerk seasoning - which comes from an old coworker of mine who was Jamaican and he'd kill me if he knew I tweaked it to make it less spicy for the kids, so I'm posting it in its entirety here.  But if you leave the cayenne out, it becomes a very family friendly chicken seasoning. 

Grilled Jerk Chicken

1.5 Tbsp onion powder

1.5 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp ground ginger

1 Tbsp thyme

1 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp ground allspice

1 Tbsp paprika

1/2 Tbsp nutmeg

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp bouillon

1 Tbsp cayenne pepper

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

4 chicken breasts

1. Make the jerk seasoning.  Combine onion powder, garlic powder, ginger, thyme, white pepper, cinnamon, allspice, paprika, nutmeg, brown sugar, bouillon, and cayenne in a small bowl.
2. Take 1 Tbsp of the seasoning and combine with olive oil and salt to form a paste (reserve remaining seasoning for other uses).
3. Place chicken breasts between plastic wrap and pound to flatten.
4. Rub chicken with paste on both sides.  Grill for 3 minutes per side.