This recipe is fast, easy and cheap.  It was invented by my Mom, and I tweaked it a little bit.  Time to get New Mexican for dinner!

I mentioned before that I almost never cook with fresh meat, it's usually frozen.  For chicken, I like to buy 10 lb. bags of frozen chicken breasts from CostCo.  These are boneless and skinless and cost $2/lb, or $20 for the whole bag.  This is a great price for NM stores and it means I always have frozen chicken in my freezer.

Depending on the size of the chicken breasts, you'll need 2 or 3 or 4 chicken breasts.  It really depends on how much meat vs. vegetables you want.  I like a 50-50 mix.  Put your chicken breasts on a plate and thaw in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.  You may want to flip them over halfway to help them thaw evenly.


While you're waiting for your chicken to defrost, slice up 1 yellow onion, 1 green bell pepper and 1 red bell pepper.  The onion and green pepper are both very affordable.  The red on is the more expensive item in this recipe.  If you don't want to pay twice as much for the red pepper as the green pepper, you can substitute a green pepper for the red pepper.  I usually see green peppers for 50 cents, and red peppers for $1.69.  A great sale price for a red pepper is usually $1 or less in NM.

This recipe is also a great freezer meal.  If you see red and green peppers on sale, buy several.  Slice them up and put each one in a sandwich baggie.  With frozen chicken and peppers, half your meal is ready in the freezer anytime you feel like fajitas.

Put a couple tablespoons of oil in a skillet and heat to medium high or high.  When it is hot add all three vegetables (frozen or fresh) to a skillet and saute in oil until caramelized and tender.  Here is how they look when you start sauteing.  If it looks dry in the pan just add in some more oil by the tablespoon.  Stir the vegetables occasionally so they won't burn.  Slice up your chicken while your vegetables are cooking. 


Here is a picture when they are done.  You can see a little bit of char on the peppers and the onions are light brown.


Remove the vegetables from the pan, add some more oil and then add the chicken.  Some of that caramelized goodness will still be on the bottom of the pan so just stir around the chicken and it will pick it up and flavor the chicken.  Sometimes frozen chicken lets off a lot of moisture.  If you have a lot of moisture in the bottom of the pan, take a paper towel and soak it up (just like soaking up hamburger grease in the previous post).  When the chicken is just done, add about a cup of your favorite salsa.


Let it cook for a minute or two at a simmer to thicken the salsa and coat the chicken.  Use a salsa you really like since the flavor will condense.  If you have people in your family that don't like a lot of spice, use a milder salsa.  You can also use less salsa, or none.  Then other people in the family can just add salsa to their finished fajita.  We like it mildly spicy so 1 cup of a medium salsa pleases everyone in my house.

Then add the vegetables back in until they reheat.  Time for fajitas!


There are three kinds of flour tortillas.  Let's call them Daddy, Mommy and baby.  Daddy size (also known as "Burrito") and Mommy size ("Homestyle") are great for this recipe.  Baby size ("Gorditas") are a little too small for this recipe, but would still be delicious.


Warm your tortillas in the microwave until heated through.  When top with your chicken mixture, shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole and/or more salsa.


Let's have a fajita folding lesson!  Fold up the bottom (to catch the deliciousness, you don't want that goodness dripping on your plate, then you have to lick your plate like Jason).


Then fold one side...


Then the other!  How easy is that?


Now who can tell me the NM state question?

Easy Fajitas
Serves 4-6
2-4 chicken breasts
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 green pepper, cut in strips
1 red pepper, cut in strips
1 cup salsa
6 tortillas

Toppings:
Salsa
Sour Cream
Cheddar Cheese
Guacamole

1. Defrost chicken breasts.  Cut vegetables.
2. Heat oil in a skillet to medium high or high.  Saute vegetables until tender and caramelized.  Remove vegetables to a bowl.
3. Cook chicken until just done.  If there is a pool of liquid in the pan, drain it or soak it up with a paper towel.
4. Add salsa and simmer for a minute or two until salsa is thickened and reduced slightly.
5. Add vegetables back to pan until heated through.  Serve with warm tortillas and toppings.