Chicken Fajitas!

When a friend gives you a variety of beautiful freshly picked peppers from her garden, you highlight them in a quick and easy fajita dish. Yesterday, I was given some roulette habaneros and a variety of banana peppers and it also happened to be “taco Tuesday.” We never need an excuse to eat Tex Mex in this house and I have a staple of seasonings that I use to throw together an easy skillet stir fry to be put in any vessel.

Taco or Fajita Seasoning Blend:

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp oregano

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Freshly ground salt and pepper (about 1/2-1 tsp each)

Fajita Ingredients:

1 lb uncooked sliced chicken breast or thighs in bite sized pieces

1 cup of sliced peppers

Additional veggies of your choice

For fajitas, I slice an onion and usually about 1 cup of sliced peppers. Because I had a good variety, I used that but you can use any type of pepper (bell peppers, poblano, and anaheim are great)...just be careful using ones that are too spicy! Some of the banana peppers I used in this meal were hot so I was sure to scrape the seeds out. First, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter to a skillet on medium heat, add your sliced onions and a sprinkle of salt and pepper and start to sweat them. Next add your seasoning blend and release the aromas. Add your peppers and any other vegetables you are including. I like to add mushrooms when I have them. Stir occasionally. When the vegetables have started to soften move them to the outer edges of the pan and add your chicken a little bit at a time so that the meat can sear for a minute or two before you incorporate it with the vegetables. Slowly mix all of the ingredients, stirring occasionally until the chicken is cooked through. It usually takes about 10 minutes. It should be easy to tell when the chicken is finished, but I always like to use my spatula to cut a piece in half and check. Serve on warmed tortillas with pico del gallo, guacamole, sour cream, or any toppings of your choice.

Autumn Chicken Salad

I love chicken salad, all variations (except one with Tarragon, ew). Apple season has arrived and the orchards around here are teeming with the crisp, juicy variety. Ginger Gold, Golden Delicious, Jona Gold, Gala...my mouth is watering just thinking about them. For lunch I made a really good chicken salad with fresh herbs, apples, dried cranberries, and chopped almonds. Recipe as follows:

1 rotisserie chicken, chopped into bite size pieces

1 cup of mayonnaise

2 celery stalks finely diced, including the leaves

1 crisp apple, cored and diced into small pieces

1/2 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped

1/2 cup of salted roasted almonds, roughly chopped

2 sprigs of thyme, 1 of rosemary, a small bunch of parsley with stems removed and roughly chopped (can sub 1 tbsp of dried herbs)

Fresh ground salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients until well mixed, start with 3/4 cup of mayo and add more as you need it.

Autumn Chicken Salad

Cauliflower Gratin

Fall is here and I’m so excited to start cooking and enjoying comfort food. I love that football is back on and I can hear it in the background while cooking in the kitchen and watching my kids ride bikes out the kitchen window. The weather has been perfect and crisp and the leaves are starting to fall off of the trees. I wanted to make a really yummy Sunday dinner yesterday and relax and enjoy being at home. Strangely enough, my oldest daughter loves cauliflower. She will snack on it gladly day and night so we always have it in the house. I thought a cauliflower gratin would be a hearty and healthy-ish dish to serve and came up with this recipe based off of some potato gratins I’ve made in the past:

Cauliflower Gratin

1 large head of cauliflower sliced into bite size pieces, as uniform as possible

Olive oil

salt and pepper

3 cloves of garlic

Dash of red pepper flakes

1 tsp dried parsley or tbsp fresh parsley

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp butter

1 cup shredded cheese (I did blend of Parmesan, fontina, and asiago)

Heat oven to 400 degrees, put cauliflower in oven safe baking dish and drizzle with about 2 tbsp olive oil and a tsp of salt and pepper, mix together and bake 20 minutes until cauliflower softens. Meanwhile melt butter over low heat in a sauce pan, add garlic and stir releasing aromas. Slowly add in heavy cream and stir. When the cream starts to bubble add 3/4 of the cheese blend and stir until all the cheese is melted. Add in red pepper flakes and parsley. When cauliflower has softened and started to brown in the oven, pull out and pour over the cheese/cream mixture and mix evenly. Pour remaining shredded cheese on top and bake for approx 15-20 minutes more until its nicely browned on top and sauce has thickened. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.