In my dreams I have a beautiful garden. I wake up early to tend to it, the dew dripping off the leaves as I reach down and pluck perfect tomatoes, peppers and zucchini. I make homemade pasta sauce, salsa and zucchini bread with my bounty.
Turns out I have a black thumb though. Plants and gardens come to my house to die. It is nice to dream though! 
Another wonderful weekend has come to an end. Saturday Tony and I decided to hit up our local restaurant for pizza and a beer for lunch after grocery shopping. I love Summer Shandy!
I have a tip for you guys. Don’t drink beer and pizza for lunch and then attempt to do Insanity later in the day. Gah. I felt sluggish at best and probably exerted 80% of energy doing the workout.
I finished it, but it wasn’t pretty!
Saturday night we ended up eating late and hung outside while we grilled listening to 8 Track – if you haven’t downloaded that app you should. It has hundreds of thousands of playlists and you can sort it by mood – 70s, working out, etc.
What let us stay outside? This bug spray. Holy cow the mosquitos are in full force because of all the rain we had. Tony sprayed this on Friday and I sprayed it again on Saturday and the mosquitos stayed away.
I wasn’t hungry until I started to smell the chicken cook and I brought out some snacks – celery, dill dip, some cheese and grapes.
Tony and I love grilled whole chicken. It’s usually fairly inexpensive, and the leftovers are always put to good use. But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve grilled a chicken, only to bring it inside and have the chicken raw by the legs and wings.
So we ended up butterflying the chicken and we’ve never looked back. Simply cut out the back bone and lay flat – it usually only takes about 45 minutes to cook and it’s done perfect every time.
It’s actually called spatchcock – here is a video on how to do it. My brother and sister are probably throwing up in their mouths watching this video because they can’t do any meat with bones – such a shame because it’s so good. I don’t cut it in half though.
I also melt a tablespoon of butter and brush the chicken with butter. And this time I also added sliced lemon underneath the skin of the breast. We also cook the chicken on cookie rack on a cast iron skillet so that the chicken cooks evenly and any fat drips in the pan, not on the coals.
This was so good – and the leftovers were made into Renee’s Lemon Orzo Soup for lunch today.
Saturday I woke up at 10:30! Yesterday I was up at 7:30 ready to go. While I don’t mind having a lazy day I can’t do two lazy days in a row. I fixed all my SIL’s food for the week by 9:30 and then headed out to our local farmers market.
I ended up buying green beans, blueberries and string cheese. I only had a slice of toast before I went – for some reason I wasn’t hungry yesterday. I ran a couple other errands and came home and made Tony lunch, but I didn’t want to eat anything before working out – it felt much better and I was able to give it 110%.
I ended up eating a Chobani after working out.
After my SIL left I showered and Tony and I went to see Despicable Me 2 – such a great movie! There are certain movies Tony and I deem movie theater worthy, and that was one of them. But holy smokes – the matinee price? $8.50! We bought a medium popcorn and I smuggled in a bottle of water and pop for us. Had we bought drinks it would have cost us $25 to see the movie!
But by the time we got home, my hunger was alive and well! I made steak tacos and stove top refried beans. I pretty much ate the whole plate!
We thought we could go without turning on the air, but it was just too humid last night. Our last electric bill was only $58 so I can’t complain – it’s the middle of July and we’ve only turned on the central air a handful of times.
Alright, it’s time to throw my shit together for the day – it’s sunny out and I don’t think we have any rain forecasted until Friday so I will hit the pool at lunch today. tonight is Month 2 – Day 10 of Insanity – Max Interval Plyo – I think that’s the one with all the pushups! 
Question of the Day: What was the highlight of your weekend?
Make it a great day!
65 comments, girl you are popular. And Tony doesn’t listen to 80s music? When was he born: in the prehistoric age? How can someone not like 80’s music, it’s the best era LOL
Highlight of my weekend? BBQ with friends on Saturday night.
Yep, he was born in 1960, I was born in 1968 – so he prefers 70s music (no disco!) to 80s music. I try to sneak them in every once in a while though when we are sitting outside! 😀
Okay I forgive him a little because I like 70’s music almost as much at 80’s music 🙂
I can’t wait to see Dispicable Me 2. The first one was so funny! Love that speaker for your iPod–perfect for the porch. I just bought a teeny tiny one for our patio this past week. Love having music outdoors!
We do too – except Tony won’t listen to any 80s music – wtf??!! 😀
A few things:
1. Your opening words made me laugh out loud – I am the SAME way. My herbs just shrivel up no matter what i do.
2. Your farmers market pics are LOVELY….!
3. I can’t imagine going on a long walk after pizza and beer, let alone doing one of your crazy workouts. I am IMPRESSED!
