Chicken Fajitas

I apologize for the gap in posts.  I've been traveling and working like a dog.  Well, not like my dog... he seems to lay around in bed an awful lot...

I also gave up sweets, meats, and booze for 40 days, which didn't make me too excited.  I did manage to drop some pounds whilst avoiding the kitchen, so don't worry, I haven't been making things and not sharing them, I've been eating boring things that no one wants to read about...not that anyone actually wants to read about this...I digress...  

Last week I bought 8 chicken breasts and cooked them all up at once (simmered in chicken broth) and then kept them in the refrigerator with every intention of eating chicken for most of my meals in an effort to be healthier.  Well, long story short, I ate a bunch of junk and have a lot of chicken breasts left over.  So, I decided to make fajitas. 

I no longer use a prepackaged taco or fajita flavoring as it is cheaper, more ecofriendly, and contains less freaky preservatives to when I make my own.  Also, I have all these ingredients here and don't have a prepackaged mix, or I would have been tempted :).

I've included the recipe for the fajita seasoning, but everything else is really just a guideline.  They're fajitas people, it's not an exact science.  Use what you have and what your family likes, or use what you like and tell your family that if they don't like it they can make their own darn supper. 

I used:
3 chicken breasts
1 Green Bell Pepper
5 Mini Bell Peppers (Red-Yellow-Orange)
16 oz sliced mushrooms
1 Large onion
1 Package of Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas
You will also need some Olive Oil and some broth or water.

Fajita Seasoning Recipe:
1 Tablespoon of Cornstarch (I subbed 2 T of flour)
2 teaspoons of chili powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of paprika
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon of cumin

Mix all ingredients together.

Now, if you are using RAW chicken or meat of any kind, you would cut it into strips and coat with olive oil, then coat with fajita seasonings.  My chicken was already cooked so I didn't do it this way.  If you coat your meat at this point, put a little olive oil in your pan and throw it all in there to cook "stir-fry" style.  If your chicken is precooked, continue reading to see how I did it.  You don't want to dry out your chicken. 

Prepare your veggies.  I used peppers (green peppers, red peppers, yellow peppers and orange peppers), onions, and mushrooms.  Use as much as you think your family will need. 

Heat a pan with some olive oil in the bottom and begin to stir-fry your veggies. I added a few vegetable broth cubes to allow for some liquid in the pan for the fajita seasonings to break down. You can use water if you don't have any broth.   



Once the veggies started to break down and the broth cubes had melted, I added some fajita seasoning mix (about half of what we had just made?). 

If you are using precooked chicken, get it out and slice it up into strips.  I used 3 breasts, but you can use more or less depending on your appetite.  I don't mind just eating veggie fajitas but the man likes meat. 

Add the sliced chicken to your wok and allow it to soak up any of the juices remaining from the veggie/broth mix.  The chicken is already cooked, so the idea here is to get it to take on flavor without drying it out.  Keep heat on medium to medium low until "juices" are gone.  Then just set aside with a lid on to keep the flavors going, but to considerably slow the cooking process. 

While I let the chicken absorb all those wonderful flavors I pulled some precooked frozen black beans out of the freezer and cooked them with a couple broth cubes.  Once these were warm I added some corn (from some corn on the cob I'd cooked earlier in the week and didn't eat) and 4 Tablespoons of homemade salsa. 

 

Serve fajitas with lettuce, tomatoes and any guacamole or sour cream if you have it.  I probably would have made some rice if I had any in the house, so we settled for tortilla chips. 

To heat my whole wheat flour tortillas I turn on the burner on my stove and throw the tortilla (w/o oil) right on the burner to "char" it a little.  The difference between a charred tortilla and a straight up burnt one is only a couple of seconds, so it would be best to not multi-task while you are doing this, because it seems, even the dog won't eat a burnt tortilla.