Mojito Grilled Lime Chicken Wings

Two years ago I weighed 150 pounds, which might not have been remarkable, except I am only 5 feet tall. I was a lit-tle por-ky. Plus I didn’t feel good, my knees hurt all the time and my blood pressure was too high. In high school I weighed 108 pounds and even after having two kids in my 20’s, most of my adult life I weighed about 110. I also smoked and never ate sweets (I’m a salt person, remember). Well, when I was 40 I remarried and decided to have another baby. (I hear you thinking, Was she nuts?) So I quit smoking and gained 10 pounds. Had the baby and gained 10 pounds. Went to culinary school, including a Certificate in Pastry and Baking, became a foodie and gained 10 pounds. Well, you get the idea.

So I decided to go on a diet. I had taken off a few pounds in previous years doing the Atkins diet, so I started off with that. But after losing 15 pounds, I could not look at another hard-cooked egg or cube of cream cheese. I was doing some research on the internet about diets and ran across a website that compared all the popular diets out there, including Atkins. His description was spot on, so when I read that in his opinion Weight Watchers was the only diet and method that not only took the weight off, but allowed you keep it off, I was willing to give it a try. Fortunately there was a Weight Watchers class about five minutes from my house.

I went there, sat through one lecture and signed up. I was lucky to find a leader that was a great stand-up comedienne, whose name was Loretta. And I made a friend that I met up with each week. So I went for a year, losing about 1 pound a week and eventually got down to 100 pounds. What I learned was portion control. And not to eat any white stuff: potatoes, rice, bread, pasta., etc. And I journaled everything I ate every day and counted the calories. It really worked. It was so interesting to treat food, eating and my body as a cause and effect science experiment. But I’ll have to tell you, don’t ever try to feed me a whole wheat tortilla. They are one of the most disgusting things I have ever tasted.

So what does all that have to do with Mojito Grilled Lime Chicken Wings? This recipe is a Weight Watcher recipe that I copied out of a WW cook book in the classroom, but didn’t write down the title. My big problem while on that diet was finding food that tasted really good that didn’t have tons of calories. The first time I ate these Chicken Wings, I was completely blown away with how astounding they were. Of course, on the WW diet, you only got to eat two pieces. LOL. However, now that I am not on that diet any longer, I ate a whole bunch of them. The first time I fed them to my 22 year old son, I asked him what he thought. “Oh my god, these are freaking amazing!!” he said.

It was hard to photograph these wings because of the lime sauce glaze, which gave the whole thing a weird looking texture. But you get the idea. The red onion slices were brushed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and the carrots with olive oil, and both grilled alongside the chicken. If you like that South of the Border taste combination of lime-cumin-garlic, then you must try these.