Chicken Fajitas

I had been craving some Texmex flavours for a while and in particular, fajitas were calling my name. The only trouble was that it was below freezing outside and everything had been covered in a foot of snow. Not to worry though as my trusty grill pan came to the rescue! The idea behind fajitas is pretty simple being grilled meat, most often beef or chicken, served in a tortilla. I most commonly associate caramelized onions and multi coloured peppers with fajitas and from there you can pretty much go with whatever you want from salsas, to guacamole, to cheese, to sour cream etc. I like to keep the meat simple and I marinate it in some lime juice, chili powder, cumin, oregano and garlic. In addition to using the marinade to season the meat, the onions and peppers also benefit from the additional flavours of the marinade making the fajitas even tastier.

Chicken Fajitas

(makes 4 servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pound chicken breasts (cut into thin slices)
1 tablespoon oil
1 lime (~2 tablespoons of juice and zest)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin (toasted and ground)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon oil
2 onions (sliced)
1 green bell pepper (sliced)
1 red bell pepper (sliced)
1 handfull cilantro (chopped)
tortillas
salsa (optional)
guacamole (optional)
cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)

Directions:
1. Marinate the chicken in the oil, lime juice, chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper in the fridge for 30 minutes to a few hours.
2. Grill the chicken over medium-high heat until cooked, about 2-3 minutes per side. (Reserve the marinade.)
3. Heat the oil in a pan.
4. Saute the onions until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
5. Add the peppers and the remaining marinade and saute until the peppers are tender, about 5-7 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and mix in the cilantro.
7. Assemble fajitas and enjoy.

Use in:
Chicken Fajita Grilled Cheese
Chicken Fajita Quesadillas

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Chicken Fajita Quesadillas
Chipotle Grilled Chicken and Mango Guacamole Wraps
Tequila Lime Grilled Chicken
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Fajitas

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Greek Style Pulled Lamb Pitas

Ever since I made the Korean BBQ pulled pork sandwich last week, moist, tender, flavourful pulled meat has been on my mind. I was thinking about what else I could do with pulled pork when inspiration struck! What about pulled lamb? As soon as I though about lamb I was thinking about a nice simple souvlaki kind of marinade with olive oil, lemon, garlic and oregano. Of course it would have to be a pulled lamb pita rather than a pulled pork sandwich and I could fill it with tzatziki, fresh diced tomatoes, red onions and feta. Things were starting to sound good!

I wanted to get the maximum flavour out of the lamb and it's tasty marinade so I started early and marinated it over night. Next up was slowly cooking it all day until it was so nice and tender that it was literally falling falling apart. After shredding the lamb I could not let all of those juices, which now contained most of the marinade along with all of it's flavour, go to waste so I skimmed the fat from them and mixed them into the lamb. Those juices both made the lamb even tastier and they helped to ensure that the lamb was nice and moist. I all honesty I could have just eaten all of the lamb just like that with a spoon, well maybe I did have a spoon or two as it was, but next it was time to assemble the pitas. The combination of the moist, tender and tasty lamb with the cool, creamy, garlicky and minty tzatziki and the ripe juicy tomatoes and the salty feta was just out of this world good! Now, what to do with the leftover pulled lamb?

Greek Style Pulled Lamb Pitas

(makes 4 servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pound pulled lamb (see below)
4 pitas
1 cup tzatziki (with mint)
1 cup tomatoes (diced)
1/4 cup red onion (diced)
1/4 cup feta (crumbled)

Directions:
1. Assemble and enjoy.

Greek Style Pulled Lamb

(makes 4-8 servings)

Ingredients:
2-3 pounds lamb (leg or shoulder, preferably boneless)
4 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 lemon (juice and zest)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion (sliced)

Directions:
1. Marinate the lamb in the garlic, lemon, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper over night in the fridge.
2. Put the onion and lamb in the slow cooker along with the marninade and cook on low heat for 8 hours.
3. Remove the lamb from the slow cooker, let it cool and then shred it with a pair of forks.
4. Skim the fat from the juices and mix the juices into the shredded lamb along with the onion.

