Best Eats: Colton's favorite fajitas

Okay, people. 

It's time to put on our big girl panties and conquer the beast. 

And by that, I mean to make fajitas. Doesn't sound that scary, right? Well, it has been my biggest cooking challenge thus far because of two reasons. 1) Fajitas are Colton's favorite food. 2) Colton grew up in Dallas, which is basically the capital of delicious Tex-Mex. Double Whammy! So basically, Colton is used to having the best fajitas available in the US, while I had never even eaten a fajita until we started dating. 

I fell in love with fajitas as I was falling in love with Colton :)

Anyway, I began to try and make fajitas pretty much as soon as we got married. I had several failed attempts, but finally I came across the lovely Lisa of Homesick Texan, and she led me to the magic.

These are the real deal! (The real deal as far as Tex-Mex goes, anyway.)

Let's get cookin! 

 (I've been having alot of trouble with the uploader this morning - a few pictures got a little crazy during the upload. Sorry about that!)

We'll begin with the marinade. This recipe is adapted from the homesick texan. I like to do this in the morning so it has plenty of time to soak up all the flavor! Put your meat of choice (I generally use chicken breasts) in a freezer bag and add equal parts of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, enough to just cover the meat. Add the juice of one lime, a few garlic cloves smashed with the side of a knife, a tablespoon or so of cumin, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. If you like things a little spicy, you can add a few pierced peppers or some cayenne.

Shake it up until the marinade looks smooth and stick it in the fridge. Throughout the day, I'll flip it over every few hours to make sure my chicken gets marinated evenly :)

Maybe about an hour before you want to eat, it's time to start the tortillas! I highly encourage homemade tortillas, because they're just lightyears better than what you can buy in a store. These are just like the tortillas I had in Dallas! Fluffy, light, a little chewy, slightly charred. Oh man. This recipe is directly from the Homesick Texan, and it's absolutely perfect. I reworded it a little, but all the credit goes to Lisa!

Stir together 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, and 2 tsp vegetable oil in a mixing bowl. Slowly add 3/4 cup warm milk while stirring. Mix until you have a sticky ball, like in the picture above.

Knead until the ball looks smooth. If you find it's sticking to your hand too much, add a little more flour until it's workable. Let rest for 20 minutes under a damp cloth.

While the dough is resting, it's time to make the sides!

I always seed the tomatoes. Tomato seeds wig me out.

You can use the ends to make a nifty little gnat trap. I have a big gnat problem during the summers. This way, I can release them outside.

To make my salsa and pico, I chop roma tomatoes, yellow or white onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. I divide them into two bowls, one for pico and one for salsa. Then I add the juice of half a lime to each, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Taste and tweak the proportions to your liking! I ended up putting a little cayenne in the salsa to give it a little extra spice.

 I put the contents of the salsa bowl in the food processor and give it a few pulses to make it smoother! A blender works fine too. Stick both bowls in the fridge, covered in plastic wrap, until time to serve. (I usually wait to make my guacamole until right before serving to prevent browning, but I think that's probably a little paranoid. I'm pretty sure if you did it now it would be just fine. I use two avocados, chopped cilantro, the juice of half a lime, salt and pepper, and a few spoonfulls of pico.)

Once twenty minutes is up on the dough, divide it into eight balls and re-cover. Rest them for 10 minutes.

During that time, chop the vegetable for the fajitas!

Once the ten minutes are up, it's time to roll out the tortillas! Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough balls as evenly as you can on a floured surface. (I used to use a waterglass, but I got a rolling pin yesterday! BIG improvement.)

Get them as thin as you can - don't worry, they'll puff up when you cook them! I spread a little flour on the surface of each tortilla and stack them on a plate, and cover them with a cloth to wait until I'm ready to cook them. After this, I put a can of refried beans in a small pot on low to begin heating up, and I start a small pot of spanish rice. (I just use the little bitty bags that are pre-seasoned! With all these things going on the stove at the same time, I'll take all the shortcuts I can get.)

Once all your tortillas are rolled out and ready, put your chicken in a hot pan with a little oil. Don't move them around! You want them to stay put until they're very browned - I like mine a little scorched, actually! I love that charred crust.

 Once the chicken is in the pan, immediately start cooking your tortillas. One at a time, place them in a dry pan over high heat. Wait until they bubble, like above, then flip. It only takes about 30 seconds each side.

