All In The Family

On Monday night, I hosted a small dinner for Tricia’s birthday, which was actually last month, lol. She’s a busy girl. So busy that she missed the last two parties at her own house! Better late than never, right?

On the Menu:

• Alton Brown’s Macaroni and Cheese (modified)
• Chicken and black bean chipotle corn lime salad
• Mixed garden salad
• Organic sourdough bread from Hannaford bakery
• Unsweetened iced tea
• Blueberry cobbler (not pictured)

Recipe below!

I have eaten HUGE salads in this bowl all by myself on occasion! This time, I shared.

This Mexican chicken salad was amazing! And so easy to make.

Alton Brown’s Macaroni and Cheese modifications: Omitted the yellow onion; omitted the bay leaf; omitted the paprika; omitted the egg; used 1 lb elbow macaroni instead of 1/2 lb; used 14 oz cheese instead (half Kerrygold reduced fat cheddar, half Kerrygold Swiss) of 12; omitted the kosher salt and used 2 cups panko breadcrumbs for the topping instead of 1. Plus, I added tomato slices to the top before baking it.

Note: Easily make it gluten-free by substituting gluten-free pasta for wheat and use gluten-free breadcrumbs.

Get your bibs ready…

DROOOOOOOOOOOOL!

My goodness, it was divine!!

Chicken and Black Bean Chipotle Corn Lime Salad
(gluten-free, soy-free, easy-to-make)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chicken tenderloin
• 1 can precooked black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can Green Giant Chipotle white corn, drained
• 1 can no salt added yellow corn, drained
• 3 plum tomatoes, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 TBSP cooking oil (organic palm shortening recommended)
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (plus more for garnish, optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Garlic salt to taste
• Juice of one whole lime
• 4 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1. Slice your chicken tenders into uniform sized pieces, about 1” or so; preheat oil in large skillet, add in diced onion and cook until onion softens a bit. Add in chicken pieces and cook thoroughly until done, season with garlic salt to taste. Set aside when finished.

2. Drain and rinse black beans; drain canned corn.

3. Dice plum tomatoes; sprinkle with salt and half of the lime juice.

4. In a large mixing bowl add in: beans, corn, tomatoes, and fresh cilantro; salt and pepper to taste. Add in chicken and onion mixture, olive oil, and squeeze in remaining lime juice. Mix well. Serve warm or chilled.

Makes 10-12 servings

We were too full to get to the blueberry cobbler! Everything was delicious. I really can’t decide which I liked more, the mac ‘n cheese or the Mexican chicken salad. All I know is that I am thrilled to have LOTS of leftovers from a few hours of cooking!! I’ve been eating it for lunch and dinner ever since Monday night, LOL. The good news is that it’s not upsetting my stomach nearly as much as whatever I was eating the previous two weeks when I was avoiding gluten and cow milk. SO WEIRD! My stomach is back to “normal,” but obviously my definition of normal is still BAD. Very bad. But the past 2 weeks were worse, so I’ll take bad over worse for the time being.

It rained all day, with episodes of loud, scary thunder and lightning. Despite the rain, Dustin and I still did an hour and half of exercise. YAY us! Dustin just started Couch to 5K, he’s back on his running kick. I’m going to join him as soon as SHE subsides. Today, I stuck to incline walking around the ‘hood. In the pouring rain. It was fantastic! We met up for the last half hour and walked back home. I’m positive I looked like a complete nut with my earmuff-style Bose headphones on carrying my pink Hello Kitty umbrella, but whatever. I had a good time and I felt great doing it, and that’s all that matters!

I believe we had a productive day today even though we woke up much later than we planned. We had a business meeting this evening, all two of us in the company, and came to the conclusion that our number one problem is being efficient with our time. So, our goal for this summer is to work (and play) efficiently. I think that’s a worthy and realistic goal.

How are you with managing your time? Are you very disciplined and organized or do you find yourself taking more time than you should on day-to-day projects and events? If you’re like me, you have a jam-packed inbox and a to-do list that’s a mile long and growing, LOL.

Tagged as: Alton Brown recipes, birthdays, cheese, chicken, chicken salad, dinner, macaroni and cheese, Mexican food, pasta, recipes, Tricia's birthday