Lawry's 30 Minute Marinade- Mesquite with Lime Juice

    Have you ever had one of those days when you are just driving along, minding your own business, then suddenly, something hits you? Not something literally running into you. Not a thought or an idea or something that you were supposed to remember. I'm talking about something that speaks to your senses. An aroma. The kind of aroma that makes your taste buds tingle. The kind that immediately makes you want to disregard whatever dinner plans you may have had. Last weekend, my husband had such a day. He was out running errands, when the aroma of someone's backyard barbecue permeated through the windows of his truck. Then and there, he had decided what we were going to do for dinner!

    When he had finished the things that he needed to get done, he picked me and a few of the kids up, and we headed to the grocery store. Once there, we split up. My group went to get the corn on the cob and his group went to check out the meat department. We met back up in the barbecue sauce isle. I saw him looking at the marinades. Now, I am a barbecue sauce kind of girl. And to me, grilling means barbecue (yes I do know there is a difference, but still) and barbecue means barbecue sauce! ...Mmmmmm.... Barbecue sauce.... Hu? Where was I? Oh yes. Marinades and barbecue sauce. After looking through the selection of marinades, my husband decided on the Lawry's 30 Minute Marinade. He chose the Mesquite with Lime Juice flavor. Yeah, ok. I'll try that. After all, it is mesquite. Then he reached over and picked up a bottle of bbq sauce. Since he had gotten two large packages of chicken thighs, he figured we'd do one pack with marinade and one with sauce. I couldn't wait to get back and get everything started.

    The marinade says on the bottle that it is a 30 minute marinade. It was a good thing too, because my husband was starting the grill just as I was getting the chicken into the marinade. About 30 minutes later, the coals were ready and the chicken was on the grill. As my husband manned the grill, basting the marinated chicken with the Lawry's near the end of the cooking time, and brushing barbecue sauce on the remaining chicken; I was inside taking care of the side dishes.
 
   When everything was ready, I struggled to not sneak a taste as I made the kids' plates. (OK... I did sneak a taste... or 2... come on. I'm only human!) Knowing that I'd for sure like the barbecue chicken best, I grabbed a piece for my plate. I also got a small piece of the marinaded chicken, since I did want to taste it (even though I knew I'd like the barbecue better). I sampled a bite (... ok, another bite) of the barbecue chicken. Yummy, of course. Then I tried a bite of the marinaded chicken. Wow! To my surprise, I actually liked it better!!! It had a really good flavor. The mesquite was nice and the lime wasn't overpowering. I do recommend following the suggestion in the label, to marinade the meat longer in order for the flavors to permeate through, but even with the mere 30 minutes, the flavor was definitely there. I really liked the additional marinade that was basted over the chicken. In fact, the whole family really enjoyed it

    Lawry's 30 Minute Marinade- Mesquite with Lime Juice is inexpensive, flavorful, truthful in its "30 minute marinade" claim, and we will definitely be buying it again.

Overall Rating: ¢¢¢¢¢


    Have you tried any of Lawry's other marinades? What did you think of them? Are there any other flavors you'd recommend?