Use in:
Greek Style Nachos
Greek Style Pulled Lamb Fries

Similar Recipes:
Greek Style Pulled Lamb Fries
Greek Meatballs (Keftedes) in a Pita with Tzatziki Sauce
Greek Style Nachos
Lamb Souvlaki
Chicken Souvlaki
Baba Ghanoush Topped with Lamb and Yogurt

BBQ Chicken with Blue Cheese Slaw Wraps

The reason behind making the blue cheese cole slaw and the bbq sauce was for these bbq chicken with blue cheese slaw wraps that I recently came across on Naturally Ella. The combination of the warm, tender shredded chicken cover in a sweet, tangy and spicy bbq sauce and the creamy blue cheese cole slaw sounded like such an amazing flavour combination that I just had to make it right away. The flavour combinations reminded me of buffalo chicken wings with a blue cheese dipping sauce that that ignited the cravings. These wraps do not take long to whip up, especially since you should make the slaw and bbq sauce ahead of time so that their flavours can mellow out and I almost always have some cooked and shredded chicken in the freezer for quick meals. Despite being so easy to make, these wraps are fantastically good! The flavours work perfectly together and the crisp cabbage provides a nice crunchy contrast in texture. I think I will be making a second batch of these really soon!

BBQ Chicken with Blue Cheese Slaw Wraps

(makes 4 servings)

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked shredded chicken (warm)

1 cup bbq sauce

4 (8 inch) tortillas

1 cup cheddar cheese (grated)

1 cup blue cheese cole slaw

Directions:

1. Mix the chicken and the bbq sauce.

2. Assemble wraps.

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Korean BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich

BBQ Chicken Pizza

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich with Slaw

Chicken Fajitas

Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Chicken Souvlaki and Gyros

Of all the great meals that I had on my vacation in Greece last year perhaps the most memorable one was the chicken gyros from a small shop in Plaka. The shop was so small that it was really just a window in the street where you ordered and then you got to eat while walking down the street. The gyro was easily the best that I have ever had! What stood out about the chicken gyros was that there was roasted red peppers layered in amongst the chicken.

Read the recipe »

Jerked Pulled Pork Wraps with Mango and Banana Relish

The LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) publishes a regular free magazine called Food & Drink and the latest issue included a recipe for jerked pork with a mango and banana relish that looked good. I really liked the sound of combining spicy pork with a cool and sweet mango and banana relish/salsa.

A while ago there was a really nice sale on a crockpot/slowcooker that I could not resist and I finally broke down and picked one up. I had been itching to try the slow cooker out and since I don't have access to a barbecue I thought that I would change the original recipe up a bit and do a slow cooked pulled pork version of the jerked pork. The crockpot worked great! I pretty much just rubbed the jerk seasoning paste all over the pork and put it into the crockpot on low heat and let it cook for 8 hours completely unattended. After it was done cooking the pork was perfectly fall apart tender and it took almost no effort to shred the pork. Other than the perfectly cooked pork with no constant supervision, the thing that I liked most about the cock pot was that it generated almost no external heat. Normally I would try to avoid any slow roasting in the oven during the summer as my apartment would be stiflingly hot by the end of the day. With the slow cooker I will be able to enjoy pulled pork sandwiches, tacos al pastor, carnitas, etc. all summer long.

The jerked pulled pork wraps with mango and banana relish were so good! The pork was nice and tender and the sweet mango and banana relish perfectly balanced the spicy jerk seasoning. Every mouthful was an amazing combination spicy heat and the relief of cool and refreshing sweetness.

