Detailing my efforts to eat better, exercise more, and maybe watch a little less TV.

I love me some Chipotle and Qdoba. My go to order is a chicken burrito bowl with rice, black and pinto beans, lots of salsa, a bit of cheese, and guacamole. But a take out meal from either of those locations is a rare indulgence and takes a huge bite out of my weight watchers points.

But since I had some fresh guacamole in the fridge and this month’s Bon Appetit had a great recipe for beans and rice, I decided to attempt my own burrito bowl.

I used black and kidney beans, and added some grilled chipotle lime chicken, and it was delicious. My rice came out a little overcooked and mushy, but I’ll definitely make this recipe agin. And the salsa was the best part. Since I am incapable of following a recipe as written, here’s the salsa I made to accompany my beans and rice.

Ingredients

• 2 jalapeños
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
• zest and juice of 2 limes
• 1/4 white onion
• 4 roma tomatoes
• cilantro
• salt
• pepper
• cumin

Instructions

1. Blend the first four ingredients: jalapeños, garlic, chipotle, lime zest, and lime juice in a blender or food processor.
2. Remove cores and seeds from tomatoes and cut into a small dice, and put into a medium sized bowl.
3. Chop onions into a small dice and add to tomatoes.
4. Add blended mixture to the tomatoes and onions, and add salt, pepper, cumin, and cilantro to taste. Stir to mix ingredients together.

It was sooo good and super easy!

What’s a girl to do when she’s feeling a bit groggy after a late night of dancing and a couple of tequila cocktails?  A quick scrambled egg? Maybe a slice of avocado on toast?  After I cut into a perfectly ripe avocado, I had to whip up a quick batch of guacamole (just avocado, garlic, lime, jalapeno  tomato, and a of bit salt, pepper, and cumin).

Next I toasted up a few slices of bread for my ready to eat guacamole and scrambled up two eggs with some peppers and onions.  And a tiny bit of pepper jack cheese because it’s awesome, and it’s the weekend, go crazy.

And I finished the meal with a mango, lime, and coconut water smoothie.  This perfect brunch was enjoyed on the couch with last week’s episode of Scandal.  It was the best way to start my Saturday morning.

My simple breakfast turned into a a more complicated preparation, that took way more time to make than eat (and it also generated lots of dirty dishes that are still sitting on my kitchen counter).  But it was totally worth it.  It reminded me of the scene in Bridesmaids where Kristin Wiig meticulously crafts that gorgeous cupcake then admires it for a few seconds before eating it.  It’s an amazing scene.  There’s a lot to take away from that scene about Wiig’s character’s loneliness and melancholy, but even in the middle of her breakdown, she took the time to make something beautiful for herself and hopefully enjoy it. I like that.