Hi there,

It’s been a week or so since my last blog because I was off enjoy­ing a fan­tas­tic hol­i­day down in Tuc­son, Ari­zona. The weather every day was absolutely per­fect, low 80’s and bright blue sky. I have to admit, it was tough get­ting on that plane back to T.O. but then again, it’s always nice to come home. Thank­fully, the weather today isn’t unbear­ably cold so I’m able to gen­tly ease back into it.

If you’ve never been down to Tuc­son, I highly rec­om­mend that you visit. It is prob­a­bly one of the most bike-​friendly cities I’ve ever been to, boast­ing about 55 miles of bike lanes through­out the urban cen­tre. Cars actu­ally yield to cyclists (and run­ners, for that mat­ter), so city cycling is safe and very enjoy­able. Once you head out of the city, you will find end­less hik­ing trails (and cycling routes) amongst the beau­ti­ful desert land­scape. Every­time I get out to the desert, I’m always amazed by the sheer size of the saguaro cac­tus. Some of them grow well beyond 8 ft!

Last night, I was back to cook­ing din­ner and was inspired by the flavours of the south­west. I began by mar­i­nat­ing chicken breasts in a pineap­ple, green chile mix­ture and served it with a mixed bean salad tossed in a chile-​lime vinaigrette.

On a final note, my daily break­fast from our trip was one that I will def­i­nitely repeat here at home. It sus­tained me through­out our long hikes and was oh so yummy. What was this hearty break­fast? Noth­ing fancy, but a really great combo nonethe­less. Imag­ine an egg white omelet stuffed with caramelized onions, mush­rooms, shred­ded roast chicken and creamy avo­cado. So good and truly a break­fast of cham­pi­ons! Oh, and don’t for­get the hot sauce!

Have a great day!

Grilled Pineap­ple Green Chile Chicken

6 – 8 bone­less, skin­less chicken breasts

zest and juice of 1 lime

1 cup crushed pineapple

¹⁄₄ cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 gar­lic cloves, minced

2 tsp each dried cumin, oregano, chipo­tle pepper

salt and pep­per, to taste

In a blender, puree above ingre­di­ents until smooth.

Place chicken in a seal­able bag and pour mari­nade over top.

Refrig­er­ate overnight or a min­i­mum of 6 hours.

Remove chicken from bag and place on hot grill and cook until juices run clear.