Spicy Chicken Tacos

We have a LOT of taco recipes on this blog. Obviously, my co-hort and I love tacos. Add this recipe to the list of delicious taco recipes. I found this recipe from The Pioneer Woman's blog. She says this is her brother's recipe, but it doesn't really matter because it turned out great. I didn't follow her/his recipe exactly. I didn't fry up the tacos, and I used Mrs. Renfros Habanero and Mango salsa (which is VERY spicy, by the way). I also sliced up some avocado and added cilantro. Overall, I think it turned out great. If you want to know how the Pioneer Woman does it then click on this link. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
16 whole Corn Tortillas
4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut into pieces
Salt, Cumin, Chili Powder to taste (or use taco seasoning)
2 tbsp Canola Oil
2 cans (4 oz) Diced Green Chilies
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 whole avocado sliced
Mrs. Renfros Mango and Habanero Salsa

Season chicken liberally with the spices above. Next, take out a large skillet, and add the oil. Heat to medium-high and add in the chicken pieces. Cook for a couple minutes, and then add in the canned green chilies. Stir. Cook until the chicken is completely done. Turn off heat and set aside. Take out your corn tortillas and heat on the skillet for a couple seconds over medium. Remove and add to the plate. Top the tortilla with the chicken, sliced avocado, cilantro, and salsa. Do this for the remaining tacos and enjoy.

Chipotle Meatballs

I’ve made a Mexican Meatball before but in the recipe I had the flavors were just a little too sharp and intense. I did like the concept, however, and had my eye out for another Mexican style meatball that might tickle my fancy a bit more. I found this recipe on Eat, Drink, Paleo, and while I made some substitutions that took it out of Paleo land, you could easily take it right back if you were so inclined (Looking at you, Emily). These turned out really good. Lots of robust flavor, but not too much spiciness, and they made a very satisfying meal over rice. My only complaint is that it didn’t really make a “sauce” per se, but that could easily be remedied with a small can of tomato sauce next time. I went ahead and added that into the ingredients for you because that's just the kind of person I am. 

Meatballs

1 pound ground beef

3 chipotle chilies in adobo, minced

2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 tbsp olive oil

1 ½ tsp of salt

½ large onion, finely chopped

Sauce

½ large onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 chipotle chilies, minced

½ tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp sweet paprika

2 bay leaves

1 14.5oz can diced tomatos (we used fire-roasted)

½ tsp salt

1 8oz can of tomato sauce (I would add this next time)

Queso Fresco (optional)

Cilantro, chopped (optional)

You’ll notice (or you will now that I’m pointing it out) that there is a half onion in both the meatballs and the sauce. You can actually cook it all at the same time, and split it after it’s been sautéed in olive oil (or butter) for 5 minutes or so. Add half the onions to a bowl and set the rest aside for the sauce. Mix the onions with the ground beef, garlic, chilies, cilantro, coriander, cumin, paprika, olive oil and salt to make the meatballs. Mix them well with your hands and then form them into meatballs. I like to make mine about golf ball size.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a deep frying pan until hot and then brown the meatballs, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Don’t worry that they aren’t cooked all the way through. After the balls are browned, add the ingredients for the sauce to the pan. If you can, when adding the spices, avoid putting them directly on the meatballs as that makes it hard to stir them into the sauce. You’ll have an easier time if you put them into a saucy area of the pan.

Stir everything together, making sure that the sauce gets on and around the meatballs, and simmer on medium low for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently. You want to make sure the meatballs finish cooking all the way through. Finally taste the sauce (carefully!) and add more salt if needed. We served ours over rice with a sprinkling of queso fresco. You could also sprinkle on some fresh cilantro as well!  

Cheesy Corn & Orzo Stuffed Poblanos

The Hubs was not enthused about this dish at first. He has this thing about meals without meat. To him, anything that doesn’t have meat in it is a side dish. So when I informed him that we were making this stuffed poblano recipe that I found on Chattavore, he did not have high hopes. Well, he changed his tune after trying them. In fact, his exact words were: “These are actually good!” Shocker! Well, he was right. The cheesy corn orzo was tasty, and the poblano was nice, although I wish we had gotten spicier peppers. The real surprise to this dish for me was two fold. First, the crumbled feta on top added a great burst of flavor. I didn’t think it would work so well but it was one of my favorite parts. And then the lime sour cream sauce was a must have. It was tart but not overpowering. Instead it just really brought all the flavors together. There are a few steps to this recipe, but I definitely recommend it, especially if you’re trying to convert a doubtful eater to try something veggie-friendly!

