Awesomebella Cooks-(CHICKEN) FAJITAS!

Yup. Fajitas. Chicken Fajitas.

I had high hopes for them. In a perfect world, in a perfect place, with perfect ingredients it probably would have been perfect but... it was not.

Let me tell you a little bit about me and my relationship with fajitas. As you may know I have been to several places in the world besides the USA and included in those places are missions trips to Chile, Mexico, and 2 to Costa Rica. So it is fair to say I have met a good deal of proper (aka "non-gringo") fajitas. I have met all sorts of good foods and I know that in the USA we pretty much butcher the foods of other cultures. ("Mexican" food? WHAT is that stuff?! I've been to Mexico other Central/South American countries and it ain't like Taco Bell Hell at all!). I've eaten some good (non-chicken or steak) fajitas. I've eaten them with handmade, to order tortillas. Good tortillas. And let me just tell you, what I used last night were NOT good tortillas. 'Dem were some of dose Gringofied tor-till-as.

Here is how the story goes...

About a week ago my mom bought (in bulk) some packages of what she thought were flour tortillas, only smaller. But they were CORN (or so they said...) tortillas. In a bag. (Moral: NEVER BUY A TORTILLA IN A BAG!) I looked at those buggers and thought, "hey, easy FAJITASSSS!!!!". They were made by a recognizable maker of (knock off) mexican-type food. The package was in Spanish. I gave a shot at rough translation and double checked online on proper preparation for them.  I THOUGHT it would all be good...
Nope. It was not. I should have made homemade, REAL tortillas. Big, big, big, big, big mistake. Those wound up being nasty and rubbery and didn't taste a thing like a corn tortilla. I fed mine to the dog...

BUT! The rest of the meal was tasty, I promise. I didn't follow any particular recipe (once again I did my scan and combine method) but all the fixin' were delicious...we just mostly ate them with a fork rather than wrapped in a rubberized corn disk...


There was chicken (in that perfect world I mentioned earlier they would have used chicken breast cut into thin strips. But I had drumsticks so that is what I used! Actually I made my sister de-drumstick them. She gets the credit there...)

 A whole flock of chicken drumsticks, marinating in oil, lime juice, garlic powder, corn starch, chili powder, salt, and pepper.

Peppers, peppers, peppers (and a little onion)

 

A yellow, green and orange pepper. A red onion. 1/2 a jalapeno. Tons of cilantro (we are addicts). 

Cooked up in some oil, red pepper flakes, chili powder, garlic powder, corn starch and lime juice.

  
Guacamole...

 4 avocados (yes, I know you see only 2...). Other half of jalapeno. 6 tomatoes. Cilantro. Lime juice. Salt. Red onion optional...

Refried beans...

 Yes...I cheated. But I jazzed them up with more spices and of course CILANTRO!

The cats were all pretty sure that the can of beans I opened was secretly soft cat food and they didn't want me to hog it to myself. Tobin James was up in the sink beside me and Hope and KissBaba were meowing around my ankles.

"Dear Cats, look. Read the label. It is beans! Smell with your kitty noses. YOU'RE WRONG! Now GO AWAY!"

There was also (not pictured) shredded iceberg lettuce, sour cream and cheddar cheese.

 So... I was a little disappointed last night. I so wanted to be (fake) Costa Rican! But...nope. I am still white and American as ever. An impostor! But I have learned my lesson. I am never again eating (or making my family eat) tortilla out of a bag again.

I think the one upside to this all is I got to do a lot of talking to myself in Spanish. My communication skills are minimal, but I am quite strong on food (and how to pray for people. Decent at that too). Specifically how to order food in restaurants. It is a necessary skill when in a Spanish speaking country and I have gotten quite good at it over the years. So I spent most of my cooking time last night rambling on to myself about frijoles, lechuga, and everything con cilantro...

*sigh.

Oh well. I suppose I am bound to fail sometimes. But I'm still awesome. And I am still cooking and earning from my failures! Next week WILL be better! Check it out and see what I make then!