This is one of the girls favorite meals to help make because they get to chop up lots of veggies, and they absolutely love to make homemade guacamole. We usually make both chicken and shrimp, so that everyone can customize their fajitas as they like. While the actual prep and cook time is quick, clean up does take awhile so we only do this when we get home early enough to not mind doing lots of dishes (the girls insist everything has to go into separate bowls). To make prep time easier we use store bought soft tortillas, canned vegetarian refried beans, shredded cheese, and sour cream (or whole fat greek yogurt based on which we have in the fridge).
Homemade Guacamole:
fresh hass avocados (we use 3-4 because at least 2 usually get consumed by the kids while they are cutting everything up)
1/2 lemon or lime
1/4 cup red onion finely chopped
1/3 cup diced tomatoes
1 garlic clove finely diced
salt to taste
optional: jalapeno if you like spicy
Slice up the avocados and mash with a fork in large mixing bowl. Mix in finely diced tomatoes, red onion, and garlic. Squeeze juice of 1/2 lime on top (if we're out of limes, then lemon works too). pinch of sea salt at the end to taste.
For the fajitas:
Chicken:
2 chicken breasts trimmed of excess fat and finely sliced
1 lime
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 garlic clove finely diced
salt, pepper
De-fat and slice the chicken into this strips. Place the chicken strips, olive oil, paprika, garlic, pinch of salt and pepper into ziplocked bag. Squeeze juice of 1 lime into the bag. Shake well and place in fridge to marinade for 10-15 minutes while you get everything else ready. Try to occasionally shake the bag up to get all the chicken strips evenly coated while in the fridge.
Veggies:
While the chicken is marinating, we let the kids start slicing up the veggies (yellow, red, and/or orange bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes), while we slice up the onion and peel the shrimp. Once the veggies are all sliced up saute in a large frying pan over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes with 1 tbsp olive oil. While the veggies are cooking add some seasoning of choice (I usually either use 2 tbsp of fajita seasoning packet when we're in a hurry, but you can easily make your own seasoning with 1tbsp paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 1tsp garlic powder, and 1 tsp salt). Put cooked veggies aside in a bowl.
Shrimp:
You can easily use the same marinade process for the chicken if you want, my oldest prefers the shrimp without much seasoning though so often I'll simply saute 1/2 lb of fresh shrimp in 1 tbsp butter, with salt and a little lemon or lime squeezed on top. The key for making great shrimp is to peel and devein them first, then slowly cook them over medium-low heat until lightly pink (roughly 5 minutes), flipping over halfway through. Most people want to cook them quickly on high heat but that can make them very rubbery or tough.
Once the veggies are finished, I'll saute the shrimp in the same pan I used for the veggies to soak up a little more of the flavor from the veggies. Once they are cooked, I'll put them in a separate bowl. Lastly I take the marinated chicken out of the fridge and cook in the same pan on high heat for 3-4 minutes until well cooked. While the shrimp and chicken are cooking the girls are in charge of putting the refried beans (which I heat in the microwave), shredded cheese and some sour cream in separate bowls, and setting the table.
Once everything is cooked, everyone gets to fill their tortilla with toppings of their choice (veggies, chicken, shrimp, diced tomatoes, beans, cheese, sour cream/yogurt). Feel free to add salsa or cilantro at the end for a little extra flavor!
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