"So what do you want for dinner tonight?"
"Hmmm, it's a nice night, let's throw some ___________________ on the grill."
(meat name)
"Ok, we can have some ________________ and ___________________ on the side."
(starch name) (veggie name)
Are you thinking "well, that doesn't sound so bad...that is a really well rounded meal!"? You are absolutely right, and I love those summery meals on the grill - but they are even better when they don't happen every night. Kind of like having ice cream...actually, ice cream is pretty stinkin good every night. Maybe it is more like going OUT for ice cream - what makes it so fun is that you don't do it all the time. If you do, well then you are just lucky.
One of our "alternative" grill meals are Fish Tacos. I order fish tacos whenever possible when we are out to eat - it as if I am on some sort of a mission to determine the best place to get fish tacos in land-locked Colorado. I could have picked a more appropriate meal. Anyways, I believe it was about a year ago that we had a delicious summer dinner on the back deck at our good friends' house and they served up some tasty fish tacos. That meal has become a staple for us and we have been enjoying them at home ever since. This week we had them with a side of beans and some cornbread...delish!
We had one new-to-use meal this week - Pork Chops over Couscous with Pistachio Lemon Vinaigrette. I would like to say first-hand that it was absolutely delicious...but due to an ill timed stuffy nose my sense of taste was pretty dulled. Flick said it was yummy though so we'll take his word for it!
Our meatless meal was Black Bean Patties over Pineapple Rice. What is great about these little guys is that you can shape the patties and only coat the ones you will be cooking right away in cornmeal. The rest easily go into the refrigerator for lunch or dinner on another night (just coat them prior to cooking and they are just as good as the first time around!). Either way, they make a nice light meatless meal.
We did more than our average number of meatless/fish meals this week and made Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi one night - the fastest shrimp scampi you will ever try. It probably has about 23 times less butter than the classic one that you might get in a restaurant which makes Flick and I feel not quite so bad about splitting a batch right down the middle.
Finally...Heavenly Honey Chicken. Need I say more?
If you want a sure fire way to make tender, juicy, chicken - this is your go-to. It is one of the recipes I wrote down from my mom's collection when I started living off campus in college. We frequently make it for guests so if you find yourself with an invite to Casa de Flickinger for dinner - don't be surprised if this shows up on your plate!