6oz cooked orzo

6 poblanos

½ small onion, diced

1 ½ tablespoon unsalted butter

½ jalapeño, diced

1 ½ tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 cup whole milk

4oz shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)

salt and pepper

2oz crumbled queso fresco or feta cheese

¼ cup chopped cilantro

½ cup sour cream

juice of one lime

Start by charring the poblanos on your grill or gas flame, or even under the broiler. Make sure you get good dark color on all sides. Once they are charred, put them in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let them sit for 15 minutes. Then comes the tough part—you need to peel the charred skin off the peppers, then either cut the peppers in half, or just slit one side to remove the seeds, ribs and stem (this is what I did, and it was kind of a mess but it turned out good).

Cook the orzo (according to the box) and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and then sauté the onion and jalapeno for 4-6 minutes. Next, whisk in the flour and cook for a minute before whisking in the milk a little at a time to make a roux. Cook until it’s thick, which shouldn’t take long if you added the milk slowly, and then add in the cheese a bit at a time until it’s melted. Then stir in the orzo and the corn. We used frozen corn and it was totally fine, so don’t hate. Make sure to taste and season with salt and pepper.

To stuff the peppers, we laid out the peppers in a baking dish and scooped the orzo mixture into each one. It was less of a stuffing and more like a… scoop and wrap. But it works. Then sprinkle the tops with crumbled feta (or queso fresco) and bake for around 25 minutes. Our cheese didn’t get browned like the instructions said but it looked good to us.

To make the sauce, just mix the lime and sour cream. Add a little bit of salt to taste. It will definitely be very tart, but it works well with the full meal. When the peppers have finished baking, top them with the sauce, and sprinkle with a little cilantro. And get ready to blow some minds!

Jerk Chicken Tacos

We do already have a couple jerk chicken recipes up on the blog, but since everyone’s tastes vary, and this one is a little different, I thought I’d add another. Besides, this is a taco recipe, and we all know that I have a bit of a thing for tacos. Just a bit. I found this recipe on Nutritionist in the Kitch, and she also included a slaw with kale and healthy stuff. Even though I’m a somewhat adventurous eater, I just am not ready for kale. Sorry. It often looks good to me, but I can’t take the risk of the kale coming in here and ruining my tasty tacos. Just can’t do it. So I went with my tried and true southwest slaw recipe (using broccoli slaw instead of cabbage this time). But hey, if you want to dance with the kale, by all means follow the recipe link and try it. The chicken turned out pretty good, although I thought it could have used a bit of salt. The Hubs was really happy, but I have to caveat that he had just flown in from Milwaukee and was quite hungry. So he might have been a little skewed.

Ingredients

4 6oz chicken breasts

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of sea salt

1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, pressed

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

So this is pretty simple. Just mix up all the jerk seasoning ingredients in a small bowl (everything but the chicken). Remove the seeds and ribs of the jalapeno if you’re a big baby about spice. In a baking dish, rub the seasoning mix into the chicken, making sure it’s all covered and using all the marinade. Make sure to thoroughly wash your hands after this step and avoid touching your eyes! Let that marinate for at least 30 minutes. Then preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake your chicken for 20-25 minutes. I actually had to go to 30 because the breasts I used were pretty thick. Then remove the chicken and carefully shred it in the baking dish. It’s important to keep it in the dish so you get all the extra marinade and spices into the chicken. Once it’s all shredded, serve in a tortilla with some slaw (kale or not) and sour cream. Boom. Jerk chicken taco.  

Mexican Meatballs

Ok, so I already have a fantastic Italian meatball recipe (seriously, they are pretty amazing, and what’s this? Oh, a handy link to the recipe!) But the idea of a Mexican meatball was intriguing to me and anyway, can you really have too many great meatball recipes? I think not. I found this recipe on Cook Smarts, and it looked very tasty, very unique and not too incredibly difficult. It turns out that these meatballs are all of those things. They really pack a big aggressive punch of flavor with nice level of spiciness. I served these with some cilantro-lime rice, and I will say it was a little strange at first to eat meatballs and tomato sauce with rice, but you get over that pretty quickly. It also got a little salty by the end so I’d leave the salt out of the meatballs next time. 

