I faced every foodie’s worst fear tonight. Dinner came around and…I wasn’t hungry.

I know. 

See, my Mom and I skipped our morning walk so I was supposed to be able to sleep in ’til the leisurely hour of 5:30am. Imagine my surprise when I opened my eyes and the evil, red numbers on my clock blinked 5:52am.

5:52am?! Mother of Go-…I’M LATE!

After a record setting shower, Keurig brew and raid of the fridge – I was out the door by 6:25am.

Go me! I thought, ’til I got to work, peered into the bag of food I had grabbed from the fridge and only saw lunch staring back at me.

That’s when I made the executive decision to have Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili for breakfast. It was 8am.

This is a bad idea! I tried to reason with myself. You’re going to get too full and your whole day will be out of whack!

Naturally my irrational, growling stomach trumped my rational, pleading brain and by 8:03am I was chowing down on glorious melted cheese, beans, rice, chicken and salsa. It was kind of awesome.  

A delicious but MASSIVE Great Harvest Mediterranean Madness Sandwich for lunch only prolonged my fullness, and my appetite was nowhere to be found once 5pm rolled around! By then I was way too excited for the dinner I had planned and…ate it anyways.

I’m pretty sure you’d make the same decision if you smelled this dish while it was cooking: Lemon Grilled Chicken with Mediterranean Toasted Quinoa!

Dave & Sara @ 1 Cup Awesome have seeeeriously done it again with this one!

This recipe combines the flavors of the Mediterranean – bright lemon, savory garlic, rich olive oil and salty kalamata olives – with the amazing texture of toasted quinoa. It’s fantastic.

I made the Lemon Grilled Chicken first by pounding out a few organic, free-range chicken breasts, then seasoning them with olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon zest.

I have never thought to call uncooked chicken pretty - but sorry, these were some real beauts!

After a quick trip to the grill,

I let the chicken rest while I worked on the Mediterranean Toasted Quinoa.

I started by rinsing organic quinoa in water, then cooking it in chicken broth.

You can get quinoa at pretty much any grocery store these days – usually in the health food section. I got this box at Trader Joe’s.

Quinoa is coated in natural plant chemicals that can give it a bitter taste, which is why you should always rinse it before cooking.

While the quinoa cooked away, I warmed extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet and infused it with a couple garlic cloves.

The smell was intoxicating!

When the garlic was golden and roasty, I added in the white part of a couple green onions,  

then the cooked quinoa.

I let the mixture do it’s thang on medium-low heat, stirring every so often until it crisped up and turned golden brown, while I got to work combining a few other ingredients to add once it was done.

More green onion, tomato,

kalamata olives and capers.

The toasted quinoa and juice of half a lemon sealed the deal.

Just try and tell me you wouldn’t eat it too!

The garlic flavor is so subtle – dare I say sexy?? – in this dish, while the tangy lemon and kalamata olives pack a serious flavor PUNCH!

The toasted quinoa kind of popped and crunched in my mouth too. It was sooooo delicious!

If I had to eat a meal I wasn’t necessarily hungry for – this HAD to be it. You’ve GOT to make this dish!

Aaaaand, it’s officially night night for bonzo – in the food department, anyways. I am stuffed to the gills!

In other news, Amazon’s 1-click ordering reared it’s ugly head today (seriously, that feature is dominating my life) and I 1-clicked my way to a new Kindle e-book this afternoon – Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II.

I’m thinking Hatchet for adults?? Ever since reading Unbroken and Lone Survivor earlier this Spring/Summer I’ve kind of become obsessed with war-time non-fiction stories. They fascinate me!

Off to read!

~~~~~

When do you prefer to eat your biggest meal of the day? Breakfast, lunch or dinner?

I prefer to eat like a "pauper" for breakfast, a "princess" for lunch and a "QUEEN" for dinner!