Summertide Menus: Chicken and Pepper Jack Fajita
I have been meaning to post some yummy recipes from my menus that we’ve enjoyed lately! This has been a busy graduation week here – delightful though! Since the week was busy getting ready for graduation (and I missed this week’s CM Teaching Tuesday post) I thought it would be fun to throw together a quick post full of pictures of a fabulous and simple meal from my summertide menu! This is based on a recipe I found on Pioneer Woman – Chicken Quesadillas. Friends, this could not be simpler to make!! It takes very little time (especially if you use the shortcuts I’ll mention below). And it really brings big flavors!
Start with shredded chicken breast. I don’t know how much to tell you to use – because…to make this ridiculously easy for me, I use the package of shredded Rotisserie chicken breast I pick up at Costco. My stars! Love that shredded Rotisserie chicken! Toss your shredded chicken breast into a very hot cast iron skillet that has just enough butter to cover the bottom of the pan (a cast iron skillet browns things so nicely, but if you don’t have one, just use a good stainless saute’ pan). Season your chicken with a little salt, pepper, oregano, cilantro (add some fresh cilantro if you have it!), cumin – or if you like, season with taco seasoning like the recipe calls for. Remove the chicken to a bowl after it has browned. Leave all those fabulous brown bits in the bottom of your pan!
Slice some beautiful red, orange and yellow bell peppers along with a large onion and add a little more butter to your hot pan.
Toss in all the sliced peppers and onion and salt. The steam from the browning veggies will deglaze the pan and pull all those yummy brown bits of flavor up!
Keep stirring until everything is nicely browned and sauteed.
Grate some Pepper Jack cheese and set it aside for layering on your fajita.
Oh my stars – this is so yummy!! I set my peppers and chicken on a big platter so we could serve ourselves.
Cut some lime wedges for adding to the top of your assembled fajita – the little splash of lime adds such a brightness to all the flavors! You won’t regret it! Layer the Pepper Jack cheese, chicken, peppers, and add some guacamole if you’ve got it. Roll it up…
Happiness! Summer on a plate! Ree’s recipe makes these as quesadillas, which I tried the first time I made it, but it got so cumbersome with all that cheesy-peppery-oniony-chicken-happy-goodness…that I couldn’t flip it or move it off the griddle. It was good though! So, the next time I made this, we just rolled it up in a tortilla and it was much easier to assemble and eat!
I just discovered oven baked fajitas and they were a huge hit so I’m thinking this recipe might be too!
You can make crispy quesadillas in the oven and you don’t have to flip them. Just coat the outsides of both tortillas with a little oil and build the quesadilla on a baking sheet. Then pop it in a 400 degree oven for about five minutes or until you see that the tortilla has gotten crispy without burning. Let it sit for a minute or two after you take it out of the oven, though, or the melted cheese will make it hard to cut. I used to make quesadillas this way all the time before we all went gluten-free. (Although mostly they were just boring plain cheese!)
Oooh! Great tip on the oven quesadillas in the oven, Angela. Thanks!
These look wonderful! The warm weather is just beginning for us. I am just now revising my menu plan to reflect the change in the season. Perfect timing! I’ll definitely be adding these to our rotation- No Costco near us but I think I’ll prepare enough for a few batches and freeze the shredded chicken so it is handy!
~lisa
These look absolutely delicious!
I posted too soon! I meant to add that my husband makes some delicious quesadillas with shredded chicken. To the shredded chicken he adds black beans, corn, and cheese. Then we have salsa to top them with. They are very yummy!
Oh, that looks great! I’m always looking for summer supper ideas!