Chicken Fajitas and Guacamole

Happy Cinco de Mayo (2 days late)! I was VERY sick with a sinus infection on the holiday, so I made this favorite dish last night with my fave topping, dip, appetizer, you name it, guacamole! Recipes below, enjoy!

Chicken Fajitas

I found this recipe on the Southern Food section of About.com. I am obsessed! I've since made it over 5 times, tweaking it each time. Even though it calls for zucchini, I haven't used zucchini yet, but that's just because I haven't found any fresh zucchini lately. Here it is:

Chicken fajitas with onions, sweet peppers, green onions, and other ingredients.

Ingredients:

* 2 tablespoons canola oil
* 3 boneless chicken breast halves, cut in thin strips
* 1 medium onion, cut in wedges
* 2 cloves garlic
* 4 mild green or red chile peppers, seeded and sliced
* 1 sweet red bell pepper, seeded and cut in strips
* 1 green bell pepper, seeded/cut in strips
* 1 zucchini, trimmed, cut in strips
* 8 flour tortillas, warmed
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* guacamole
* 1 bunch green onions, trimmed, sliced

Preparation:
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet; cook the chicken strips over high heat, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, or until cooked. Drain and serve.

Add the onion, garlic and chile peppers to the oil in the pan and sauté over high heat for 2 minutes. Add the bell peppers and zucchini; cook over high heat for 4 minutes, or until the vegetables have begun to have a blackened look around the edges.

Return the chicken to the pan and heat until sizzling hot. Serve right away, with warm tortillas, sour cream, guacamole, sliced green onions, and chopped tomatoes. Serve with hot cooked rice and refried beans, if desired.
Serves 4.

Shannon's notes: Ok, so I don't eat sour cream in general, but a dollop on this fajita is UH-MAZE-ING. Combined with homemade guacamole and a dash of hot sauce makes for a perfect chicken fajita. And you don't even have to go to Chipotle for it. You can make it in your very own home. (Even though I am a major fan of Chipotle, thanks to my best friend, Megan, who introduced me to this maker of HUGE fajita burritos!) :-)

I have my own recipe for guacamole I have been using for years, posted below. I think I make Mexican meals JUST for the guac. When you can get really good ripe avocados, it's too yummy. Really, it is. I made it last night, to go with my belated Cinco de Mayo extravaganza (and to celebrate my sense of taste returning from hiatus due to sinus issues...)

Note: I always use cast iron for chicken fajitas (and most other foods; cast iron is simply the best). Once the chicken is sizzled up,

I transfer it to another hot cast iron pan and toss the chicken with green chili powder Jeremy's friend Sam brought back from New Mexico (thanks, Sam!),

and Rose's lime juice. The chicken soaks up the lime juice, and flavors it nicely. Yum!


Shannon's Homemade Guacamole:

This is basically a standard recipe for guacamole that I have been putting my own twist on for the past few years:

Ingredients:

2 large avocados
1 tomato
1 large onion
2 T fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
1 lime
1 T green chili powder
Cracked black pepper
Coarse sea salt

Preparation:

Halve avocados, remove pits and set aside (You will use 1 pit later).

Scoop out avocado flesh, transfer to medium size bowl (but if you have a mortar and pestle, transfer to the mortar). Mash away! You don't want any chunks of avocado sticking out, you want it evenly mashed.

This is my new mortar and pestle, by the way. Isn't she gorgeous?! I am so excited to finally have my first mortar and pestle, a kitchen tool I've been lusting after for years now. And a MARBLE mortar and pestle at that! (I got it from a thrift store for 4 bucks, which makes it even better.)



After adequately mashing up avocados, add in juice of 1/2 lime. Mash some more. Crush 1 garlic clove right into the mortar, mashing as you crush. Sprinkle in cracked pepper, and coarse sea salt to taste. Taste, taste! You will want to test out this recipe while making, not only because of the amazing flavors all melding together perfectly, but because you don't want your guac too spicy or garlicky or what have you.
Add in diced cilantro and 1/2 of onion, finely chopped. Once the onion is added, mash no more. The guac is becoming a fine consistency of wonderfulness, and you don't need to mash and crush any longer. Now, mix in the onion, making sure to scoop in the avocado and garlic, etc until it is nicely mixed together. Taste, of course, and if needed, add the other half of the lime (I always use the juice of one whole lime, because I am a lime fanatic. But you may not be).
Work in more of the onion, continuously mixing with large spoon. Hmm what else, ah yes, a dash of green chili powder. I use a generous portion because Jeremy likes his guac spicy. I keep the bag of chili powder handy because when Jeremy's around, he's always adding more to whatever spicy meal I've made. He likes to kick it up several notches, whereas I like my guacamole with a slight kick, but I mostly go crazy over the lime and avocado and sea salt combo, oh my!

At this point I transfer my gorgeous guac to a festive bowl, throw in that pit that you sat aside, right into the center (this prevents guac from browning), cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour before devouring with chips. I love really cold guacamole on a warm tostada chip. Mmmmm.

So now, take the tomato, cut it in half, and seed it. This means remove all the seeds because those seeds can be pesky in a dip, but you definitely DON'T want to remove the tomato skin. This is where all the nutrients live, so keep the skin on. I always remove the seeds then sprinkle a little salt and eat them right up. Very refreshing, and cuts back on food waste. Finely dice the tomato, then store in a sealed bowl and refrigerate. I use these little Pampered Chef ramekins that my mom got me for Christmas.

DEFINITELY one of my favorite Pampered Chef items, and so useful for storing foods for Mexican night. Thanks, Mom!

After guac is nicely chilled, add in tomato. Serve right away. You won't be able to hold back! Make sure to scoop a nice spoonful of guac right onto your fajita with all the other toppings. De--lish!


Happy Cinco de Mayo!