Meatball Ingredients

2 Jalapenos, diced small

½ cup Red Onion, diced small

Handful of Cilantro, chopped

2 Garlic cloves, minced

1 lb Ground Pork

1/3 cup Panko breadcrumbs

2 tsp Cumin

2 tsp Coriander

1 tsp Smoked Paprika

1 tsp Kosher Salt (I would recommend omitting this or cutting in half)

1 tbsp Canola Oil

Crumbled Cotja cheese (I used Queso Fresco)

Tomato Sauce Ingredients

4 cloves Garlic, minced

1 tbsp Canola oil

28 oz can of Fire Roasted Tomatoes, diced

1 cup Coconut Milk

2 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Salt

Start by making your meatballs. Mix all the meatball ingredients except the canola oil and cheese together by hand. If you don’t already have cooking gloves, you can make your life immensely better by getting some. It makes jobs like this so easy, trust me. Roll your meatballs to be about an inch or so in diameter. Or however big you want them. I don’t judge. Just remember that adjusting the size will mean adjusting the cook times.

Preheat your oven to 375. In a saucepan, heat up your canola oil over medium heat and add the garlic. Cook for just about a minute, making sure not to burn the garlic, and then add in the rest of the ingredients. Stir well and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, you can cook your meatballs. Heat the canola oil over medium high heat and brown the meatballs for about 2 minutes each. You don’t need to cook them through, just get a nice sear on the outside. Don’t overcrowd the pan; do them in batches if you need to. Then move the meatballs to a baking dish and pour the tomato sauce over the top. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes, and then crumble your cheese over the top and serve over rice. I made cilantro-lime rice by just adding some cilantro, lime juice, and salt to the rice to taste. I think these were a great option for a meatball, if you aren’t craving the typical Italian version. Hope you like them! 

Pork Carnitas

I have recently come to a startling realization. I freaking LOVE tacos. Love them. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering the volume of taco recipes I’ve already posted. But damn! Aren’t they just the perfect little delivery systems for delicious meat and some kind of slaw or salsa or cheese? I mean, I’m hard pressed (unless we’re talking beans) to find something that wouldn’t be delicious in a taco. And here I go again with yet another taco recipe. The photo on Jo Cooks of this beautiful pork made my mouth water, and made my brain say, “Tacos!” To be honest, the pork itself, while deliciously porky, did not have as deep a flavor as I would have liked. I wish it was a little more spicy, a little more salty, a little more… something. But, it was still damn good, and more than worthy of hopping up in a tasty taco. I served this one with my Southwest Slaw which never fails to put a smile on my taco-loving face.

4 lb pork shoulder or pork butt, trim fat if too much fat

1 1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

2 bay leaves

1 tsp chili pepper flakes

1 tsp dried oregano

1 onion, peeled and halved

Juice of one lime

1 medium orange, juiced and keep the spent halves

2 cups water

Start by butchering your meat, trimming off excess fat and cutting it up into 2 inch chunks. Put the meat into a dutch oven or cast iron pot along with all the spices, onion halves, lime juice, orange juice, and spent orange halves. Then pour the water over everything and bring to a boil. Once it boils, move the pot to your oven at 300 degrees for about 2 hours. It should be extremely fork tender.

After the two hours, remove the meat from the pot and set it aside. Also remove the onion, orange halves and bay leaves from the pot and discard them. Cook the liquid in the pot over medium high heat until it reduces to about a cup of liquid. I don’t think we reduced ours long enough which may have affected the flavor.

While that reduces, shred your meat, and then place it on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Don’t do this step in reverse or you’ll end up shredding your foil. Once the liquid has reduced, pour it all over your meat. Then broil the meat for about 5 to 10 minutes, until it gets nice and browned and maybe even a little crispy. Use a spatula to flip it over and broil the other side for another 5 minutes. Once it’s looking nice and tasty, pop it out of the oven and pop it right into a taco! You could always use the meat for a sandwich or burrito if you want, but in my book, the taco is your best bet. 

Tacos al Pastor

There’s a great little Mexican place in Richmond called Tio Pablo. It’s relatively new and since it’s tucked away down in Shockoe Bottom, it’s somewhat unknown. I ate there with a friend for lunch recently and judging by the really delicious flavors, it won’t be unknown for long. One of the tacos I had was the al Pastor, which is basically spicy pork with pineapples. Pairing the spiciness of the pork marinade with the sweetness of the pineapple was a truly wonderful combination, so I decided to try it at home.

