Jerome's Famous Fabulous Fajitas

So recently, our favourite easy weeknight dinner - Tasty Tacos has been given a run for their money with Jerome's perfecting of Fabulous Fajitas! He sort of made something up one night instead of tacos, and now it's a toss up which one to make. They are also nice and quick, and easy to make even after a long day of work. They are very forgiving, so we improvise a bit each time, but I'll try and cover most of the options we have tried.


I'm usually in charge of the veggies. I cut up green peppers and onions into long slices and then sprinkle them with a random mixture of cayenne, chili powder - ancho, pasilla or regular, cumin, and whatever other spice grabs my attention in the drawer! You could also just use a fajita mix, or my Mum's not so secret anymore - taco seasoning.

While I'm doing that, Jerome makes a marinade/sauce for the chicken or beef which we have cut into bite size pieces. He usually puts a spoon of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, the juice and sometimes zest from a lime, cumin, sometimes a dash of bbq sauce, salt, and a variety of spices like cumin, chili powder - ancho, pasilla or regular, and likely random others sometimes. So you coat the meat in the sauce and you're good to go! 

Heat up a large skillet, throw in the meat and cook the meat until it's done. Both chicken and beef work equally well with this recipe.  As you have noticed we like things spicy, if you want a less spicy version you can use milder chili powders, or paprika to get the flavour without the bite. Or just omit a hot sauce or two!

Conveniently, we have 2 cast iron skillets, there are 2 parts to the dish, and there are two of us, so we split it up and it's done in a jiffy! With cheese grating, tortilla heating, occasional avocado scooping etc, being done while everything is cooking. We've got it pretty streamlined now. 

They are super easy and tasty, so I'd highly recommend giving them a try! I might just have to go home and make some, because I'm starving now after talking about them and looking at all these pictures! 

Mexican Lasagna

Tonight we had one of our stand-by comfort dinners. It's quite easy, not a lot of dishes and has lots of taste and veggies all in one nice tasty and spicy package! It's from the cookbook Eat Shrink and Be Merry and it's official name is No Weigh, Jose! Mexican Lasagna because the lean meat and abundance of veggies. Here's the recipe as we've tweaked it over the years:

1.5 lbs extra lean ground turkey

1 cup diced red or regular onions

1 cup diced green bell or pasilla pepper (or if we don't have one, some chopped up pickled jalepenos)

2 tsp/cloves minced garlic

1 can black beans rinsed and drained

1 can diced tomatoes

1 cup frozen or canned corn

1 1/2 tsp chili powder }

1 1/2 tsp cumin }  we substitute these two with 1 tbsp or so of our taco seasoning

3 cups total of salsa and tomato pasta sauce - depending on what we have hanging around

Fresh ground pepper

Fresh minced cilantro if it's handy

4 tortillas

Grated cheese

Sour cream and green onions for garnish if you have them

You can easily vary the level of spiciness to your taste with the hotness of the salsa, tomato sauce, peppers and spices - you'll probably have guessed by now we use hot salsa, spicy spaghetti sauce, and an extra few scoops of taco seasoning! 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

You'll need a deep 9x9" casserole dish or if it's shallower than a 9x13" as well as a large non-stick pan or a skillet if you have one big enough. 

Start by cooking the ground turkey, onions, garlic and the green pepper if you have it.


Once the turkey is cooked through add the spices, black beans, tomatoes, corn.
Stir through and cook for another few minutes - until the corn is defrosted and heated through. 

Next add the salsa, tomato sauce, some black pepper and the pickled jalapenos if you're using those.
Stir through, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir in the cilantro as you turn off the heat. 

Next comes the lasagna part. Coat the bottom of the dish with a thin layer of your mixture so nothing sticks to your dish. 

I figured out if you cut the tortillas in half and put the flat sides to the edges you get really good coverage. So lay four halves on top of your initial layer. 

Put half the remaining mixture on top. 

And cover with 4 more tortilla halves. 

Add the rest of the sauce - it just fits in our 9x9 dish.

Add a layer of cheese to the top. Cover with tin foil and cook for 35 minutes at 375. Then remove the tin foil and cook for another 10 minutes. 

Once its done let sit for 10 minutes - that way it will hold together when you cut your pieces out.
And enjoy! It usually lasts us for several dinners and lunches as leftovers! 

Secret Seasoning for Tasty Tacos

Here is a little chart for making our taco seasoning. I've included up to 4X the recipe. The yield is helpful when you're trying to decide which jar will be big enough to fit a batch. As I mentioned in my previous post, we use this for many things. Tacos, fajitas, as a rub on chicken, and random other places I can't think of off the top of my head. Let us know if you come up with a good use for it!

Ingredient	1x	2x	4x
Chili Powder	3 tbsp	6 tbsp	12 tbsp
Flour	2 tbsp	4 tbsp	8 tbsp
Ground Cumin	2 tsp	4 tsp	8 tsp
Crushed Dried Oregano	2 tsp	4 tsp	8 tsp
Red Chili Flakes	2 tsp	4 tsp	8 tsp
Garlic Powder	1/2 tsp	1 tsp	2 tsp
Cayenne Pepper	1/2 tsp	1 tsp	2 tsp
Yield	1/2 cup	1 cup	2 cup