Yummy Summer Dinner

Yesterday was another fabulous summer-like day in our neck of the woods, and I wanted a nice summery dinner to go with it.  I remembered a delicious fajita recipe I had once made and headed out to the store. I basically wung it (that's the past tense of "wing it,"a term coined by my friend, Jeremy) and picked up what I felt would make a decent fajita meal. Can I just tell you, it  turned out rather fantastic, if I may say so myself. I forgot to take a picture, but lucky you, I'm going to share the recipe anyway!

Here's what you need:
Chicken (or steak, or pork, or probably even shrimp), about a pound/pound and a half
1 red pepper
1 yellow onion
1 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 bag of salad + whatever else you like in your salads, I added a tomato and a cucumber
1 can of black beans
1 bag of frozen sweet corn (sweet is important)
1 cup (or so) of A1 steak sauce
Minute rice
Your favorite mix of shredded cheese (I used a 4 cheese mix of cheddar, monterrey jack, colby, and mozzarella)
Tortillas
Ranch dressing (optional)
Hot sauce (optional)

Here's what you do:
Cut up that chicken into small pieces or strips. Place in a glass bowl or ziploc bag and cover with A1. Toss to coat. You could also add lime juice to this but I didn't have any and it was still great. Put the chicken in the fridge. Put half the bag of frozen corn into a small ziploc bag and let it thaw.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet to medium. Cut up your red pepper and onion into nice long fajita-style strips. Toss those in the skillet and chop up the cilantro while they cook. Put some the cilantro in a small bowl and some in a large bowl, and then reserve a small amount (1/4 cup or so). Dump the salad into the large bowl and toss with the cilantro to mix. Stir your pepper & onion in the skillet so they don't burn! Cut up your tomato and cucumber - or whatever else you want in your salad - and toss it with the rest. Take the pepper and onion out of the skillet and place them in the small bowl with the cilantro. Lightly toss, cover, and keep warm.

Pull the chicken out of the fridge and dump it into the skillet. Let it cook on medium heat until thoroughly done. Stir it around to make sure it cooks on all sides and stuff. While the chicken is cooking, boil some water based on how many servings of rice you want to make. When it boils put the rice in and take it off the heat. I add a tablespoon of butter for each 1 cup of uncooked rice so it doesn't get sticky, then stir in that last little bit of cilantro. You can also add a splash of lime juice to this if you want. Then, put the corn and your can of beans (rinsed) into the salad bowl and toss. Warm up your tortillas in the microwave or oven - whatever you prefer.

You are ready to serve! Put some chicken and peppers & onions onto a tortilla and top with cheese. Enjoy some salad topped with ranch and hot sauce (you can mix it in a separate bowl or just pour them on separately), and some cilantro rice on the side. YUM.