Spicy Fajitas

Mexican food is a must around here..and fajitas are a bobo staple in my house. They're simple, bursting with flavor and if you prep earlier in the day, you can usually zip everything together pretty quickly.

You only really need 5 ingredients to make a perfect marinade:

Marinade
1/3 c. lemon juice (or the juice of one lemon and one lime)
1/3 c. olive oil
1 Tbsp garlic powder (or 4 cloves crushed garlic)
2 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp (or more to your taste) chili paste

You can find chili paste in the asian section of the grocery..it adds great spice and flavor to all your dishes

You'll also need the following:

2 lbs sirloin steaks
1 each of green, red, yellow peppers
1 onion
1 tomato (or 1 can tomato or jar salsa)
10 flour tortillas
shredded cheese
lettuce
sour cream (optional)
avocado (optional)

Mix your 5 ingredients and toss around in a bowl. Open your steaks and stab them with a fork (a chef friend taught me this, it allows the marinade to get in all in there and get really moist). Toss steaks around in the marinade and let sit (if I'm going to use it within the hour, I leave it on the counter. More than an hour..put it in the fridge till ready to use).

mix marinade in bowl
pierce meat with fork

let sit and marinate for at least an hour

While the meat marinates, prepare the veggies. Slice up the peppers, onion and tomatoes. Saute veggies in oil over med-high heat until limp and tender. Transfer to a serving dish and keep warm in the oven at lowest setting.

saute up the veggies

(I didn't have any fresh tomatoes on hand, so I added 1 cup of salsa at the end. Salsa is a great replacement to keep on hand when low on spices or tomatoes and is great tossed in lots of dishes!)

It's time to slice the meat...you won't believe how soft and tender the marinate has made it! Slice thinly and sear in pan with oil over med-high heat..you might need to do half, add it to your serving dish and then finish up the rest of the meat. Toss around in hot pan about 5 minutes, until no pink shows. Quickly throw into serving dish with remaining meat and veggies..toss evenly.

the marinade really tenderizes the meat


it helps if you have a pup nearby to take the fatty pieces

toss until evenly coated

Serve on warm tortillas (heat them up in microwave for 45 seconds and cover with towel). Garnish with shredded cheese, lettuce, sour cream and guacamole (if I don't have guacamole on hand, I'll use thinly sliced avocado). Eat!

spicy goodness

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