This is what you're looking for! After each tortilla is done, stack them on a plate and cover with a cloth to keep them warm.

Keep an eye on your chicken! Flip it when it's nice and brown.

 When the chicken is done, remove to a plate and slice. (Dadgum, just look at that. Your fajitas aren't gonna know what hit them!)

 Add the veggies to the pan and stir, making sure to get all those brown bits!

Once the veggies are done to your liking, dump the chicken back into the pan to warm up. Quickly make the guacamole during this time if you haven't already, and you're ready to eat!

 Serve the fajita mixture with rice and beans, and set out the pico, salsa, guacamole, and some sour cream.

Yum!

Colton builds his first fajita.

 And there's mine!

So good.

Featured on Green Wedding Shoes!

Our wedding is featured on Green Wedding Shoes this week! So excited :)

Best Eats: Quick and Easy - The Davie Burger

I didn't really invent this, I just like naming things after myself.

Sometimes meals sneak up on me. So it's nice to have something quick to throw together so I don't flip out. (I get really grumpy if I'm hungry.) Burgers fit the bill. And besides, anyone that knows me knows that I can never turn down a big juicy burger. I love them.

This particular burger, which I most often fix at home, is inspired by the In-N-Out burger. Never a bad choice :)

Let's start!

Butter the insides of some hamburger buns - the big ones, preferably. I don't like the standard size. You'll stick them in the oven to broil while the burgers are cooking.

Mix your beef with a ton of worchestershire  sauce, until it looks yucky and brown. (Trust me. It looks gross, but your burgers will be so juicy and flavorful inside. Always mix your flavorings throughout the beef instead of just on the outside.)

Form into patties and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Make your burgers bigger than the buns to allow for some shrinkage during cooking!

Cook your burgers on the grill, or in a skillet on medium high. I use a little olive oil and butter to help them blacken a bit, but I like the inside still slightly pink. Once flipped, I go ahead and put the cheese on so it's nice and melty. While the burgers are cooking, brown the buns under the broiler. (Don't forget about them! I almost forget them every time.)

Slice your toppings while the burgers are on the stove.

Remove the burgers to your (now toasted) buns.

Add a liberal amount of Thousand Island dressing...

...Dill pickles...

...Red Onion slices...

...juicy tomatoes...

(And I usually add some romaine lettuce too, but I forgot to get some at the store. Whoops!)

And there you have it.

Delicious.

And messy.

Have some paper towels ready.

Good Eats: A Step-by-step Southern Meal

Here's a little tutorial of how to make one of my favorite meals (Colton's too!) - Country fried steak (or porkchops) with gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It's easy! No measuring. Like I've said before - I'm a big believer in learning to cook by the senses. Sight, touch, taste. It's faster, uses less dishes, and is more adjustable to personal tastes!

 

We'll start with the beans, as they need to be simmered for a few hours. Rinse them off in a colander, tossing them around a little to make sure you get all of them! 

And snap them into a pot. Add water until there's about 1 1/2 to 2 inches between the beans and the bottom of the pot. I just stick my finger in and wiggle it around a little to estimate how much more water I need :)

Add two beef bouillon cubes (or the equivalent of the granules or that "better than bouillon" stuff), and a small handful of kosher salt. Put it on the stove and set it to "high".

Fry up a few slices of bacon. I used three since I'm making a big pot - for a medium pot, two would do just fine.

Our apartment has a gas stove. I like it now, but at first I was terrified that it was going to blow up.

While the bacon is browning, dice 1 onion.

Check out my new knife. It was a birthday gift. Thanks, mom! It's from the Calphalon Katana series. I absolutely love it, even though I accidentally sliced the tip of my thumb off a month after I got it, which hurt like none other. 

Mmm, just look at that bacon.

I mean really.

Once the bacon slices are brown, drop them in the bean pot, and add your onions to the bacon grease.

Saute until they're beginning to soften and become golden brown, then add them to the bean pot. (Talk about a heavenly smell!)

Bring your pot to boil, then reduce the heat to medium low, or whatever gets it to a gentle simmer. Now you can goof off for an hour or so while your beans cook! Once they've been simmering for at least an hour, maybe two, you can taste one and see how they're coming along. If you taste them too soon, it's easy to oversalt them because they haven't absorbed all the flavors of the broth yet. I usually don't add any salt until 20-30 minutes before I intend to serve the meal.

