Mary Beth Johnson is a wife and mum to four schooners, as she’s dubbed her children. On a normal afternoon, you would find her in moccasins, skinny jeans and a comfortable tee, camera in hand. Recently moving to the suburbs of Atlanta, Mary Beth spends her days homeschooling, sneaking away to the bookstore, trying to act the part of a southerner, and sifting through recipes in The Vegetarian Times. Food is her love language.

There ought to be a word to describe the month of August and the in between of school starting and fall around the corner, but the summer sun still beating down strong. I have become far too attached to checking the weather for a sign of a reprieve and yet, I’m not quite ready for the break to be over just yet. Thus, August.

There is still a variety of fresh, in-season produce to choose from and if we hadn’t had such a scorcher of a summer I’d probably have some fresh basil and parsley to add to the mix. We are eating a lot of salads and throwing everything we have in the fridge into a bowl and calling it dinner. The other night, we went to the mall for some back-to-school shopping and I picked up a rice bowl with chicken from Chipotle. I was reminded how much I love eating out – someone preps all of the ingredients! Someone serves you! Someone cleans up! 😉 

 

I decided to recreate the bowl once we got home and my husband commented over and over on how much he loved it and Jessica’s honey adobo flavoring of the chicken. I merged a few recipes to come up with our favorite version below. Please tweak it as you like it! I found this to be on the mild side, so the next time I’ll puree one of the chiles in the adobo sauce to make this spicier. 

 Makes 2 servings for a stand-alone meal

For the honey chipotle chicken:

 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 teaspoon salt

 1/4 teaspoon pepper

 1/4 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons adobo sauce, from a can of chipotles in adobo

 2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 tablespoon honey mustard

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

 4 garlic cloves, minced

 Add the chicken breasts to a baking dish or ziplock bag and season with salt and pepper. In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil, adobo, honey, mustards, cilantro and garlic. Pour the marinade over the chicken, covering it evenly. Place it in the fridge and marinate for at least 2 hours, or even overnight.When you’re ready to make the meal, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tiny bit of olive oil and add the chicken, then cover the skillet and cook until the chicken is deeply browned on both sides and cooked in the center, about 6 minutes per side.

For the rice:

 2 cups brown Basmati Rice

 4 cups cold water

 1/2 tsp. salt

 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

 Several drops of YL Lime Essential Oil

 Add rice, water, and salt to a pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, stir once then cover for 35-40 minutes. Remove from heat when all water is absorbed. Let sit and fluff. Add fresh cilantro and drops of lime essential oil to taste.

For the salad toppings:

 2 cups fresh greens

 1 cup cooked black beans

 1/4 cup fresh pico de gallo salsa (to save time, I purchased ready-made from the store)

 1 avocado, sliced

 1/4 cup fresh cilantro

 Juice of 1 lime

 When you’re ready to assemble the salad, start with 2 large bowls for serving. Divide the prepared lime rice into each bowl (you will probably have some extra!) Add the shredded honey chipotle chicken along with the fresh greens, black beans, pico de gallo, and cilantro. Top with fresh avocado slices and a splash of lime juice. Serve!