We studied abroad in Costa Rica during our Junior year of college. During our time there we spent three weeks in “El Campo,” rural Costa Rica. E stayed with a family in Grecia, in the mountains of northern Costa Rica where she worked with five women who have their own organic shampoo factory and business. These were not your Aveda salon women with vogue hair styles and trendy clothes. These were working women who wielded machetes. E picked up some skills from them and learned how to use a machete in order to extract the chamomile and aloe vera needed to make the shampoo. Power tools are meant for girls too.
K stayed in central Costa Rica, in Pital, and lived with a woman who owned an organic pineapple farm. Besides enjoying the juiciest, sweetest pineapple every day, she was shown how to harvest the fruit. Like E with the chamomile, she took a machete to the pineapple bush. There is nothing more satisfying than biting into the yellow flesh, and letting the sweet, sticky juice run down your arm after chopping the pineapple with your own might. Girl’s got muscles.
This weekend the machete skills we picked up in Costa Rica came in handy. See all those hostas and overgrowth in the picture above? That’s what our backyard used to look like. But we ripped those nasty, deep rooted plants out of there! (using a shovel and not a machete of course…)
Here’s what it looks like now. Ready to plant some flowers and vegetables!
Not only did we get to use heavy-duty garden tools, we also used this grill master tool. Our new Weber Spirit 310 grill! It is simply amazing. We splurged and got the 3-burned, stainless steel finish, with stainless steel grates. Totally worth the extra spend. Pretty sure Bobby Flay would approve of this grill.
We grilled these rosemary honey mustard chicken skewers on our Weber. You should too. The rosemary and the whole grain Dijon mustard create an earthy base flavor for the marinade. The white balsamic and the honey are a combination of tart and sweet and know how to play with the base flavors. And a little dash of paprika gives the chicken a smoky-spicy kick. When grilled, the chicken becomes slightly charred on the outside, but the inside remains juicy and perfectly succulent. Served with grilled veggies, this meal is a no fail that everyone should have in their back pocket.
Happy double dipping!
Recipe
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 3 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp. honey
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 tsp. paprika
- 4 rosemary sprigs
- dash of pepper
Method
1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients.
2. Slice chicken breasts into 1/2 inch pieces. Add chicken to marinade and let marinate in refrigerator for 2-6 hours.
3. Assemble chicken on skewers. Place on grill over medium heat. Rotate once, after 4 minutes. Grill until cooked through.
4. Serve with grilled asparagus. Enjoy!
Double Dippers 