Chillin’ n’ Grillin’

I love it when the weather is nice here in Portland; especially this early in the springtime. We’re so beaten down as Portlanders that we’re used to dealing with rain from November until July 5th. I think this has been one of the driest winter/springs I’ve experienced in a long time. In order to take advantage of the nice weather, Michael and I have been grilling outside.

One night after work, we went for a walk to the school near our house. There were kids playing rugby, baseball, soccer, and lacrosse. We just kind of hung out for a bit enjoying the summer-like evening before heading back to the house. We had some chicken thighs defrosted but didn’t take the time to marinade them in anything. I also was out of BBQ sauce. Bummer. I think we were both craving some zingy BBQ.

I found this recipe instead. It’s not a marinade but a glaze. It took two minutes to mix up and then I left Michael to do the manly grilling.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:65]

While he did that, I harvested some kale to go with dinner. Did I tell you guys I planted kale and spinach early this year? The last two years we’ve planted starters around the last weekend of April/first of May and I found that our spinach, lettuce and kale had a very short shelf life. It either bolted or was infested in aphids. Michael suggested be plant early this year because kale and spinach supposedly do better in cooler weather. One weekend in February we planted a bunch. Of course, the next day there was a week long frost! Thankfully it didn’t kill of my little greens.

I’ve been saving the eggshells from breakfast and I crunch them up in the soil to keep the slugs away. IT WORKS! Usually the slugs eat the crap out of my plants. Not this year. Look at how nice my kale looks! (And yes, I need to do some weeding this weekend….)

How was dinner?

It was FANTASTIC. The chicken had a nice sweet, tangy flavor and some smokiness from the grill. Most of the skin burned off on the grill (too bad) but that’s alright, the chicken was not lacking in flavor. I had cooked some kale and onions in the skillet with a little coconut oil and a dash of chicken stock. I had some cottage cheese with my dinner.

You cannot go wrong with garlic and soy sauce. Ever. It’s the best pairing for any kind of protein I think! This was the perfect recipe for a quick work night meal. It didn’t take much time at all and I had everything on hand. There are a ton of marinade I want to try someday but they always take so much planning…I get excited about something and then realize I was supposed to let it marinade for 24 hours. 🙁

The evening started to get chilly so we went inside and watched Hannibal (LOVING that show) and Mad Med.

Finally, I had my first experience meeting a reader in real life. If you guys are reading, hi. 🙂 Please forgive the deer-in-headlights awkwardness. Thanks for reading. 🙂

QUESTION: Favorite glaze? Hannibal fan?