Chicken fajitas with garden fresh green pepper!

My green bell pepper plants have finally produced large enough peppers for eating, so I came up with some tasty meals that could incorporate my garden fresh peppers. The first one was the steak sandwich. Then, considering my husband's inexplicable love of "Mexican" food and all things wrapped in a tortilla, I decided to make Chicken Fajitas!

Luck would have it that the boneless, skinless chicken breasts I always use were on super sale at my local grocery store. It was like fate telling me to cook something with chicken and peppers... and who I am to refuse fate? :)

The key to a really good fajita is having a good, sweet vidalia onion along with a crisp, green pepper. If my peppers had gone red at the time, I would have used green and red peppers. Alas, it was not quite there yet. In any event, another great addition to any fajita is of course steak! There is something incredible about a chicken and steak fajita with all the veggies.

Ingredients
2 tbsp oil (olive or vegetable)
1 medium green pepper, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 lb of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced (about 1" x 3")
1 package McCormick's Fajita Seasoning
1/4 cup water
Large, flour tortillas
1 medium tomato, diced
Lettuce, washed and torn
Shredded cheddar
Sour cream
Guacamole (1 avocado, 1 tbsp sour cream, 4 tbsp salsa, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp lime juice blended until smooth)

Directions
Slice the chicken into 1" strips and place in 1 tbsp of oil. Cook for 3-5 minutes on medium-high until no longer pink on the outside. Then, slice the green pepper and onion into strips. Add to the chicken mixture. Cook until tender.
Add the McCormick seasoning and 1/4 cup of water. Cook until sauce thickens.
Put chicken mixture, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole on a large, flour tortilla. Wrap the tortilla around the fajita mixture and enjoy!
Tip: to help keep your tortilla from unrolling itself (as they are prone to do), gently spread the sour cream on at least one half of the flour tortilla and wrap that side over the top. The sour cream works like an edible glue and will hold the tortilla to itself.

Enjoy your tasty fajitas with chips and salsa!!! Don't forget to make some strawberry daiquiris!

"Gourmet" Tuna Sandwich on a Budget!

I grew up with tuna from a can and didn't realize until much, much later in life that there is a such thing as "ahi tuna" and other forms of tuna that do not come out of a can. In fact, these fancy kinds of tuna are served at fancy kinds of restaurants! I remember the first time I went out to eat at a classy restaurant and my mother-in-law ordered tuna. When it came out, it was not ground up and mixed with mayo (much to my surprise), but in fact it was a fillet of tuna that looked very pink and fish-like. I was shocked!

However, I cannot afford to make ahi tuna (nor do we have much a selection for such tasty tuna in the Midwest), so I learn to make the canned stuff taste better. :)

Ingredients
1 can Starkist solid white Albacore tuna
pepper to taste
McCormick's Montreal steak seasoning to taste
garlic powder to taste
2 tbsp of Hellman's mayo
4 slices of your favorite sliced bread, toasted (whole wheat bread for me)*
Romaine lettuce, washed and dried
1 medium tomato, washed and sliced
6 slices of extra sharp cheddar cheese (or 2 deli slices of provolone, Havarti, munster, etc)

*Replace the sliced bread for 2 sandwich croissants and enjoy with chips and/or soup!

Directions
Drain the water from the can of tuna. Then place in a small bowl and crush with a fork. Add the pepper, steak seasoning, garlic powder, and mayo. Mix well.
Toast the bread (unless you're using croissants). Then layer two of the slices of bread with cheese, the tuna mixture, tomato, and lettuce. Top with the remaining slices of bread and enjoy your sandwich with fruit, chips, or soup!

It's a pretty easy sandwich to make, but the spices definitely add something to the sandwich!

How to make your own Beef and Cheddar Melts!

If you've ever been to Arby's fast food restaurant and tried a beef 'n' cheddar melt, you know how tasty, but simple they are. If you've never been, you're not really missing out because I'm going to teach you how to make your own version but even better than the restaurant one.
My husband always had two major gripes about Arby's:
1) they were not particularly well-valued (i.e. expensive for what you actually got)
2) they use deli roast beef equivalent to that of cafeteria food

In order to appease him, I searched for how to make the cheese sauce, which really is the key to the whole sandwich. Turns out, it's pretty easy to make too!

Ingredients for Sandwich
4 onion buns (check your local bakery for these tasty treats; if desperate, use hamburger buns)
8 ounces of pot roast, leftover or freshly made
8 tbsp cheese sauce (see recipe below)
8 tbsp Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy BBQ Sauce

Ingredients for Cheese Sauce
1/3 cup grated extra sharp cheddar
1/2 cup easy cheese
2 tbsp milk

Directions for Cheese Sauce
Combine all three ingredients in a sauce pan and cook over low heat. Stir until cheese sauce is fully melted and smooth.

Directions for Sandwich Assembly
If using leftover pot roast, be sure to reheat it! These sandwiches are far tastier when warm.
Slice the onion buns in half. Put 1 tbsp cheese sauce on top and bottom portions of each bun. Then place the meat on the bottom portion of each bun. Add the 1-2 tbsp of BBQ sauce to each sandwich. Close and enjoy!

Like I said, they are a pretty simple recipe but they taste incredible! They go well with a side of watermelon and chips!