Jerk Chicken

Another great summertime meal!  Healthy too! 

I marinated my chicken overnight, so this was really quick to (have my hubs) throw on the grill after work.  (I haven’t figured the grill out yet.)

Printable Recipe

Source:  Paula Deen

For the marinade:

Combine the following in Food Processor and pulse until fairly smooth-

1 small onion – about 2 cups

5 cloves garlic

2-3 habanero peppers – however hot you want it

2 tsp. allspice

½ tsp. nutmeg

2 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. ginger

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. salt

1½ tsp. pepper

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Marinate 8 chicken breasts, for at least 4 hours or overnight, in the following:

Jerk marinade (reserve a little bit to brush on the chicken while its grilling)

1 cup fresh lime juice - about 6 limes

Grill the chicken until done (ours took about 15 minutes per side on our smoker).  Or you can bake in the oven at 350° for 45 minutes – 1 hour.

I served the chicken with Mango Salsa (or Pineapple Salsa is also really good) and Cilantro Lime Rice, and some steamed zucchini.

Mango Salsa

Printable Recipe

Source:  Bobby Flay

Combine in a small bowl:

2 mangoes, small diced

½ red onion, diced

1 jalapeno pepper

2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

3 Tbsp. lime juice

3 Tbsp. orange juice

Season with salt and pepper

For pineapple salsa, use 1 can pineapple tidbits drained, or 2 cups fresh diced pineapple instead of mangoes.  Skip the orange juice.

Cilantro Lime Rice

Source:  Joelen’s Culinary Adventures

2 cups hot cooked rice

Add in:

¼ cup lime juice

chopped cilantro

{Silly Kitty}

Carlyle said to Kit this morning:  “It’s weird, but I think my next favorite thing to taking a nap is watching my owner taking a nap.”

Little Miss Katy needed some attention!

{Stone}

Our stone will be all done tomorrow!  I’ll put up a final picture this weekend.

I can’t wait to see our siding go up next!  It’s going to look really good!

The Perfect Summer Meal

 

BLT (with garden Ts), real Macaroni and Cheese, and my new favorite Watermelon Salad!  YUM.

Watermelon Salad

Printable Recipe

Ok.  I know what you’re going to say…”That doesn’t sound good.”  But I’m telling you…it is a-mazing.  It’s got that special combination of sweet and savory and it tastes out-of-this-world! 

We ended up with 2 whole watermelons at our Fourth of July cookout…for only 7 people!  We have watermelon out the ying-yang!  So I’ve been eating it for breakfast and lunch pretty much everyday, and I was looking for something different for it. 

And Paula Deen to the rescue! 

I just kind of eye-balled the ingredients, but this is approximately how much I used.

Ingredients:

6 cups watermelon, chopped into 1 inch cubes
½ red or white onion, thinly sliced
2-3 Tbsp. feta cheese
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Toss watermelon, onion, and cheese in a medium bowl.
2. Pour vinegar and oil over and toss again.  Season with salt and pepper.

 

Go make this now with all your extra watermelon!

Ahhh…the first batch of salsa this summer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I used: all from the garden, except for the lime and vinegar of course!

3 tomatoes (I like the skin peeled off)

2 baby red onions

2 jalapenos

3 cloves of garlic

juice from 1 lime

splash of red wine vinegar

season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Just mix it all up in the food processor!

{Stone Preview}

A little bit of the stone got put on yesterday!  

I'm really happy with the color we picked.  You can't ever tell how it will really look until it actually gets on the house.  And it's hard to make a decision based on those little sample pieces.  

Ours is Bucktown Ledgestone by Stonecraft.