Dinner in review

So last night's dinner was absolutely delicious. I even decided to get fancy and crisp up my corn tortillas, instead of just warming them in the microwave.


Even better, the meal lended itself to the perfect next-day lunch. I used the leftover marinated chicken and black beans, and put them on top of a fresh arugula salad with some cherry tomatoes. I also fried some corn tortilla strips for a crunchy topping. And since I've gotten into making my own salad dressings, I fixed a special dressing for my "southwestern salad." Making your own salad dressings are easy - the two things required are oil and some type of acid (either a vinegar or a citrus juice.) Here was my concoction:

MPLT's Soutwestern Dressing
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh squeezed lemon juice
- A few shakes of cholula (I figured why not - it has vinegar in there... so it helps with the acid)
- A tiny bit of dijon mustard
- A clove of garlic (not minced - just cut and sitting in there)
- Kosher salt
- Cracked pepper

Here was what I packed up for lunch today:

Sure beats a nasty Lean Cuisine!

Quick fix dinner

I've been (once again) getting bored with my g0-to recipes. It's just really hard to find quick, healthy and delicious dinners that I can throw together at the last minute on a week night.

So yesterday, I was sitting with my big brother (at our fantasy football draft --- more later) and asked him for some ideas. He gave me a good one I'm trying out tonight.

He told me to marinate skinless, boneless chicken breasts in olive oil, lemon juice, lime juice and cholula hot sauce (one of our favorites.) I assembled the marinade last night (along with a jalapeno sliced in half) and let it sit. Then this morning, I threw the chicken breasts in before work.

When I get home tonight, I'll pan-sear it (if we had a gas grill instead of a charcoal grill, I would grill it) on the stove. I'll slice it up, and we'll serve it on warmed corn tortillas (two of my brothers were lamenting how they HATE flour tortillas and how corn tortillas are so superior) along with some fresh chopped tomatoes and avocado and an extra squeeze of lime... and, of course, a side of black beans. I forgot to get cilantro (dangit) - so I'll have to do without. I'm sure Chad will add cheese and sour cream to his.

Sounds like a plan to me! I'll let you know how it turns out.

Fancy!

My best friend Kel and I both work in public relations. We get daily emails from reporters requesting sources on a variety of topics. We often send the funny ones to each other.

From last week:

Kelly to me:
Name: Cristabelle Tumola (Olive Oil Times)

Category: General
Email: query-j85@helpareporter.com
Media Outlet: Olive Oil Times
Deadline: 05:00 PM EST - 21 August

Query:
I am looking for sources for an article about adopt an olive oil
tree programs both in the U.S. and abroad.

Me to Kelly:
The bigger question at hand is how do I get to be a writer for Olive Oil Times?!?!

Kelly to me: Agreed! If only we had names like Cristabelle Tumola!

Me to Kelly:
Gah I know!!!! Soooo jealous. I'll start calling you Kellabelle!

Kelly to me:
LOLabelle!

The end.

In Dreams

Sometime in the middle of the night Friday night (errr, early Saturday morning I guess), Chad is snoring loudly (while laying on his back.) I wake him up and tell him to roll over.

Uneventful, right?
I thought so too, until the next morning when:

Chad: "I can't BELIEVE you woke me up last night to roll me over."
Me: "You were snoring and I couldn't sleep!"
Chad: "Well I hope you're happy, because I was dreaming about doughnuts and you ruined it."
...insert hysterical laughter from me...
Chad: "Not funny. I had a whole dozen and I was right about to eat one when you hit me."

Oops. Never mess with a man's doughnut dreams!

{pic via}

Fantasy Football season is upon is.

You know how I know?

My dad has gone from calling me about once a week to twice a day. The number of phone calls from my dad always correlates with whether or not we're ramping up our fantasy league.

Our draft is next Sunday - we're doing a big Pancakes and Whiskey breakfast. And I'm hopeful my team is going to be awesome.

And Chad has already figured out what we'll do with our winnings:

Chad: "If YOU win, you're allowed to get window treatments for the downstairs. If I win, I'm buying a new receiver."

I'm not really even sure what a receiver does - except has something to do with the television. And I don't really care about a receiver but I super care about window treatments. Maybe that will be all the motivation I need.

My current frontrunner for drapes:

{pic via}

I'm back...

I had a very nice and relaxing week at the beach - Topsail was beautiful. It was my kind of vacation - no plans, no schedules, not routines. Just did what we wanted to, when we wanted to.

Now we're back home and adjusting to life as we know it. Hopefully I'll get back into the blogging swing of things soon. Thanks for bearing with me!

See ya!

After a very hectic several months, Chad and I are FINALLY taking a vacation.

We're heading to beautiful Topsail Island for a week with Chad's parents. I contemplated taking my laptop with me... just in case... but after hearing there was only dial-up internet at the house we're staying at, I was happy to change my mind. So no MPLT all next week - don't miss me too much.

I'm ready to do nothing but lay on the beach and read a good book. Oops... I mean, go to the beach and play bocce ball with Chad. (Why can't men just enjoy laying out like women? They always need to be entertained.)