Welcome! So this week I was roped into hosting a dinner party again (well it was only 7 people but that’s basically a gala for a college student). One of my mom’s key dishes to make when entertaining is fajitas, so I decided to use this as an excuse to make some! I know these aren’t exactly authentic Mexican cuisine, but I also promise that this white girl seasons her chicken!

As I’ve mentioned before, my family loves to entertain, and that my friends now expect me to cook for them every week because of this blog. On the bright side, being able to entertain well is something that my mom has always instilled in me. This goes beyond just feeding people, it involves being genuinely welcoming and hospitable. In my house we definitely have an open-door policy, and my mom tells everyone this whenever they’re leaving. More often than not, we have uninvited guests for dinner, but they are never unwelcomed. I have to stop posting pictures of my food on my Instagram or Snapchat so I don’t keep having hungry college students show up at my house for dinner. I do always enjoy cooking for others though, because of the joy I’ve seen that entertaining gives my mom. She loves sharing her food. Fajitas are something that aren’t too hard to make, are customizable, and are fun! I’ve always loved my mom’s fajitas and I definitely associate the dish with entertaining. No matter who was coming over, what foods they liked, their dietary restrictions, etc., fajitas are something that everyone can eat some variation of. That makes the “open-door policy” a little easier!

Fajitas

1 red bell pepper 1 green bell pepper 1 medium onion Mexican seasoning

1 cup of shredded cheese Cooked rice 3 boneless chicken breasts Flour tortillas

Cook rice, set aside Slice chicken into thin slices Cook and season chicken in skillet, set aside Slice peppers and onion into thin slices Heat 1/2 cup of oil in pan Cook and season vegetables in skillet Serve with sides of choice (salsa, cheese, guac, sour cream, beans, etc.)

Shopping

Stop & Shop again… oh how I miss you ShopRite 😦 ❤ I couldn’t find “Mexican seasoning” in the spice aisle so I got a packet of fajita seasoning instead. I also forgot pictures of the tortillas ($3.59), salsa ($3.49 a jar), and rice ($1.99), but luckily I saved the receipt. So with everything combined (including my BOGO free cheese), it comes out to about $14.25.

 

 

Cooking

First things first, I know that American food does not focus on spices nearly as much as literally every other culture in the world. Mexican cuisine definitely has more heat than most of the European and American dishes I am more used to. When I used the fajita seasoning on the chicken, I felt it wasn’t hot enough (I also kind of felt like I was cheating the recipe or something by using the packet) so I also added some chili flakes, pepper, and cajun seasoning. Just call me chef!

 

This dish did take me a while to cook because it takes a lot of space and a lot of kitchen utensils and supplies. I continue to be very envious of people with more than 2 sq. ft. of counter space, and those with more than one pan.

Despite living in like 250 sq. ft., we were able to make it through this dish without mishap. Everything in this recipe is pretty straight forward, and you can add vegetables and meat to your liking. I stuck to my mom’s basic recipe of chicken, peppers, and onions. I actually hate onions and used to pick only the peppers out to put in my fajita but now that I’m a grown up I eat the onions too #adulting. I love cooking vegetables in a pan and doing the flippy thing (pictured to the left) because it’s my only talent. It also makes the vegetables taste better especially in the fajitas themselves. Make sure to put some seasoning on the veggies too to add some flavors for our vegetarian friends! Oh also cook the rice while all this is happening or else you’ll have to awkwardly wait to cook it after everything else is done and everyone is hungry and thinks you’re dumb. Nooo what do you mean… I totally didn’t do that… After everything is cooking, put out some salsa, cheese, and guac if you’re rich enough to afford it, and serve! Let your guests have at it with creating whatever style fajita they so wish to! Two of my roommates are vegetarian so I provided a picture of both meat and non-meat fajitas.

 

^With Meat vs. Vegetarian^

Final Product

 

They’re not the most photogenic dish but we love them anyways!

Final Thoughts

A successful “dinner party”! We gave this dish a 10/10 for taste, 8/10 for affordability, and a 7/10 for difficulty (it was a lot to handle cooking all at once). Overall it was really good and fed a lot of servings. As I said in the beginning, it’s a dish that someone likes at least some variation of, so it is a fool-proof crowd pleaser! I am starting to feel like a soccer mom now, finding food to please people who should make their own food but it’s fine, I’m fine. I am glad that I was able to even have leftovers so lunch the next day was already accounted for! Happy cooking folks! See ya next week!

~ Kelsey