Homemade Lemon Pepper Marinade

I've grown up a lot within the year and a half that I've called the Quad Cities home.

I lived by myself for the very first time, was responsible for my own bills, grocery shopping, etc... very "adult" things.

But it wasn't until I turned 25 until I really felt it.

The first of my two #adulting experiences happened in November when I booked a hotel on Princeline.com for the very first time. Why was this such a momentous occasion for me? I have no idea, but for some reason, it sticks out. I even tweeted about it, like a true adult.

Now, I'm a stingy person with my money so I try not to eat out during the week as much as possible. I opened up my freezer and found the four lbs. of chicken my parents brought me in Oct. (adult, right?) - the same chicken my roommate has been making comments about how much space it takes up in our freezer. Tonight was the night.

I took the chicken out, thawed it for a couple hours, and then came back to it. Looked in my refrigerator for a marinade, and nothing. Now, if it were hot sauces, that's a different story, but no marinade in sight. 'I need something to marinade this stuff in otherwise it's just going to be dry, chicken,' I thought to myself.

(This is where I really started to feel like an adult)

My thought was, if I didn't have a marinade, and I don't want to buy one, I'll make one! I got out my phone and Googled "Lemon Pepper Marinade," and to my surprise I had all of the ingredients!

After putting it all together and combining it with the chicken, I called my mom. I was embarrassingly proud of myself for a) having all of these ingredients within reach and b) for thinking to put them together to make my own homemade marinade. And yes, I even Instagrammed it:

Tonight for dinner, give this marinade a try. It not only tasted delicious but it also brought about some crazy-embarrassing self confidence and made me realize I'm actually doing ok with this whole "adult" thing.

Lemon Pepper Marinade:

• Juice of one lemon
• 2 tbls extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tbls black peppercorns, crushed
• (and then I got a little fancy and added some garlic powder and garlic salt, totally optional - but definitely delicious)