About 40 minutes before I want to eat, I peel my potatoes (I like golden ones!), cut them into pieces, and put them on to boil.

Here's what my beans look like at this point. You want the broth to be nice and brown, and the beans to be soft. If they're not there yet, or if it looks like too much liquid, raise the heat a little.

 Now we'll start the meat. Start by preparing your dredging bowls. I always like to start with more flour than I think I'll need. For three small breakfast steaks, I dumped about a cup of flour into my dish. Season it well! I add salt, black pepper, paprika, and creole seasoning to give it a little kick.

If you're feeling a little unsure about how much, give it a little taste. You want to be able to taste some of that flavor through the flour. If you can't taste anything, add more of your spices. If it's super salty or spicy, add a little more flour.

Crack an egg in a separate dish and add a splash of milk. (I like buttermilk if I have any, but normal milk is fine too!)

 

Give it a good beating with a fork so it's nice and smooth.

If you're using breakfast steak like me, whack away at it with the pointy end of a meat mallet. You can also use cube steak, which is already whacked, or pork chops! 

Colton came to join in with the whacking. I think he liked it.

Pour just enough canola or vegetable oil to coat the bottom of your pan, and set the heat to medium high, or a little under.

Dredge your meat in the flour, then the egg wash, and finally the flour again. Make sure the sides are covered too! I usually tap the flour on with my fingers then shake off the excess. (Sorry about the lack of pictures on this step. I had a hard time snapping them with one hand.)

 Once all your meat is breaded, it's time for frying! Add a small hunk of butter to the hot oil, maybe about a tablespoon. It should bubble and pop like this. If it doesn't look excited, increase your heat a little.

Now add your meat to the pan. Try not to splash oil over the top, like I did.

But if you do, it's okay. Just sprinkle a little more of the flour mixture on top and pat it down with the back of a fork.

 Flip em' when they look nice and golden! Have a plate lined with paper towels ready by the side of your pan. Remove them to the plate when they're done through.

Okay, now here's the part that used to intimidate me. The gravy! It's really not that hard, though, I've come to find out. The key is whisking like a madwoman. Also, I recommend having the milk jug available next to you on the counter and already open right before you take the meat off. Once you remove the meat onto your plate, pour out the excess oil, reserving a little in your pan along with the brown bits. Start whisking! I mean it, people. With your other hand, sprinkle the leftover flour mixture, whisking it constantly, until you have a roux.

Let it cook long enough to get rid of that raw flour taste, but don't let it burn! It'll only take a minute or two. You want it to be a nice, nutty color. Be ready with that milk.

Pour in the milk while whisking, trying to combine it smoothly. Keep on pouring until the consistency is pretty watery.

 You don't want it to be thick yet. You need some time to mash your potatoes! If it's getting thick too quickly, add a little more milk and reduce the heat.

 I had Colton stir the gravy as it thickened while I mashed the potatoes. If you're alone in the kitchen, like I usually am, it's okay if you don't whisk constantly at this stage as long as you have the heat on low. But definitely give it a good stir every 30 seconds or so, or it'll stick. Once the gravy reaches your desired consistency, remove it to a bowl or gravy boat.

 Now the easy part! I drain my potatoes and then dump them back into the same pot to mash them. I use alot of sour cream, and a good splash of milk or cream to thin them.

 But you can add whatever you want!

 Oh my! Oh my! (Colton gets two pieces because he's a hungry man.)

I never trusted gravy when I was a kid, but now I can't get enough of it. 

And finally... don't try to put the green bean ends down the garbage disposal. Green bean water. Gross! I tried by good old alan wrench method to fix the clog*, but to no avail, so I spent about an hour this evening up to my elbow in this stuff.

* I have a terrible tendency to put things down the disposal that I shouldn't, so I've had to fix a number of clogs. It's actually pretty easy unless it's really bad (like if you crammed two cups of green bean ends in there). Look under the disposal. There should be a red button on the bottom - if it's not pushed in, push it in. It's sortof a safety trigger, so your disposal automatically shuts off if there's a bone or a spoon in there. Next, take a hexagonal alan wrench and stick it in the little hole close to the red button, and wiggle it back and forth until you can make a full rotation easily. Then turn on the water and try turning the disposal back on - alot of the time, it'll work! If not, call a plumber.