I found the recipe on this beautiful site called I Am A FoodBlog. It’s a very simple recipe but one of the ingredients, the achiote paste, was difficult to find. I expect you could get it at a Hispanic focused grocery. We found a (completely inauthentic) substitute recipe made from things you probably already have at home, and it turned out fantastic. It had tons of flavor, it’s bright and colorful, and pretty easy to make, considering. The only thing that we felt was missing was a little bit of Mexican Crema to cool it down a little. If you don’t like very spicy food, I would cut down on the chipotle chiles.  

3 1/2 ounce package achiote paste (or the substitute below)

3 canned chipotle chiles en adobo, plus 4 tablespoons canning sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1.5 pounds thinly sliced pork shoulder

1 cup pineapple chunks, drained

diced onion

chopped cilantro

taco tortillas

Combine your achiote paste, chipotles, adobo sauce, and vegetable oil in a food processor or blender. As I’m re-reading the recipe I realize that they also added ¾ cup of water, but I missed that. It turned out great without the water, so I personally would just leave it out. Maybe if you want to dilute the spiciness a little it would help, though. Blend this all up and pour over your sliced pork in a bowl or a baggie to marinate for at least an hour. We let it marinate for about 3 hours.

If you can’t find the achiote paste this is the substitute we used. Like I said above, I’m positive that this is not authentic because it doesn’t use annatto seeds. However, if you can’t find the paste, I think finding annatto seeds will also be a challenge. This substitute uses ingredients you already have around the house. Just blend these ingredients together first, then follow the directions above.

Achiote Substitute

3 cloves garlic

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 Tbsps. white vinegar

3 Tbsps. paprika

1 ½ Tsps. dried oregano

½ Tsp. ground cumin

To cook the pork, heat up a little oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. You want it to be hot, but not so hot that it smokes up your entire kitchen. Believe me, we did that and this spicy marinade is not so pleasant to breath into your lungs so be careful. Grill the meat in small batches until they are cooked and have a nice char on them. If you’ve sliced them thinly enough it shouldn’t take much more than a minute per side. Set them aside while you grill the pineapple in the same pan. They’ll get some of the marinade flavor on them from the pan. Just brown them up; it should only take a few minutes. Spoon pork and pineapple into your warm tortillas and top with the chopped red onions and cilantro. I also added about a tablespoon of the pineapple juice into the onion and cilantro to make more of a fresh salsa. I think some sour cream or Mexican crema would be a great added flavor as well. Try these, and then hit up Tio Pablo and try some of their other wonderful tacos as well! 

Rum Lime Chicken Fajitas

I think my love of fajitas and various forms of tacos has been well documented on this site (here, here, and here). And from the looks of it, my fellow contributors share the love as well (as evidenced here, here and here.) So it's no wonder my bookmarks folder is constantly full of different varieties of my favorite Mexican fare. And when I decided to start trying some of those recipes, it's really no wonder at all that a title including the words "rum" and "lime" immediately jumped out at me. I found it on a site called The Talking Kitchen, and the photos totally sold me. I did change it somewhat, using chicken breasts instead of thighs, sweet onion instead of red, and I added jalapeno to the marinade in an attempt to infuse some spiciness (didn't work). The chicken tasted great before we put it into the fajitas, but it unfortunately it kind of disappeared once inside. The veggies, however, were a big hit. Usually we just salt and pepper them, but this mix of spices was really intriguing. So, I think I'll keep trying on the fajita meat, but we probably have a winner on the veggie side.

Ingredients

3-4 chicken breasts

1/2 c. rum

2 limes, juiced and zested

1 jalapeno, chopped

3/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

freshly ground black pepper

2 bell peppers (your choice)

1 large sweet onion

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp garlic

1/2 tsp oregano

1/8 tsp cinnamon

freshly ground black pepper

olive oil

Additional: tortillas, cilantro, sour cream, shredded cheese

Mix the rum, lime zest and juice, jalapeno, sea salt, garlic powder and black pepper in a bowl. Make sure all of the rum goes into the bowl and not in your mouth (you can pour your own on the side). You can pour it into a plastic bag to marinate the chicken, or keep in in the bowl if you like. Make sure the chicken is covered, and flip it over after 30 minutes. Marinate about an hour. 

Slice up your peppers and onion into strips. Drizzle on a little olive oil and all the spices, stirring to coat everything evenly. 

