February 23, 2010

Fajita Salad

What started out as fajitas in corn tortillas, eventually became a new twist on a salad! I decided not to deal with the usual mess of sauce and peppers, and whatever else dripping out of the ends of the tortilla, and instead cut the tortillas into triangles, and quickly sauteed them in a little oil in a fry pan, turning them to lightly brown both sides. I put them on paper towels to drain, and sprinkled them with salt and a little chipotle pepper from this nifty new grinder (pictured above) that my hubbie found at the grocery store. The final product tasted a little like fry bread - yum!

The rest of the salad was just a matter of assembling. The first layer was organic lettuce greens, topped by the fajita mixture, then Colby-jack cheese, the corn tortilla chips, a little homemade salsa for dressing, a drizzle of yogurt, and finally some cilantro leaves. Here's what I put in the fajita mixture:

thin slices of round steak
slices of green and orange bell pepper
thin sliced onion
one 15oz. can of fire-roasted tomatoes (drained)
2 tsp. crushed garlic
1-2 tsp. cumin
2-3 tsp. chili powder
1-2 tsp. oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Simply saute the meat, peppers, and onions in a little oil until the meat is slightly browned, then add the tomatoes and spices, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes until the meat is tender. Enjoy!
These recipes will hopefully give you some ideas about how to use produce from your garden or farmer's market. There are also other recipes that are simply here because they are our favorites, or someone made a request at the last church lunch! I'd like to encourage you to alter these recipes to suit your own tastes, your family's needs, and to use what you have on hand. Therefore, some of my recipes will not have exact measurements. So...if any of the recipes leaves you scratching your head, just send me an email and I'll try to answer your question. HappyGrowing@eatingfromthegarden.com