Our temperatures have been stunning the last couple days. The heat is gone and its been replaced by 80 degree days and temps in the high 50’s at night – perfect sleeping weather. 
Friday’s I grill at my office – my store had carne asada on sale for $2.99 a pound. Usually its already marinated, but this time it wasn’t. I googled some marinating recipes and stumbled upon this one – while everyone knows I can handle the heat, I cut back on the chipotles, so while this wasn’t spicy, it was super flavorful.
And being the nice office Chef that I am, I brought my cast iron skillet and cooked up some peppers and . . . ONIONS! Although when we were cleaning up I only used half the onion and I threw the rest out – I thought one of my co-workers was going to faint because she loves them so much – oh well!
It was a perfect day to eat outside on our office patio too – I found the stand umbrellas so that made it much more pleasant.
I also made cilantro lime rice, crock pot refried beans and homemade tortilla chips – my store sells yellow corn tortillas for .39 cents for a package of 10 – so I quarter the tortillas and deep fry them – 40 chips for .39 cents sure does beat the $4 bag of Tostitos!
Everyone licked their plate clean so that is a good sign! It’s a nice way to eat up two hours between prepping, cooking and eating. The only thing missing was the Corona with lime or margaritas! 
Hannah came into town to watch six kids today – all day! Three families are doing some sort of event in Chicago from noon to six – and three of the six kids have baseball this morning so she started babysitting at the baseball park at 8:30 this morning and will probably babysit until at least 8:00 tonight – some nice $$!
I picked her and her boyfriend up and we went to Friday’s for dinner. We had a coupon for a free appetizer, and you can’t go to Friday’s without getting the fried green beans – it counts as a vegetable, right? 
I got something new on the menu –
Mediterranean Chicken Skewers: Grilled in a lemon-garlic sauce and served with a tzatziki cucumber yogurt sauce on the side. Served with jasmine rice pilaf, fresh vegetable medley and grilled pita.
This was so good – the chicken was juicy and tender, the veggies were crisp tender. Hannah and I ended up getting the same thing.
It was nice to see them! I came home and Tony and I caught up on our DVR – turns out Friday night we tape a lot of stuff and I was in bed by 11:30 – nice!
I am going to be cooking up a storm this weekend for a friend of mine. She was just in the hospital for a week, and she and her husband have three small boys under the age of six. I think I am going to make a boat load of crunchy tacos, some mac n cheese and some banana chocolate chip muffins to drop off at her house tomorrow.
I also need to organize my fridge/pantry/freezer – without Hannah, I don’t keep up on the organizational stuff as much as she did!
I plan on getting to the gym today too, although its so nice out I may hit up the trails by house – but some exercise will take place today.
Any plans for your weekend? Hope the weather is nice where you are! I found this on pinterest – love it!
I wish we worked together and I could eat your delicious food on Friday too.
So nice that Hannah came over for the weekend and you were able to spend time with her.
Ohh..that weather sounds fabulous!
Those Mediterranean chicken skewers look fabulous! Nothing beats grilling in the summer! 🙂
Um, that’s “I’ll” come eat what you fix. And I can’t even blame the iPad this time. . .
How ’bout this? You can grill every day at lunch and I’m come eat what you fix! We grill year-round (yes, even if there’s a foot of snow on the deck under the grill). I like my stove-top grill pan, too (one of the large rectangular ones).
I’ve been known to make grilled salsa in December after scraping off six inches of snow on my grill!
I need to really use the grill more. I’m afraid to grill meat – I only do pizza dough, tofu and veg right now.
That is so nice you’ll be cooking for your friend. I know as a mom of little ones, if I was sick I would love to have that done for me!
i love that quote at the end — so true:) And what a delicious lunch! oh my gosh, looks fabulous!
Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your blog. I was catching up on posts and reading “Cubs fan can suck it!” and the fact that you use the word amazeballs cracks me up! I am from Joliet, so not to far from you. Thanks for providing me with the great food info and recipes along with a little entertainment!
Haha, it’s so funny to see so many onions on your blog! 😉 That steak looks awesome! 🙂
Wow, love those chips, gotta make them soon, lucky peeps in your office! 🙂
I have never had fried green beans, they look crunchy and good! Bet you had a good time seeing Hannah, is she enjoying her new place? Love the inspirational message, sure is true!
Yep – she is loving life!
I told you that lunch would be amazing. If I worked in your office, you’d have to make double the amount of chips because I’d eat them all. And all of the onions and peppers. Delicious! Glad you had fun with Hannah! Sounds like she has a ridiculous day. 6 kids? Yikes!
It’s worth it – she got paid $195 for the day – not too bad! 😀
I think I’m the only person who isn’t a fan of those fried green beans…I do love other deep fried veggies though!
I need to start making my own tortilla chips, they are way overpriced!
Fried green beans are totally a vegetable! So nice of you to cook for your friend!!
I’m not sure I can forgive you for throwing away 1/2 an onion though. I’m a christian and I know people make mistakes but there is something seriously wrong with that. I’ll pray for you. 🙂
Our weather in Ohio is almost always identical to yours.. it was perfect yesterday and again today! the evenings are great.
I have never realized how much tortilla chips are marked up in the grocery. Corn, oil, and salt are such cheap ingredients.. why the expensive bags of Tostitos?! I should start making my own too.
My perspective on vegetables is that they are good for you ANY way you prepare them! Just think, deep fried green beans are better than french fries, or say, a fried twinkie! Same as if I use butter to cook my vegetables… veges in butter are a better choice than a steak in butter sauce! But then again maybe that’s just my skewed way of reasoning 😉
Enjoy your weekend, Biz!
and thanks for the link to Center Cut Cook…I had never visited that site before. I’m making the smashed potatoes tonight! http://centercutcook.com/smashed-potatoes-with-cheese/
That site was new to me too – those potoatoes sound amazing, but then again, anything with cheese and I am in!