You could absolutely cook the chicken on the grill, but we tried something a little different. We used our cast iron skillet on the grill. Spray it with non-stick spray (they make one especially for the  high heat of a grill) and let it get really hot on the grill. Then remove your chicken from the marinade and place it in the skillet. It should sizzle satisfyingly when you set it down, or else it's probably not hot enough. Throw away the extra marinade! I know it's rum, but you've got to draw the line at raw chicken. 

Let the chicken sit on one side, grill closed for about 5 minutes. Then flip and do the same on the other. From there use your grill-skills to make sure it's cooked through, depending on the thickness of your cut. Probably another 3-6 minutes. Set it aside under foil and start on your veggies. Toss them into your still hot skillet and let them stand for about 3-4 minutes before stirring. Stir and cook for a total of about 7-9 minutes, getting them nice and brown and tasty! Cook less for more crunch and more for softness. 

Slice your chicken into fajita size strips and serve with tortillas, sour cream, cilantro and cheese. You can add salsa or tabasco as you wish. It really isn't spicy at all, which is probably why it's not a total hit at our house, but it is flavorful and the hint of cinnamon on the veggies adds a really interesting flavor dimension. This won't be the last fajita recipe on here, but it is definitely a good addition to our mix.

Chipotle shrimp tacos

I called Jon today and said, "I have five words for you. Are you ready? Homemade. Plaza Azteca. Shrimp. Tacos." He drooled onto the phone.

We love us some Plaza Azteca. For those who don't know, it's a chain (but small and seemingly localish) of Mexican restaurants. While I will eat some Combination Dinner #1 without complaint at other places, Plaza Azteca goes above and beyond that sort of menu. Lobster enchiladas, y'all. And shrimp tacos.They're simple, three soft tortillas wrapped around smoky bites of shrimp with some cheese (but not too much) and a pico de gallo topping of onion, tomato, cilantro and jalapeno.

That, at least, was my assumption about the ingredients when I started envisioning our copycat recipe. And I was so right, that we literally ate these things an hour ago and I'm already blogging it. It was that good.

We figure this makes about eight tacos.

You'll need:
A pound of shrimp, de-shelled and de-tailed, deveined, peeled and cut in half (31-40 count)
1 chipotle pepper in adobo (minced)
2-3 teaspoons adobo sauce
Most of a large Vidalia onion (or sweet onion), diced; you'll use the rest for the pico
Two to three Roma tomatoes, diced (we saved out a bit for the pico)
One-half medium bunch cilantro (we used only the leaves) chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped (and deseeded)
One tablespoon olive oil
About a tablespoon of lime juice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
Salt to taste (maybe a quarter teaspoon)
Ground black pepper
Pinch sugar
1 "fat" tablespoon of cumin.
Flour tortillas
Queso quesadilla cheese (we used Cacicque brand).


For pico de gallo:
Two to three tablespoons (or to taste; we like a lot) cilantro (we used only the leaves) chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped (and deseeded)
Onion and tomato as mentioned above


So from this list, you can see that Jon was left unattended to season the shrimp mixture. Only he would describe a measurement as "fat." In fact he eyeballed most of the spices, and this is his guess about how much of the dry seasonings he put in. Whatever he did, it worked.

Dice the onion -- we did about 3/4 in the shrimp itself, and reserved 1/4 for the topping, which I diced more finely. Dice the tomato (and if you like tomato, you may want the third for the pico topping, but we  don't much like raw tomato so put most of it in with the shrimp mixture). Mince one chipotle pepper.

Chop the jalapeno and pluck as much cilantro if you want (stems are fine to use, we just don't). Mix in a bowl with the 1/4 finely diced onion and some tomato. I splashed a little lime juice in at this point. Set aside.

Chop or grate a small bowl of cheese, depending on how much you like cheese.

Heat the oil in the skillet and add the onion, tomato, chipotle, adobo sauce, the dried spices, and lime juice. Cook about four minutes on medium heat, or until onions start to get translucent. Add shrimp and cook about another four minutes on high heat. or until cooked through.

And that's it. We heated flour tortillas and scattered some cheese on first -- in the restaurant version, the cheese is melty, but while I was lobbying to heat each tortilla and cheese in a skillet, Jon convinced me that would take too long. So we just warmed up the tortilla, added cheese and the shrimp mixture and the pico topping, and stuffed our faces.