Ha – thanks Courtney – glad I am not the only one that can’t grow for shit!
We love our whole grilled chicken too! We call is State Fair Chicken because it smells like the chicken on a spit (@ Wisco State Fair). I cook mine on the Weber, with a drip pan and hot coals around the pan. Rub the chicken with a little oil, put apple, lemon/orange and onion in the cavity. Season outside of chicken with whatever you like. Put on the grill, cover and forget about it for 1.5-2 hours. Done perfectly every time – no turning, no peeking, no nothing! It cooks and sort of smokes at the same time. OK, enough, Sorry I got all crazy with my chicken recipe! Oh, and I feel bad for people that are afraid of meat on bones – it’s so good!
Love the detail Lynne! We have to get a better smoker that’s electric – our other one didn’t hold the temp too well and stuff came out either way too smokey, or not smokey enough. I know, people who can’t do bones are missing out!
That taco plate looks so good! I had a great time this weekend with my aunt who was visiting from out of state. I didn’t do any cooking though – I think we ate every meal out! 🙂
Sometimes its nice to step away from the kitchen, isn’t it?!
We love grilling a whole chicken, too. Have you ever done it beer can style? It’s wonderful. We’ve taken it a step farther and used lemon pepper seasoning and lemonade…oh man, it’s the bomb!
Lemonade?? That sounds interesting – I am going to have to get details from you!
You said you prepared your SIL food for the week? Are you catering for her? I must have missed the story behind it. I kill all my plants too- I dream of lush gardens and if I don’t kill it the deer eat it, so sad:(
The mosquitos are our state bird here in VA and yeah with all the rain they are carrying away small children! I need to spatchcock again, it’s been a while- good idea and whole chickens are so much cheaper, all we have been buying lately is the thighs- all I can afford.
The highlight of my weekend was Dryden, my oldest coming home from camp and his brother’s fiddle concert. Life is good!
My SIL is on Weight Watchers, so I prepare point friendly meals for her lunches. She pays me $25 a week and comes over on Sundays to pick them up – its a win/win! 😀 I love money and love to cook! 😀
I’m a plant killer too, Biz. Hate it. I just forget to water them! Kinda scary but I think I’ll do better with a baby. lol Your chicken does look so perfect! I’ve never grilled a whole chicken but it must be so much cheaper than buying the pre-cut up pieces. I really want your Mexican plate right now.
If it makes you feel any better V, Hannah turned out just fine with my black thumb! Can’t wait to “meet” Joshua in December! You look beautiful pregnant!
LOL, that does make me feel better! 🙂 Thank you so much, I feel beautiful pregnant too! It’s like, man, this was what I was waiting for. 🙂
Biz I have a question…I was gonna make pizza dough with dill leaves mixed in, what would you call that dough?
Duh, DILDO!!
Bwah! I should check the comments more often to see what other kind of shenanigans you and Tony get up to. 🙂
I love spatchcocked chicken but it’s something MAK isn’t terribly comfortable grilling. We usually do beer can chicken, and we have a “fancy” wire holder that I bought years ago.
The highlight of my weekend was my son’s baseball team winning their games. They have played every day since Thursday, and we play again tonight! They are all getting a little tired at this point, and we are running out of pitchers, so it’s going to get interesting from here on out!
I didn’t work out at all this weekend, but I am going tonight after the game. I told MAK that if he has to shove me out the door and lock it behind me, that’s what he has to do. I’m goin’, I’m goin’!! 🙂
Yep, I remember those end of season games where if you kept winning you kept playing night after night. I think we had Subway sandwiches four nights in a row when Hannah was in 8th grade!
Pizza, beer and working out definitely do not go together 🙂 I love the photo of Tony. The highlight of my weekend was the Dbacks game for sure.
I loved seeing the pictures on Instagram!
When I get back into a routine I have to do those Insanity workouts…they look & sound killer!
I’ve been dying to enjoy my backyard this year…determined is more like it…and bought a truckload of that cutter stuff… I haven’t even sprayed it yet. :p Not sure what I’m waiting for. Currently Natie & I are polka dotted with all of our bites. It’s ain’t cute, but at least we look silly together!
Pizza…beer….Farmer’s Market…what’s not to love about this weekend!
Hey Lori!!! Glad to see you are alive and well! Yep, spray that shit and you’ll be bug free – it doesn’t just send them away, it actually kills them. 😀
Thank God… I’m going on a mission this week!!!
