Moles and Molé

On Tuesday, I was thrilled that the projected high temperature was 80 degrees with sun. I couldn’t wait to get in a run after work, and heat up the grill for dinner.

There have been some seriously warm days the past few weeks, sandwiched between days of serious rainfall. I was able to take advantage of the warm weather for my run on Sunday, which actually resulted in a sunburn. I’m now on mole watch, which is something I’m sure any of my fair skinned readers know all too well – when we inspect and make note of all freckles and moles to make sure they don’t change and look “abnormal.” This usually means I find something, freak out, and then am told I’m insane. But you can never be too safe! I’m definitely going to be slathering on the sunscreen before my runs now.

Tuesday’s run was after work, so the sun wasn’t too much of an issue. The heat, though, was a killer. Both my fiancé and I just couldn’t power through our 4 mile run – it was brutal. Neither of us had any energy and our legs felt like lead balloons. I didn’t feel like I was struggling aerobically, but I just couldn’t hang energy wise; I don’t know if it was the heat, going to bed late the night before (boo end of the semester), or a combination. I just have to remind myself that for every not so great run, there will be a great one to follow.

Once I was done whining about our run, I marinated some chicken in Dona Maria molé sauce. I was lucky enough to have this sent to me to sample in preparation for Cinco de Mayo, and I thought it’d be great with grilled chicken. The chicken only sat in the molé sauce for about 30 minutes before going onto the grill, and it was plenty of time for it to really absorb the flavor. Since it’s a thicker sauce, it didn’t require an overnight/few hour soak. Having a sauce already made that will really jazz up an otherwise boring meal (sorry, but just plain grilled chicken is boring) was great – perfect for a weeknight dinner. I also received a can of diced pickled jalapenos, so I threw those on top of the chicken for a little kick.

I decided to keep it simple and just have brown rice with sauteed onion, pepper, black eyed peas, and corn. The rice we used was from our Half Marathon (or 9.55mile race) goody bag. I think it’s so random to get a mini bag of Carolina brown rice, no? But I’m certainly not complaining!

The meal was super simple, and really flavorful. Plus, I really only did half the work. I forgot how much I like cooking in the summer, because it means getting my fiancé in the kitchen (or in this case, manning the grill)!

Grilled Chicken Mole
– Serves 4 –

Ingredients:
4 thin chicken cutlets
1 cup Dona Maria Molé sauce

Directions:
1. Heat grill to medium-high heat
2. Fill tupperware container with 1/2 cup of molé sauce. Add chicken, then cover with remaining sauce. Make sure to coat chicken completely (don’t be afraid to get in there!).
3. Once grill is heated, cook chicken breasts, about 5 minutes on each side (depending on thickness), until done [no pink!]