Grill Something: Whole Chicken

For the record, I did try to upload the other half of my spring break pictures.  Not once.  Not twice.  But three times.  After they didn't load the third time; I gave up.

On the menu today is a whole grilled chicken courtesy of Rick Bayless, master of Mexican cuisine.  The recipe pays homage to the roadside roasted chickens you can apparently pick up in Mexico.  I can't say I've ever actually eaten any roadside food in Mexico, but after this recipe; I might.  Assuming either of my parents ever decide it's safe to go there, but that's beside the point.

I made this recipe last Sunday.  The weather was gorgeous, and I needed an excuse to be outside, after spending 6 hours in the library.  So I heated up the grill, whipped up a refreshing cocktail, and soaked up a healthy amount of vitamin D.

Strawberry Smash (minus the basil because I haven't replanted my herbs yet).  My favorite summer cocktail.

This chicken is the best chicken I've eaten in a long. long. time.  It's juicy and tender with just the right amount of spices.  It's served with roasted green onions {delicious} and smothered in my homemade tomatillo sauce {delicious}.  I roasted a couple ears of corn and served them Mexican style: sprinkled with chile powder, cilantro, and cotija cheese.  The result was a blissful Sunday evening in the sun and one hell of a meal.

The recipe for the chicken is available here, and really only requires basic pantry items.  The only thing you might not have are cloves, but they're readily available at any grocery store.

To make the tomatillo sauce: Half the tomatillos and peel a couple cloves of garlic. Roast them in a pan on the grill until they are slight charred and soft.  Blend in a food processor along with a couple handfuls some pickled jalapeños until smooth.  The great thing about using pickled jalapeños is that they add a salty vinegary quality to the sauce that is amazing.

Just how good is this chicken?  Jason and I ate the entire bird.  In one setting.    So get out there and get your grills going!

Also, my apologies for the iPhone photos.  I promise to start using my real camera again soon.

We Interrupt The Regularly Scheduled Post

I originally intended to post the remaining spring break pictures tonight, but I'm still processing them so hopefully I'll be able to post them tomorrow.  But until then, I figured I'd post something a little more tasty and useful.

Tonight's dinner was pan seared salmon with a mango avocado chutney.  It only took about 30 minutes to get everything cooked, which was great for a busy Tuesday night.  To make the chutney I simply diced a large avocado, 1/2 of a mango, 1/4 of a red onion, the juice from 1/2 a lime, 1 diced jalapeño, and season with salt and pepper.  Let it sit for approximately 30 minutes for all of the flavors to marry.

Such a simple, healthy, and delicious meal.

Spring Break 2012- Part 1

Hello lovelies!  I hop everyone had a fantastic spring break (if you had one)!  Mine was JAM packed.  We had a great time, but it was great to finally be home last night.  I cannot remember the last time I had so many activities packed into such a small amount of tme.  I've uploaded some highlights from the trip.  Hope you enjoy!

En route to west Texas.

In case you were wondering what west Texas looks like; the road goes on forever.

We took a detour at Carlsbad Caverns to stretch our legs and explore.

All of us after our hike out of the cavern.  The main level is 750 feet below the ground so hiking up was fairly tiring, although my 4 1/2 year old niece walked the entire way up herself.

Annnd I forgot my contacts, so I had to wear my glasses the entire trip.  Blinding sunlight and smashing my face with googles and glasses have never made me appreciate contacts more.

The view from my dad's backyard.  He lives in the middle of nowhere.  Literally.  The stars out there are just amazing.  And the mornings are freezing!  It was about 8 degrees every morning, although it quickly warmed up to around 55.

We skied at Sunrise Ski Park in Arizona.  I really didn't even know they had skiing in Arizona, so I was a little worried about how good the skiing would be, but we were pleasantly surprised.  There was a good range of runs and Jason even found some crazy-scary blacks to occupy his time.  It's also very family friendly, so it's a good place to learn {unlike some places in Colorado where the people can be a little mean and intimidating, if you're not an Olympic grade skier}.

My niece on the bunny slope chair lift.

Everyone {minus Jason who was on said blacks} at the top.

The Vanderburg clan.

Our yearly ski photo.

Jason helping Hope ski.

Little ski pro!

  

That's all for today!  Tomorrow I have pictures from our hike through a national forest!

Road Trip 2012!

I didn't mention the other day that my siblings and I are actually road tripping on our ski trip!  We're driving to my dad's house too and will be spending around 13 {eek} hours in the car!  I have all of these idealized notions of the road trip in my head and that flippin' adorable iPhone commercial does not help.  As a side note, Jason and I are contemplating spending a couple of weeks this summer road tripping to Montana.

I really want the car part of the trip to be fun.  So I've lined up some fun places to stop and have car necessities stored in a handy dandy (and cute) basket.  It has everything I could think of to make a car trip enjoyable: word puzzles, sudoko, some magnet games, tissues, Advil, chapstick, a first aide kit, Febreeze, hand wipes, hand sanitzer, floss, q-tips.  My hopes is that once we're in the middle of nowhere we'll have anything and everything we could possible need.

Add in some sweet mix tapes (alright, iPod playlists) the delicious food I have planned and we are ready to go!  Should be an excellent trip.  I will of course be document the craziness that is my family the whole way!

And in case you're wondering my extended family calls ourself "the Griswolds."  Hence The Griswold Family Survival Kit, handwriting by me.


And stayed tuned tomorrow, because I have some excellent tidbits of law school gold that you do not want to miss out on!

Kony 2012

Because I honestly believe that we can make a difference.

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

As Happy as a Bird with a French Fry

There is nothing quite like the day after turning in some terrible-life consuming- assignment.  I swear I heard a group of angels singing this morning.  I feel like a thousand pound brick as been removed from my shoulders and I can finally breathe again.  I haven't been working on my Comment non-stop since it was assigned, but I've had this nagging, pestering thought in the back of my mind since then and to finally be free of it is SO NICE.

Finishing the Comment was not so nice.  The writing part was alright or as alright as writing an additional 15 pages can be.  (Paper grand total- 46 pages.)  But then came the source CD...which is my law review's euphemistic word for torture.  It requires you locating and highlighting and labeling every. single. citation. in. your. entire. paper.  I had 240 citations, 65 sources, and way too many string cites (i.e. multiple sources per cite).  It took about 9 hours to complete and left me a total basket case when I was finished.  So to anyone out there who is told they have to do a source CD...leave yourself plenty of time.

But it's done!  And I'm thrilled.  And next week I will be doing this with my siblings (and Jason)!!

Funny factoid about this picture- I have the flu.  I woke up after our first night feeling terrible.  A four hour nap on a bench outside the lodge and a raging fever later, we realized I'd caught the flu from the family I nannied for.  I spent the entire week of our ski trip in bed trying to survive on cough drops and tea.    And this picture is 100% staged.  I didn't ski that day.  I just put on my ski clothes to take a picture for my mom.  Ha.

Soooo excited!! What about you guys?  Anyone have any super exciting Spring Break trips planned?