I tried making my own jerk marinade a while ago and I really enjoyed it but since I have never had anything to compare it with I thought that this time I would use a store bought seasoning to try. The store bought jerk seasoning was good but it definitely lacked the depth of flavour that the home made marinade had had. I think that the next time that I make this, and there will certainly be a next time, I will take the time to make the jerk marinade from scratch. In that case I would change the recipe to marinate the pork in the marinade over night and then place both the pork and the marinade into the slow cooker to cook. After the pork was done cooking I would then reduce the marinade and pork drippings into a spicy sauce.

Jerked Pulled Pork Wraps with Mango and Banana Relish

(makes 6+ servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 2 1/2 pound pork butt
2 tablespoons jerk seasoning paste
1 batch mango and banana relish (see below)
12+ large tortillas (lightly toasted/warmed)

Directions:
1. Rub the jerk seasoning all over the pork.
2. Place the pork into the slow cooker and cook on low heat for 8 hours.
3. Remove the pork from the slow cooker, let cool and shred with a pair of forks.
4. Place the pork back into the liquid in the slow cooker and cook, without the lid, until the liquid has reduces to a thick sauce, about 20 minutes.
5. Assemble wraps with pulled pork, jerk spice reduction to taste and mango and banana relish.

Mango and Banana Relish

Ingredients:
2 large mangoes (peeled, stoned and cut into small pieces)
2 bananas (peeled and cut into small pieces)
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
1/4 cup red onion (chopped)
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon parsley (chopped)

Directions:
1. Mix everything.

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Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Tacos al Pastor
Korean BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich
Pineapple and Banana Salsa
Jerk Fish on Coconut Rice Topped with Banana and Pineapple Salsa
Strawberry and Avocado Salsa
Blueberry and Basil Habanero Salsa
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Turkey, Cranberry and Blue Cheese Wrap

So far this last weekend of the holiday block has been a busy one. Luckily I still have some leftovers to make some quick meals. Over the holidays I came across a cranberry blue cheese that I really enjoyed and I was thinking that I would like to try combining some of the leftover cranberry sauce with blue cheese. I remembered seeing a cranberry, blue cheese and turkey wraps a while ago that sounded nice. The wraps were nice a quick to assemble and tasted great. The cranberry and blue cheese combo was just as good with cranberry sauce it was in the cheese that I had tried. I really liked how the sweet and tart cranberry sauce worked with the tangy blue cheese and the turkey fit in perfectly as well.

Ingredients:
1 large tortilla
1 handful lettuce
1 handful turkey (cooked and shredded)
1 handful blue cheese
1 tablespoon cranberry sauce

Directions:
1. Assemble wrap.

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Turkey and Cranberry Quesadillas
Turkey Sandwich with Cranberry Sauce
Turkey and Cranberry Sushi

Chicken and Mango Guacamole Wrap

I recently came across a post about chicken papaya wraps that looked really good. I liked the sound of the papaya and avocado salsa which sounded a lot like guacamole with papaya to me. Avocados are something that I had been wanting to try using more often and this was the perfect chance. I had some mangoes on hand and I though that a mango guacamole would be tasty. I seasoned the chicken with some freshly ground chipotle chili powder to give it some heat and flavour. The wraps were as easy to put together as blending the guacamole and grilling the chicken. The mango guacamole was a nice combination of cool and creamy with a touch of heat. I really enjoyed it. I also tried the grilled chicken and mango guacamole in sandwich form and it was just as tasty though a bit messier. I look forward to trying the papaya guacamole version.

Mango Guacamole

Ingredients:
1 mango (peeled and stoned)
1 avocado (peeled and stoned)
1 jalapeño
1 lime (juice)
1 handful cilantro (chopped)
salt to taste

Directions:
1. Mix everything in a food processor.

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Guacamole

Chipotle Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon oil
1 chicken breast
chipotle powder to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Heat the grill or heat the oil in a pan.
2. Season the chicken with the chipotle powder, salt and pepper.
3. Grill the chicken or saute it in the pan until golden brown.



Similar Recipes:
Jerked Chicken with Mango and Avocado Salad
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