Fajita night

Another cold day, and another night of cooking inside, I decided to make fajitas.

Ryan and I like to buy in bulk and freeze food - meat especially. Recently we bought a bunch of chicken thighs and separated them out into little bags to thaw out as we needed them. I got one out for my fajitas, because I think thighs work best - as opposed to breast meat which most people go to first. Also, because produce has been so ridiculously priced recently, I decided to go with a bag of frozen peppers and onions. I happened to have a green pepper lying around, as well as some onions, so I added those in there to bulk it up a bit.

I decided to make Spanish rice for the first time - I knew it couldn't be that difficult, and it wasn't. All I did was finely chop some onion and a little of that same green pepper from earlier, with a little garlic, cumin and chili powder. Then I added in the rice and sauteed it until it was a little cooked, then I poured in a mixture of chicken stock and canned diced tomatoes.

After that, I just simmer the rice, covered, until tender. You can used fresh tomatoes, but as I said earlier, produce is outrageous right now, so I try to go canned and frozen as often as possible without compromising quality. As I let the rice simmer I worked on the fajitas.

The fajitas are easy, and if you don't have all the spices you can buy the packet

of fajita seasoning and it works well too. I like to marinate my chicken before I

cook it, then add more seasoning while cooking it. After the chicken gets nice and cooked, but not too brown, I add the peppers, onions, more canned diced tomatoes, chicken stock and more seasoning. Simmer that until the liquid is thick and almost all gone, and the peppers are cooked and not crunchy. By the time they are done, the rice is finished as well.

I always serve my fajitas with sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, and fresh iceberg lettuce. Sometimes I make guacamole but not tonight.

If you aren't a fan of chicken you can always use steak, or shrimp, or any kind of meat really. If you don't have the time or patience to make the rice, Rice a Roni has some good Mexican and Spanish rice boxes that you add the canned tomatoes and simmer for 20 minutes - which are good, but full of sodium.

So for the first time making the rice, I have to say it was pretty bomb, and a little spicy. The fajitas were cooked just right and they get better every time I make them, as they will for you!