ArcaMax

My mother used to carry a big purse with her in the car. She had all that stuff in that bag that moms with small children do. The interesting thing was when she went into a store she usually just grabbed her wallet and ran in. She’d leave us kids in the car (when it was deemed okay to do that sort of thing). As a child, I thought that purse behavior was really weird. Why bring a big purse and then just leave it on the car seat?

Now I get it. I often just carry my wallet when I go out shopping. Sometimes I even just put a debit card in my pants pocket and off I go. After I had back surgery the surgeon told me to lose the big purse. It took some getting used to but now I don’t carry one unless I’m traveling by airplane.

My mom also always had a list. She’d sit at the kitchen table in the morning making a list of all the things she needed to buy or do that day. I called it, “The errand list.”

I picked up that habit too. I have a standard paper list in my wallet. I can refer to it and map out my driving routes to take in all the places I need to stop. I’ve gone high-tech now too. I use sticky notes -- that way I can make my grocery list and stick it to the handle of the cart for easy reference. I see all these people in the store looking at their phones for their list. I just never think to put my list on my phone. It’s stuck to my cart.

I shop for food like I’m French. What does that mean, you ask? It means I go to the grocery store almost every day and I buy just what I need to make that meal...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

Grilled Mexican Chicken "Boats"

You can make this recipe in a saute pan or take a different twist on it and grill everything in a grill basket.

Use your favorite meat rub on the chicken. I used a spicy steak rub on my version. Don’t be afraid to use a rub indicated for beef on chicken or fish or vise versa!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

24 oz of skinless chicken breast meat cut into ½” cubes. If you are not planning on grilling, you can use ground chicken.
your favorite meat rub
olive oil spray
2 tsp of ground cumin
3 Tbl of minced fresh cilantro
3 limes, juiced
sea salt and pepper to taste
2 large jalapenos peppers, sliced
1 large sweet onion cut into wedges
1 red bell pepper cut into 1” squares
1 cup of red cherry tomatoes
1 cup of yellow cherry tomatoes
butter lettuce leaves

Instructions:

In a bowl or large zip lock baggie put in your chicken. Dust with the meat rub to your taste and mix it around so it covers all of the chicken. Add the cumin, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine. Let marinate in the refrigerator for an hour or more. You can do this before work and come home to it fully marinated or do it when you get home and cook in one hour. I did the latter and it had plenty of time to marinate.

Saute the chicken on medium-high until no pink remains in the chicken. If you want to be fancy, you can grill your meat (just be sure to use a grill basket. This works better if you are using chicken breasts cut into pieces. Ground chicken on the grill would get messy!). Stir the chicken periodically so no side gets charred.

Remove the chicken and keep it in a clean bowl. Cover to keep warm.

Lightly spray your veggies with olive oil. Grate on a bit of sea salt. Either saute your veggies or cook them on the grill until they are softened and cooked to your liking.

Put one or two clean butter lettuce leaves on your plate. Put six to eight ounces of chicken chunks on top and cover with a full cup of veggies.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola