Black Rice Salad Bowls with Chipotle Orange Chicken, Cashews + Feta.

Let’s just take a second to remember this meal.

Remember its colors, its flavors and its general health appeal.

Because the boys have somehow taken over the kitchen and my mind. Oh man, it is bad. They have my brain thinking guy food. Over the top, amazing guy food that pretty much everyone wants, but only guys can get away with eating 24/7.

It’s bad, but it is so good.

Sometimes I can get so caught up in pleasing people and making the foods they love that I make only what they want and lose a little of my creativity in the process.

I am a people pleaser one hundred percent. Sometimes it is a great trait, but other times it is totally annoying. Like right now.

The boys are tired of my cooking.

Tired of the green, the reds, the oranges, the citrus, the quinoa, the fish and apparently just all things with color.

I have been fighting their requests so hard, but since the younger brothers got back from Europe yesterday I am feeling the urge to give in. The salads will not fly with them and their begging for “good food” is wearing on me.

No, it is kind of killing me. I feel so bad. I mean Creighton (my oldest brother) is only here till Friday and I have given him only a handful of meals that he has really loved. These tacos are his all time favorite, but I am hoping to crank out at least one more favorite before he leaves.

I have to say though, the boys totally missed out on this meal.

I mean, they let the black rice (so good) and the greens freak them out. Instead they ate chicken noodle casserole. A family recipe that people have been begging for me to share, but it pretty much goes against everything I preach. Then again, I also make it like every other week.

Like I said, it is a family favorite. People go nuts for it.

But this meal. It is just so flavorful.

And colorful. I love the colors (<–color freak!).

First of all, the chicken, it is a chipotle, cara cara orange and balsamic glaze that is lick the spoon good. It is kind of like a winter BBQ sauce that just knocked my socks off. The flavor is insane. I blame it all on the very simple ingredients that allow the orange, chipotle and balsamic to really stand out. The recipe makes a little more sauce than you will probably need, but I loved drizzling  it over a lunch salad the next day.

The black rice, or forbidden rice as it is also called, adds the heft. It gives the salad its heartiness and chew. Trust me, I was a little weary of straying from my beloved basmati rice, but it was a nice change up and the flavors of the black rice (really it is more of a deep purple) work really well with the orange. I have to say though, I did have a little bit of a hard time getting it to fully cook, but I do think that it was because of the high elevation I live at. If you run into this problem just add some more water to the pot and continue cooking until the rice is soft.

Oh, and the Cara Cara oranges? Wow, this bowl was my first experience with these and I am now addicted, SO good. Seriously, do not use regular oranges, buy the Cara Cara’s. It is worth every single extra penny.

Promise.

Just realizing this is more bowl food. Seriously addicted to the bowls… and the Cara Cara oranges.