Fajeetas

One simple fall meal that I love is fajitas (pronounced fa-jeet-as, naturally). For some reason I don't make them that often, but they're extremely versatile, and super easy. The first time I ever made them was when the Mr. and I were dating and I was just learning to cook. Turns out he didn't like to eat out every meal like I did, say what? You actually want me to grocery shop? and make a meal? in the kitchen? At this point, I had never even tried them before. (seriously picky eater people). I was incredibly intimidated by them mostly because I had to deal with raw chicken (goo). But they were in the "beginners" section of all my cook books and turns out, they're super easy! And actually this meal is perfect for picky eaters, because you can put whatever you like in them. And bonus, the Mr. (then boyfriend) said they were the greatest fajeetas he'd ever had in his life! (suckup ;)

When I made them the other day I actually ended up making my fajita seasoning from scratch. Although that wasn't intentional. Apparently I suck at grocery shopping (amongst other things) and couldn't find the pre-packaged fajita seasoning mixes. Seriously Hy-Vee you should hire me to help them organize their grocery store for dummies. Anyhoo, when I couldn't find it I just decided to make my own, which PS, when I made it, it probably cost me like 50 cents, and it made as much as 3 packages. So it ended up working in my penny-pinching favor.

All I did was marinate the sliced up chicken in the fajita seasoning with some water a and drizzle of oil. Then I cooked the chicken in a skillet. Took out the chicken and cooked some veggies (in this case some sliced up zucchini and green peppers) added in black beans and corn and added the chicken back in. That's it! Then of course I had to load mine up with cheese and sour cream. But hey there were a lot of vegetables in that bad boy.

We were in such a fajita mood last week, I decided to make a second version a couple days later. I know! Watch out now, I'm gettin crazy in my kitchen! (which is really hard to do because it's so small). This time after I cooked the chicken, all I added was a green pepper, and some ranch dressing. Boom Ranch Fajitas. Who doesn't love ranch? No one. (I then of course piled it high with cheese, black beans and sour cream).

All I need now is some homemade salsa and margaritas - yum!

Recipe for fajita mix:

• 3 Tbs cornstarch
• 2 Tbs chili powder
• 1 Tbs salt
• 1 Tbs paprika
• 1 Tbs sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp chicken powder (crushed up bouillon cubes)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp cumin

Mix it all together! Boom. Master chef worthy fajita mix.