My electric bill (ok, includes water, sewer and trash) was $331 – a $100 increase over the previous month! I think part of it was due to the stupid stupid industrial fans and dehumidifiers we had running for four days due to the stupid stupid water leak in our bathroom…but it’s also been hot, and yes, we run our A/C!
Glad you had such a great weekend!
Ouch!! Wow, that’s a hefty bill! We don’t pay for water because we have well water, and since we are in an unincorporated part of town, we don’t have sewer bills either. 😀
That chicken looks fantastic Biz! I think it is awesome that you are still rocking the Insanity, you go girl! I need to get my butt to the Farmer’s market too. Your pictures all look so good. It’s been too hot to do anything but, get in the pool lately though. (No complaints here). I’ll have to go on a cooler or rainy day 🙂
I was going to say – if its too hot its perfect pool weather!! Glad you are finally enjoying it!
Wow that chicken looks like it’s from a magazine!
Thanks Lisa! 😀 And to think I never really grilled until I met Tony!
Hi Biz! I finally caught up on all of your posts. I have missed you! This summer is just flying by. If I’m not literally running I’m running around with Carlos. He is one busy little guy, but it’s all good stuff.
I laughed when I saw your poor plant because I have one almost identical. My son’s teacher gave it to the volunteer parents at the end of the year with instructions on how to care for it. I royally suck at gardening.
I’m so proud of your Insanity accomplishments. It’s really awesome Biz. You are doing an amazing job keeping up with the program. You must be feeling great.
I love farmer’s markets and your photos are beautiful.
The highlight of my weekend was a successful 16 mile run on Sunday morning despite the heat and humidity! I hope you’re having a great Monday.
Holy shizz Aimee – great job on the 16 miler! Carlos will be in school before you know it – enjoy your time with him while you can!
I envy you, only turning the a/c on a handful of times. Ours has been running pretty much non-stop since May. It is really hot where I live( Santa Clarita, CA( 20miles N. of LA). We’re on the level pay plan for the electric bill so we spend 174.00 a month, even though the bill is over 300.00 in the summer months. The low bills in the winter make up for the summer, but we still have to pay 174.00 every month.
We went to the Farmer’s market on Sunday as well. We got amazing peaches, nectarines, plums and 3 different kinds of melons. We also got blue lake green beans for 3.00lb.
I’m trying not to eat pasta( except dreamfields), bread, potatoes at night, just protein and veggies. I think its working so far, I’ve lost 3lbs.
That’s awesome Randi – I may try to do the same thing – start off with carbs and taper off as the day progresses – we’ll see! 😀
You certainly get a lot of quality time out of your week-ends…{clapping hands}….wishin’ the week-ends were longer at this end!!!!
JP’s friend brought over 5 lbs of blueberries…oh yum!! I made a blueberry torte, baked oatmeal with blueberries and bananas, blueberry sauce, froze blueberries, blueberry salad and fruit bowl with the main attraction being blueberries!!!
After doing the blueberries, we went shopping and hit a Bird store, trying to figure out how to get rid of the squirrels that keep climbing the shepherds hooks to get the bird seed. So far the only thing that really works is our Dog chasing the squirrels away.
Loved the picture of Farmers Market fruits, vegies and flowers. Going to try that spatchcock grilling method. I did a beef roast doing your method and taking the temp at 125….oh my gosh was that a de-lish beef roast….cooked to perfection!!!
Mosquitos are miserable here too…..Love Tony’s look and will certainly buy some cutters……he is a good saleman!!!
The beer I could pass on, but that pizza looks very good. With this new Diabetes med…no more wine for now.
Kudos on the insanity…you have been very consistant in your journey of working out. Sorry about your black thumb 🙁
Louise – just use vegetable oil on the shepherds hook – the squirrels won’t be able to grab onto it without sliding off of it – its hilarious to watch them try too!
Hooray for the great beef! I always hate ruining a good piece of meat by overcooking it – and since I’ve used that method, no more tough meat. 😀
Love your blog! I just started reading it a month ago, and I look forward to it everyday!!! Have you tried cooking the whole chicken using a beer can chicken holder? My husband and I love using this. There are always left overs that we repurpose for other meals. The meat is always cooked perfectly and is so moist and tender! You should check it out if you haven’t used one before.
http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-0880-PDQ-Stainless-Steel-ChickCAN/dp/B0009JXYR8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1373901626&sr=8-4&keywords=beer+can+chicken
Hey Sarah! Yep, we’ve used that method before, but still have had raw chicken – I don’t know what we did wrong! Thanks for the link though! 😀
Haha I stink at keeping plants alive! The highlight of my weekend was spending some quality time with John – he listened more than he was in time out this weekend! LOL that’s a victory in my book!
