When Sara said suggested cooking dinner together on Saturday night, I thought it was a fabulous idea. Since we’re all obsessed with Mexican-ish food (can you tell with our posts lately?), we decided to try and do healthy Mexican featuring fajitas. And we succeeded!
No doubt, the best part of the meal was the Mexican-style hummus that Sara was in charge of. It was simply pinto beans, salsa, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, and cumin, put in a food processor and pureed until smooth. Stir in a little cilantro and bake some pita bread with olive oil, salt, and pepper sprinkled on top, and voila:
It was SO easy and tasted SO good that I have a feeling I’m going to be making it quite often. I have a bit of a hummus addiction and this tasted better than any kind I’ve ever bought in a grocery store. The recipe isn’t lying when it says, “it’s so good, however, you may just want to eat it with a spoon.” I may have had more than a few spoonfuls the other night.
Nina made the tomato salsa, which also went along with the pita chips and was added to the fajitas, too. She diced tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos; and mixed them up with some lime juice, cilantro, and cumin. Salsa is another simple recipe that most people don’t think to make on their own. But it tastes so much fresher than anything that can be bought in a jar (ahem, I say that knowing full well, that I’m really obsessed with Newman’s Own salsa and eat it by the jarful. Hummus and salsa=heaven to me).
For the main course we made chicken fajitas with crunchy lime cabbage and avocado. And they were pretty simple and quick to make. Cut up chicken breast, red pepper, and onion and put it in an olive oil/chili powder/garlic marinade for about an hour (this is why it’s important to read recipes before you start cooking. Then you can have the time to do things like marinade chicken for an hour). Then just cook it up. The recipe says to use a griddle, but really? Not necessary. We had to use 2 frying pans though because we made so much of it.
The fajitas also interestingly called for red cabbage. None of us had ever cooked with cabbage before, but Sara managed to chop it up. Sprinkle it with olive oil, lime juice, lime peel, salt, and pepper and it adds a beautiful color and perfect crunch to your fajita.
We also cooked a side of Mexican rice. I didn’t have the serrano peppers the recipe called for, so I decided to use chipotle peppers instead. Warning: using just one chipotle will cause quite the kick. A kick that I find enjoyable, but be careful if you have guests who prefer more mild food. We also used brown rice to make the meal even healthier (and because I happen to have a ton of brown rice on hand).
The recipe didn’t call for any cheese, but in my opinion, you’re not eating Mexican unless you’re eating cheese. So we put a little light Mexican-style cheese on our fajitas. And also topped them with some cut up avocado. Look at how pretty and colorful it is.
For dessert, we whipped up some Mexican hot chocolate, which we made by warming milk and chocolate chips in a saucepan and adding some vanilla and cinnamon. Oh, and marshmallows are a must! Wait, did I forget to mention Kahluah? Mmm, it really hit the spot!
Thrilled by our fabulous cooking skills and content from a huge meal and lots of girly gossip, we headed out for an evening of more fun together. It was so good, I have a feeling we’ll have to have another Mexican fiesta again soon. Next time I think a pinata would be fun.
[Sues]
Then I put the chicken on a pan covered with foil and baked it at 350 for about 30 minutes.
I made a little spinach salad with some fresh tomatoes and served it. I probably could have cooked the chicken for a bit less time, but I really liked how some of the filling got a little crispy. And the chicken was still nice and tender.