It was our first time cooking with a chipotle pepper, but it was the key to making this dish taste similar to the restaurant version we were copying. It wasn't exactly the same perhaps, but it was damn similar (and good!), so we were pretty proud.

Carne Asada Tacos

I went to a really fun Cinco de Mayo party a few weeks ago that seemed to wake up the taco-lovin’, guac eatin’, Mexican food aficionado in me. And then when I was browsing food blogs and came across a GORGEOUS one called “I Am a Food Blog” that was featuring a flat iron carne asada recipe, I knew that the Fates were sending me a sign. A cilantro-y, citrus-y, spicy sign.

I love me a simple but flavorful recipe, and this nailed it. I only slightly adjusted a few amounts for the sake of personal taste, and we also used one habanero instead of two chiles. Marinate it for just about an hour and you’ve got tender, juicy steak with cilantro and red onion (and a little sour cream because I can) all wrapped up in a tortilla. It may not be authentically Mexican, but it was good—and that’s really all we’re looking for, right?

Ingredients
1 pound flat-iron steak, sliced

juice of 1 lime

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup minced cilantro

1-2 chilies, minced (to taste)

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

salt and black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon pureed kiwi

Mix all the ingredients except for the steak in a bowl. Use whatever chile you like. We used one habanero, which was nice and spicy. But use jalapeno or Serrano or whatever else you like. Slice your steak pretty thinly and add it to the marinade, stirring to cover. Marinate it for up to an hour. Don’t go any further though—the acid in the kiwi will break down your steak, and who wants broken down steak?

Heat up your cast iron skillet until it is really stinkin’ hot (be careful!) and then add the meat. Hopefully you get a nice big sizzle, or else it wasn’t hot enough. Cook until the meat is browned, which won’t take very long. If I was going to nit-pick, my only complaint would be that I wanted the meat to get a little bit of caramelization on the outside. Just a little extra brownness. I think the liquid (from the marinade and released from the meat) is what stopped that from happening. In the future I might drain that out a little or make sure that the cast iron is really, really hot.

We toasted up our tortillas on the grill, which was a nice easy touch. I garnished with cilantro, red onion and sour cream, but pick your favorite toppings and salsas (maybe throw in some guac!). They are small enough that you can have two or three. Or if you’re my husband, six.

(Click for printable recipe)

Steak Fajitas

I don’t normally look to celebrity chefs for recipes. I’m not sure why, but I guess I just figure, they’re not that unique. And it never seems like you can take it for your own. You’re constantly saying, “Oh that was Giada’s recipe,” or “I got this one from Bobby Flay.” When it’s just some regular schmo’s recipe, you can more easily adopt it as your own, so I tend to go that route. But I was up early one morning (before we got dogs and this became an every day thing) and I happened to see Tyler Florence’s Ultimate show on TV. He was making fajitas. And even though it was way too early in the morning to start thinking about dinner, I did. And ever since then, this has been our go-to for tasty fajitas. It’s juicy, citrusy and just a touch spicy.

Marinade Ingredients:

1 orange, juiced

2 limes, juiced

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves chopped

3 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

3 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 pounds skirt or flank steak, trimmed of fat

Salt and pepper

2 bell peppers, thinly sliced

1 large onion, thinly sliced

Flour tortillas

Sour cream

Shredded cheese

The steak can sit in the marinade for up to 4 hours (don’t go longer or the citrus will start to make it tough), so be sure to work in enough time for it to sit. I would say that 1-2 hours is the sweet spot. Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a blender or food processor (or use your immersion blender if you have one) and puree until mostly smooth. Add the steak to the marinade and let it sit in the fridge for awhile.

Meanwhile, you can slice up your bell pepper and onion. I like to use a sweet onion for this, and usually orange and yellow bell peppers, although if you like red and green, go for it. Slice them into strips and throw them into a bowl. Add a little olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper and stir to coat. You could also add lime juice if you like, but I think the marinade is plenty of citrus, so I don’t.

Once the marinade has done its work, remove the steak and discard the marinade. Grill the steak for a short time. Since it’s a thinner cut it will cook faster so keep that in mind. We do about 3-4 minutes a side. After the steak is done, set it aside and let it rest while you get the onions and peppers cooking. We put them in a hot pan and just cook them for about 5-7 minutes, stirring so they don’t get burned. If you have a grill plate you could cook them on that as well.