That is a victory!! He’s getting so big!
i need the brand and where to purchase for your outdoor speaker dealy your phone is plugged into there ma’am. please and thank you 😉
Hey Peggy – its Sharper Image and its old and I can’t find it online, but here is a similar one, now wireless! We love it though – the sound is pretty amazing.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Sharper-Image-Wireless-Transmitter/dp/B001MYC4B6
SWEET! we just screened in our back porch, I see this in our future!!!! 😀
Okay, I have a couple of thoughts [when don’t I?] giggle But I always have so much to say, like we’re visiting for real or something, right?
I saw the “Cutter” bottle Tony is holding and while laughing at the look on his face I swear it said “Cutup” He’s so funny.
Yeah, I wouldn’t guess pizza and beer would be conducive to Insanity. The fact you did it at all after that lunch is. . .well. . . insane. But of course you would. YOU are the AMAZING Bizzy. [That’s me being all impressed if you can’t tell. ::grin::]
You are so inventive with your grilling. I always butterfly our whole chickens too [if they EVER make it past being turned into fried chicken] but I would’ve never thought about the cast iron, grill rack dohicky idea. Nicely done my friend. And I almost licked my screen [again] Damn that chicken looks GOOOOOOD.
Hey – we did taco/burritos/7 layer dip/beans twice this weekend. We be da’ pooorz and can’t afford steak [I kid. I just have a hard time digesting it] and my gosh it is one of our favorite meals [hence why we had it twice] Your plate is SO pretty. Okay. I definitely licked the screen on that one.
And finally, because only you will understand my [kitchen fail] pain on this one – I made two pies yesterday and do you know what? They both sucked. GAH. I just need to stick to my tried and true recipes and not mess with new ones. I wasted 5 lbs of glorious peaches in one. ::sob:: I hate Southern Living Magazine. Stupid recipe. heehee
Okay. how’s that? I just like talking to you and hope you don’t mind. Hugs and much love! JG
Oh Skip, sorry you wasted all those peaches! Sometimes its best to stick with what we know works. Happy Monday my friend!
Is it bad that I can’t say the word “spatchcock” without giggling like a second grader?”
You just wanted to type the word cock – I know you too well! 😀
Hahahahahaha thanks, I needed that!! nothing like a good late night laugh 😀
I do not have a green thumb either. Love your photos!
Great tips on cooking the chicken – I love to use whole chickens but don’t want any thing raw so we always overcook parts of it.
I can’t even imagine doing Insanity after beer – I would probably puke!!!
It wasn’t a pretty workout Kim – let’s just say when he was telling me to exhale, I may have just farted!
Thank you!! I needed a laugh this afternoon!!
Here is where I laughed too 😀
Chobani is a perfect post-workout food!
The highlight of my weekend was taking Colin and his friend to the beach – we had a good time!
That sounds like fun!
Great photos, you always make food look so good. Glad you had a nice weekend. Have fun at the pool this week. You are really killing it with the workouts, way to go!
Thanks Roly! Hope you got out for some exercise this weekend!
I wish I had known about the cookie rack, cast iron skillet trick last night. I was grilling chicken thighs and it was a regular inferno inside that grill! I took the chicken off the grill and removed the skin, and it still flared up for a while. It actually turned out good but I’ll use your trick next time. 🙂
Yep, the whole chickens and thighs are higher in fat, so more drips off – so tasty though!
too funny. I also have a black thumb. I LOVE farmer’s markets.
We had friends in town with their kids, so we hung out with them (including a trip to the farmer’s market).
It was also our anniversary. 🙂
I did a ton of cooking for the week. Lots and lots.
Love that you were Bizzy in Your Kitchen Marcia!
Thanks for sharing the method for “perfect grilled chicken.” It looks delicious. You are a very busy woman, and I am amazed at how much you get done. Have a great week!
Thanks! Have a great week too!
Mmm Summer Shandy…love it! We also used that bug spray on our yard, the bugs are horrible this year thanks to the weather we’ve had. That chicken looks amazing! The only whole chickens I have done on the grill were beer butt chicken. My boyfriend won’t eat meat off the bone either, so I guess the whole chicken thing is out for me for now.
Another Summer Shandy fan – love it! Sorry the boy doesn’t like meat off the bone – it’s so much more flavorful! Hope your DietBet week started good today Sam!