Hummingbirds! Our overflowing flower pots have attracted hummingbirds. After four days of the intense heat wave, I went outside in the evening to enjoy the cool breeze. I tried to do some reading until I heard a soft buzzing, and this creature landed on my arm. I first thought it was a dragonfly, but then I noticed the long beak. There were four of them feeding on the flowers, but they wouldn’t hold still long enough for a group picture. Ah, well.

So I noticed that I haven’t posted any chicken recipes. When I first started grilling, I made mostly chicken and burgers. It quickly became bland and I stopped doing chicken and focused instead on veggies and red meat.

In college, my friends and I would have a Taco Night on the weekends. We would do this fairly frequently, almost every weekend. We would have beef tacos, guacamole, and some lovely dessert from the local bakery. It was really fun hanging out in the kitchen preparing all the fixings. Recently, our schedules (a.k.a. being an adult) have kept us from having a Taco Night.

I wanted to try something different. A true experiment before introducing this to Taco Night. Here’s what I did.

What you’ll need for the marinade

• 3 lbs. boneless Chicken (4 breasts & 6 thighs)
• 7 oz. can Chipotles in Adobo
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 1/2 med. Onion, rough chop
• 2 tbsp. chopped Cilantro
• 1 tbsp. Paprika
• 1 tsp. ground Cumin
• juice of whole Lime
• 1 tsp. Salt

Don’t be skimpy on the marinade. You need big bold flavors that will penetrate into the meat. Except for the chicken, blend all the ingredients. Don’t forget all that delicious Adobo sauce that the chipotles are in. Then pour it over the chicken in a plastic bag.

“Massage” the meat so that the marinade coats everything. Refrigerate for at least 2 hrs. Let the chicken come to room temperature before grilling.

I sliced the chicken into small bits for easy taco filling. You can also do this for fajitas as well.

My sister and I found a Mexican grocery store literally two streets away from the house. We picked up chips for the guacamole and corn tortillas for our tacos. I wanted Cotija cheese, but couldn’t find it anywhere. We settled on using a Spanish Manchego cheese. For the sliced bell pepper, I sprayed it with cooking oil and put it directly onto the lit coals. I kept it on there for the entire time I was cooking, around 30 min., giving it a nice smoky flavor. I peeled off the charred and blistered skin and sliced the pepper lengthwise.

I know it’s not a very sophisticated looking taco, but I don’t like all those frills. The chicken comes out flavorful and moist. The marinade was easy to make, since these ingredients are always in the house. If you want to experiment with unique taco fillings, this chicken makes for a good starting off point. This is definitely one that I’ll keep in my recipe book.