We also like to heat the tortillas on the grill. Just about 30 seconds or so on a side. You don’t want them to get crunchy, just slightly warm. Then you can slice your steak into thin pieces and start constructing your fajita (I trust you know how to do that). And there you have it. I hope you like it, and if you do, you can thank Tyler Florence. 

(Click here for printable recipe)

Chicken & White Bean Enchiladas

The Dinner Club already contains one enchilada recipe, but for Mexican fare I think there is always room for two. This isn't spicy, but it is extremely flavorful.



1 package of chicken thighs (4-5 thighs) cooked & shredded
1/3 of an onion (chopped)
2-3 garlic cloves (chop or use garlic press)
1 4.5oz can of chopped green chiles
1 15.5oz can of Cannellini beans
1/2 cup of chicken broth
1 tsp chili powder
Flour tortillas
2 cups of shredded Mozzerella
12 0z of green taco sauce - I like La Victoria
Honestly I am not sure how to shred chicken. I shouldn't say I don't know how, but the method I have in mind would take too long. So I boiled the chicken and chopped it into small pieces. This worked perfectly fine.
Preheat oven to 375.
In a large pan, heat olive oil on medium. Cook the onion and garlic for about 3 minutes. Then add the green chiles, beans, chicken, chicken broth and chili powder. Bring to boil then cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes. Remove the cover continue to simmer about 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
Fill each tortilla shell with roughly two hearty spoonfuls of the above chicken and bean mixture. Wrap up the tortilla - I like to leave one side open, but some tuck both ends. To each her own. Place the yummy wrap seam down in a 9x13 pan. Repeat until the pan is full or your chicken & bean mixture is done.
Evenly distribute the green sauce over the enchiladas. Cover with cheese and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese starts to turn a golden brown. Enjoy!

(Click here for printable recipe)

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas

I love Mexican food. And yes, Texas, I know that the food you get at the restaurants around here (like Casa Grande or El Toro Loco or Mexico) is not “real” Mexican food. It’s been Americanized, watered down for the masses, and totally compromised. And I love it. In fact, whenever I get “real” Mexican food, I don’t like it as much. I’m sorry, maybe that makes me some sort of chilaquile neophyte, but if that means I can get spicy meat and cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla, then that’s ok by me. These chicken enchiladas would not fly in Mexico City, but in my house… I mean, mi casa, they rock.

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 jars enchilada sauce

Cayenne pepper (optional)
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 pickled jalepenos (from a can), minced
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 cup shredded Monterrey jack cheese, divided
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped, divided
Flour tortillas
Cooking spray

This meal does take a little bit of time to pull together, so make sure you aren’t starving or you’ll give up halfway through and order a pizza. Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees. Pour your enchilada sauce into a deep skillet. Add the garlic and cayenne pepper (to taste) and heat to a boil. This happened pretty quickly for me, and also became quite messy. Don’t wear white. You’ve been warned.

While the enchilada sauce is heating, sprinkle your chicken breasts with kosher salt and pepper. Then submerge them in the sauce and lower the heat to low. Cover and cook until the chicken is cooked through. The recipe I had (from A Sweet Pea Chef) said this would take about 15-20 minutes, but I guess my breasts were huge (yeah!) because it took about twice as long. I also flipped mine over halfway through because the tops were peeking out of the sauce and not cooking as quickly. Once they are cooked all the way through (check it!) take the chicken out of the sauce and put them both aside to cool.

When the chicken is relatively cool, shred it using the two fork method. Hold one fork in the chicken and scrape the other one away from the fork. It’s time consuming but it’s really the best way. Put the shredded chicken in a large bowl. Add about a quarter of each kind of cheese, the jalapeños, and the cilantro. I also added some of the enchilada sauce. The recipe calls for half the sauce to be added, but I only put in enough to hold the mixture together—about ¼ cup.

Spray a large baking dish with cooking spray. Then get out your flour tortillas and spoon some of the chicken mixture in the middle, and roll up your tortilla. Place it in the baking dish with the seam side down. Once you’ve done this with all the tortillas, put them in the oven for about ten minutes just to get them a little golden brown. Take them out and turn the oven down to 400. Pour the sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle the rest of the cheese over top. Loosely cover with foil and cook for about 20 minutes. Remove the foil (try not to pull off the cheese) and cook for another 5-10 minutes until the cheese starts to look tasty. Serve with sour cream and a Corona. Even if it’s not real, authentic Mexican, it tastes really good.

(Click here for printable recipe)