4th Pin of Interest...Baked Fajitas

So. Freaking. Good.

This was such a simple and quick dinner. It was lovely. My sister, Danielle, made them one night and I decided that it just sounded so good that I had to have them as well. This is a recipe that we got off of Pinterest...of course...but it's unclear who posted it first. There are a ton of variations to them, so make it how you like it. This is just a great alternative way of fixing an awesome meal. Oh! And, the clean up is EASY!!

So, let's talk ingredients:
Chicken- I used boneless/skinless tenders and cut them into smaller bits
1/2 Red Bell Pepper
1/2 Green Bell Pepper
Onion- sliced, not chopped
Rotel w/ green Chilies- this is totally optional. I didn't use it because I like my fajitas simple
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 tsp Chili Powder
1 1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
1/4 tsp Salt
(to be honest, I didn't use these spices. I used my trusty homemade Chili mix. It has all the same seasonings, and it's awesome. I used enough to coat the chicken- about 1-1 1/2 Tbsp)

So!
Preheat your oven to 400.

Cut your chicken into either strips or small bits
Slice your bell peppers and onions how you like them best. I like smaller pieces, some people like slices.

I put my chicken in a bowl, added the olive oil and spices and mixed until it was coated well. This is where you'd put the rotel in. Then put it in a glass casserole dish.

I put my peppers and onions on top of the chicken without mixing them.

Put dish in the oven for about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, I took some tongs and mixed the chicken and peppers with out stirring. I just kinda flipped it in the dish. Make sense?

Cook for another 10 minutes and flip one more time.

At this point I turned the oven to broil to get some crispy bits. I let it set on broil for about 5-7 minutes. Watch it the whole time because you don't want to incinerate your dinner, just have some crispy edges.

Take it out of the oven, grab your tortilla's and go to town.

Seriously the whole process took all of 30 minutes. Maybe. It's quick and it's good. Mix you up some beans or what ever else you like on your fajitas, and you're good to go. I put my Avocado Dip on them and it was so awesome!

Anyhoo, that's the most recent Pin of Interest.

For my next one, I'm thinking a piece of art is in order.

Later Chickens!

2nd Pin of Interest- Holy Guacamole! Errrrrr...Avocado!

So, I might have fibbed. I said I was going to write about something else before my next Pin of Interest. I really wanted this dip, so now I'm going to write about it. Lucky you!

Today's Pin is brought to you by the letter "A." Avocado Cilantro Dip Stuff (that's my name for it)

The Skinny Taste blog was kind enough to Pin this recipe for Avocado Cilantro Buttermilk Dressing. It's good. Really good. But I liked it as a dip instead of a dressing. I will let y'all know that I first made this a long time ago. Like a whole 3 weeks ago. Sooooo...yeah. Anyhoos, I followed (mostly) the directions.

On summer vacations to San Diego, we always visited El Puerto. I have written about this lovely hole in the wall place before. It's so awesome! They have this guacamole fluff mix stuff that they put on the rolled tacos, and this tasted very similar to that.

But, I wanted to make it better. I made up my first batch and took it down to my parents' house over Christmas. I wanted my sister, Danielle, to taste it. She's the guacamole maker in our family and I wanted her opinion. She really liked it. So much so,she requested I make another batch. I did. It was good. Really good. So she wanted another batch. But wait!!! We were fresh out of buttermilk. We decided on maybe using half and half. Would that work? I don't know. There was an ovoverabundance of sour cream in my mom's fridge. Would that work? Maybe. I thought, what if we mixed the two? That way we have some liquid and cream. Y'all. It was so much better. I don't know why, but it was.

So! On with the (new-ish) recipe!

2-3 Avocados
1 small jalapeno
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1 clove of garlic (I used close to a tsp of garlic powder instead)
2 scallions (green onions)
1/8 tsp cumin (you don't want to over do this...it's powerful stuff)
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup half and half
1 cup sour cream
1 Lime (this is SO important)

Put the half and half in the blender.

Clean and de-stem (?) the cilantro, then add that to the blender.

Cut up the jalapeno. Now, here's where it gets tricky. If you like spice then you need to leave some seeds. I mean,  let's face it spice is nice (eh, eh...see what I did there??). Yeah, I'm not really that lame. Well, maybe I am. I digress!! So what I usually do is cut the hat off the pepper, then cut about a 1/4 inch and leave it with the seeds. The rest gets gutted. Toss that into the blender too.

Cut the green onions up and...well you get the point.

Blend. And Blend. If I was cool and had a Magic Bullet or Ninja Bullet thingie, I wouldn't have to blend so much. But I don't. So I do.

You don't want a lot if chunks. Well, I don't. You may, and that's fine. I won't judge. Much.

Add 2 avocados to the mix and blend them until it's all creamy goodness.

Here you can either dump this mix into a bowl, or you can keep it in the blender.

Add the sour cream and the spices. Mix, mix, mix. Then mix some more.

Cut the lime in half and add the juice of both halves. It's ok if some of the pulp gets in there. So, remember when I said this is important? When I first made this, I used lemon juice. It was all I had. The taste was great, but the dip started to brown over night. So, it was only good for maaaaybe 24 hours. Limes are key to making it last...that is if you don't eat it all right away. It'll be good for about 2 days, maybe 3. I wouldn't keep it any longer than that.

Now taste. Too spicy? Add another avocado. I made this last night, and Oh. Boy. I'm just giving you guys a fair warning. This batch I made just about punched me in the face. It's a little joke with Danielle and me, because I never pick out the spicy jalapeno. They are always so mild you can just bite off a piece and it really won't phase you. Unless, of course, you don't like the flavor. Then you might barf a bit. But not this time. My lips were on fire for like 3 hours. It suuuuucked. So, to off set the spice, I added another avocado and a smidge of salt and that took the fire down a bit.

Enjoy with chips, on tacos or fajitas, or add some more half and half and use it as a dressing. Like I said though, I really liked it much better as a dip.

So! That's all I have for you for now, chickens. Hope y'all like it!!

If you want to ------>