I’m just going to go ahead and toot my own horn

I kid you not, I think maybe I cooked the best meal I’ve ever made today.  It’s at least in the top 5.  It’s so good I have to blog about it, which you know is not really normal blogging material for me.  I’m not someone who loves to cook.  I do cook…some weeks are better than others.  I’ve been on a pretty good run lately with meal planning, trying new things, and cooking Monday-Friday.  In my opinion, the weekends were made for going out to eat, eating leftovers, or just fend for yourself meals.  I know a mom never truly gets a break, but I feel like I work so hard all week long, a little respite from the day-to-day duties is deserved!

So tonight’s dinner is a recipe I can take absolutely no credit for.  None.  I don’t make up recipes.  I just follow them.  Tonight, I made The Pioneer Woman’s Tequila Lime Chicken. I did have to change up a few things…making a quick trip to the store is not an option now that it’s summer!  My cilantro wasn’t ready to be picked today.  It’s in some weird regrowth phase and there are no leaves on it.  So I used some of my parsley instead.  I didn’t have as many limes as the recipe called for, so I threw in a little bit of lemon juice.  I also added a little bit of cumin for no reason except my friend Suzanne is a great cook and uses lots of cumin and I was channeling my inner Suz tonight.  Derek grilled the chicken to perfection, and we topped it with monterey jack cheese and fresh avacado.  It was seriously the yummiest chicken ever!  I was worried it would be too spicy for the kids with an entire jalapeno in the marinade, but it just had the great flavor.  All the kids ate it up!  We also had corn on the cob, black beans, tortillas, and home grown tomatoes.  I can tell you that this chicken is going to be a regular on our summer menu.  We had the most delightful dinner tonight.  The fact that I just used the word “delightful” when describing a meal time with 3 small kids should tell you something.  Most meal times are more frantic, messy, chaotic, etc.  Tonight was actually delightful.

You should really visit the link above to get the recipe and pictures, but here is the recipe for the marinade, which you mix all together in a food processor:

3 limes, juiced
5 cloves of garlic
1 jalapeno
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup tequila
1/2 cup cilantro
5 tablespoons olive oil

Seriously so yummy!