Dia de las Madres

Okay... so in my family, we never go out to celebrate Mother's day.  I'm not sure why that is, but I really like it.  So a few days before Mother's day, I asked my beautiful mom what she wanted for her special dinner.  And she chose fajitas.  Fajitas are not my favorite dinner (by far) so I can say I wasn't thrilled, but of course it wasn't about me, so I happily planned the meal.  She ordered "something chocolate" for dessert, so I went with chocolate covered strawberries, yummm.

My mom and dad went to breakfast together that morning, she got a Starbucks to take her through church and then it was my turn.  I must confess I was a little sad at the simplicity of making fajitas (its essentially onion, bell pepper and meat on a tortilla) but I was excited to make my own spice mixture. Growing up, my mom was a pre-made-fajita-spice-packet user, and I just could not bear using it, taking one less step from my meal...  So first things first: making the spices!

I made just enough spice mixture for the amount of chicken/onions/peppers, but this is definitely worth making more and storing for a quick dinner:
3tbsp chili powder
2tsp onion powder
2tsp garlic powder
1tbsp paprika
1tbsp white sugar
2tsp cayenne
2tsp cumin
1tbsp salt
2tsp crushed red pepper

Also you can add cornstarch into this if you think you may need a thickening agent (I didn't).

So mix that all together and set aside.  The rest is so simple.  Slice your onions and peppers into strips (making sure they are all similar in size so they cook evenly).  Also slice/shred your meat into pieces about the same size.  I 'cheated' here and bought a rotisserie chicken and shredded it.  I really think you just can't beat the flavor and moisture of rotisserie chickens, and they are so versatile.

So now you can add your raw vegetables to a large saute pan, or a wok which is what I used since I was making so much.  Add a little oil and salt to help them cook down.  After they are cooked about half-way to how you want them (we liked just a little crunch left), add your pre-cooked meat to the pan, and the seasonings.  Cook them all together until your meat is hot and the vegetables are perfectly to your liking.  Add the seasoning lightly (you can always add more but you can't take it out).

Now throw it on a tortilla and garnish as you please.  I added some fresh avocado and sour cream... and after eating one, I have to admit my liking for fajitas went up quite a bit.  There is just something delicious about having control over your foods, your seasonings and eating the fruits of your labor  :)  Happy Mother's Day!







Oh... and I couldn't resist taking a picture of the giant, sweet, delicious chocolate covered strawberries... what a perfect dessert... you just can't go wrong with fruit and chocolate!

Hot dogs?

Tucson isn't a city like New York or Philadelphia, where they have restaurants featured on Food Network everyday.  Tucson has just recently started getting some TV fame for its food, so naturally, Heather and I are pretty excited when we can go try something that's been featured on a show.  The Travel Channel's 'Food Wars' recently aired an episode featuring Tucson's sonoran hot dogs, so we watched it.  The funny thing?  Neither of us had ever eaten a sonoran dog.  So, we ventured out with the family to give these strange hot dogs a try this past weekend.

The 'war' was between El Guero Canelo and BK.  They are both set up on 6th street in South Tucson and they are within eyesight of each other...  The winner on the show was BK.  However, when we decided to venture out and try this Mexican-American fast food 'staple,' we weren't the only ones choosing where to go, so our group of foodies ended up at El Guero Canelos (yes, the loser), in another part of town.  I can't say it affected our tastebuds much though  :)

We all ordered sonoran dogs, loaded down with all the fixins'.  I'm not even sure I know everything that was on it, but I do know one thing:  it was like no hot dog experience I've ever had!  I love chili, mustard, ketchup, coleslaw and relish on my dogs, but this had none of that!  It was loaded with onions, salsa, bacon (yummm), mayo, mustard, jalapeño sauce, and other things that you would never guess were prominent Mexican ingredients.

The best part for me?  The 'bun' or bread that held everything together.  It's a sweet bread specially made for the purpose of El Guero Canelo's Sonoran style dogs, and it is just delectable.  The owner of El Guero Canelos buys this special bread directly from Mexico (talk about authenticity) and I am not sure you could find a better bread for this purpose. 

Not only is the bread special, but he also only sells soda in glass bottles, once again directly from Mexico.  Yep, these bottles have the 'Hecho en Mexico' stamp right on them.  I don't think you can get this close to Mexico without actually crossing the border.

Anyway, to really get the feel of our experience, you just have to see the pictures... or try it yourself.  I promise you, even if you aren't taken by the taste, you will be by the experience.  It's the whole enchilada!

       

*Matt opted to get a burrito instead. He ordered a 'medium'.  I wonder what a large looks like...