Chicken Fajitas

Sizzle.

I don't know about you, but what I associate most with fajitas is the sound. You can always tell when someone at your restaurant ordered fajitas, because you can hear them traveling across the dining room, followed by that incredible smell. Anybody else want their own dining rooms to sound and smell (and taste) like that? 

This recipe is one of my favorites. I use this recipe almost exactly how I found it. The original website says the recipe was contributed by an 8-year-old. The girl must be a genius at flavor profiles, but yes, it is that easy.

The recipe is basically for a marinade, which, when you add cornstarch and throw everything in the skillet, becomes a glaze for the chicken and veggies. Bonus: Not only is this marinade extremely fast to prepare, you can do it the night before, the morning of, or 15 minutes before dinner - whenever you have time. When dinnertime rolls around, just dump it in a skillet, and you've got a sizzling dinner in about 10 minutes.

Chicken Fajitas
From: Food & Wine
Serves: 4

You'll need:
1 t chili powder
1 t salt
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t garlic powder
1/8 t ground chipotle pepper
1 T cornstarch
1/4 c water
3 T olive or canola oil, divided
1 lb. chicken breast, cut into 1/2"-wide strips
1 green pepper, cut into thin strips
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 T lime juice
2 T chopped fresh cilantro
Small flour tortillas
Sour cream, cheddar or Mexican cheese, shredded lettuce, guacamole, diced tomatoes, etc.

Combine the spices, cornstarch, water, and 2 Tbsp. oil in a resealable bag and mix well. Add the chicken, green pepper, and onion; seal and knead gently to coat. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes, or overnight.

Ten or fifteen minutes before dinnertime, heat the remaining oil in a skillet. Empty the bag into the skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring often, just until the chicken is cooked through. Your onions will be soft and your peppers tender-crisp: perfect. Remove from heat; drizzle with the lime juice, throw the cilantro on top, and voilà. You have a sizzling skillet full of flavor, just like the kind that walks past you in the restaurant and makes everyone turn and stare.

Serve on warmed flour tortillas with all your favorite toppings.

Mexican Rice

I've been on a mission for over a year to find a recipe for Mexican rice, ever since my husband informed me that he wasn't too fond of the recipe I had been using. I wasn't that offended, since it was a total cheater shortcut recipe, but finding a better one that (a) doesn't have vegetables in it (since my husband hates those) and (b) wasn't a pain to make has proven to be more challenging than I thought it would be. But at last... a winner!

Great subtle flavor and a nice sticky texture... Outstanding with refried beans... what more could you want?

How about, it's ready in 30 minutes, only requires your attention for about 10, and you probably have all the ingredients on hand already? Win.

Mexican Rice
From: allrecipes.com
Serves: 4-6

You'll need:
3 T vegetable oil
1 c uncooked long-grain rice
1 t garlic salt
1/2 t cumin
1/4 c chopped onion
1/2 c tomato sauce
2 c chicken broth

Note: Since I was actually out of chicken broth, I found (thanks, google) that you can substitute 1 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of butter for a cup of chicken broth. So, consider that a variation in case you, too, are out of chicken broth.

Heat the oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in the rice and toast for a few minutes, stirring often, until the rice is puffy and golden. While it's cooking, sprinkle in the garlic salt and cumin.

Add the onion and cook, stirring often, for a few more minutes until the onions are tender. Stir in the tomato sauce and chicken broth (or water and butter) and bring to a boil.

Cover, reduce heat, and simmer about 20-25 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.

 Fluff with a fork and serve with your favorite Mexican dish. And some refried beans.

Steak Quesadillas

My apologies for not posting for such a long time. I could use having a new baby as an excuse, but the truth of the matter is that we were incredibly blessed to have many friends bring us meals after the baby was born, so I have done virtually no cooking in the past month. And like a weirdo, I missed it. So it felt good to get back into the swing of things yesterday.

My in-laws are in town, so I used them as guinea pigs for a new take on quesadillas. They turned out AWESOME.

I'm sorry there isn't a picture of a whole quesadilla... we were eating them as soon as they were coming off the heat. There was almost no picture at all, but I remembered halfway through this last one.

Now, I'm a cheapskate. I don't believe in spending any more money than you have too. Most recipes for steak quesadillas call for sirloin steak, but I am just too, well, cheap to buy any. So I bought a couple pounds of top round steak for half the cost and researched ways to tenderize meat.

1. Put the meat in between wax paper or plastic and beat it with a meat hammer. Or, if, like me, you don't own a meat hammer, use a copper-bottom saucepan. Worked great.

2. Cut the meat against the grain. I cut the steaks into very thin strips.

Doesn't it just look tender?

3. Use a marinade that contains acid. Letting the meat marinate in acid helps break down the connective tissue found in tougher cuts of meat. This particular marinade was adapted from Taste of Home, but I made a couple of swaps.

Two pounds fed five adults nicely.

Marinade for Steak
Adapted from Taste of Home

You'll need:
1/4 c lime juice
6 garlic cloves, minced
4 t canola oil
4 t chili powder
1 t cumin
1 t salt
1 t pepper
2 lb sliced steak

Combine the first seven ingredients in a large Ziploc bag. Add the steak, seal, and knead to mix. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, turning every few hours.

To cook the meat, heat a skillet until a drop of water sizzles in it. Empty the bag into the skillet (in smaller batches, if necessary) and cook just a few minutes, stirring often, until meat is browned on all sides. Go a few extra minutes if you like your meat medium-well, but be warned, the longer you cook it, the more you run the risk of drying it out and losing that tenderness.

Now for the quesadillas.

You'll need:
the aforementioned steak
some sauteed onions and bell peppers
your choice of cheeses (I used cheddar and pepperjack)
anything else you want to put in them (this is pretty flexible)
medium-size flour tortillas

Load up half a tortilla, fold it over, and put it in your quesadilla maker. Or, if you don't have one, spray the tortilla lightly with Pam and put it in a hot skillet for a few minutes on each side until the tortilla is crisp and golden and the cheese is melted.

Serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and anything else you like. Yum!