Steak Fajitas

Hubby and I love to order steak fajitas at Mexican restaurants. We split an appetizer and then an order of these. They’re always so yummy when someone else makes them.

But I’ve never managed to make steak fajitas worth writing home about.

Mainly because my method was: (a) buy package of pre-cut “stir fry beef” from the grocery store, (b) sauté this with a packet of “fajita seasoning.”

Meh. Underwhelming.

(Is that a word? I’ve heard it used so many times that it has lost that sense of being wrong)

So it had been a long time since I made steak fajitas. Then, somewhat recently, I was inspired to try again. I had a pound of sirloin leftover from a wine fondue night, so I thought I’d turn it into something else. I found a recipe and went with it.

First, I made a marinade. Some soy sauce…

Some red wine vinegar…

Some light corn syrup (I have such few things to do with corn syrup that I was a bit excited about this!)

Some hot sauce… For this, I finally opened the tabasco sauce that was a favor at my friend Diane’s wedding. Another friend had seen it at my house this summer and asked why I hadn’t opened it, what I was possibly saving it for. I didn't have an answer, so maybe it was time.

Also, some black pepper

Here it is, all whisked together.

This was my sirloin. The recipe said to use flank steak, but this was nice too.

After I sliced it up, I smooshed it in the dish with the marinade.

Then I cut up some veggies (onion and green pepper):

And smooshed them in there, too:

Then I put it in the fridge for about 24 hours before sautéing it and serving.

And forgot all about taking pictures.

Luckily, I made it again soon after this. This time, I used skirt steak:

This time around, I whipped up some guacamole to go with it. I started with a lot.

Then I ate a lot while I waited for hubby to get home. I couldn’t help myself. I was hungry.

Ooops. In my defense, that is a very small bowl.

Anyway, when he was about 10 minutes away, he texted me to let me know that he was almost home. I threw everything in a hot pan and sautéed it just long enough to cook the meat. I wanted the veggies to be crispish, not too tender.

When I served, I sprinkled the meat and veggies with some Mexican blend cheese and added a dollop of plain Greek yogurt.

Very yummy, very juicy!

This recipe is definitely a keeper. Finally, homemade fajitas that are actually pretty good! They were both juicy and flavorful, and a very easy weeknight meal if you’ve had the foresight to marinade in advance.

Give it a try!

Creamy Italian Dressing

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this recipe

other than to say that sometimes, I just want to try a different dressing on my salad

and that sometimes, I prefer to make my own instead of going all the way back to the grocery store

Even if I do love Wegmans

so I look up a recipe online

and gather the necessary ingredients, which may include a lot of mayonnaise and some red wine vinegar

some sugar

some Italian seasoning (makes sense, considering I was making a creamy Italian dressing)

some garlic powder

some black pepper

and some salt (though I forgot to take a picture of it). It was an interesting mixture of things in my food processor

but it looked more normal after I blended everything up to the point where the onion was smooth

The reviews all said to wait overnight to taste it, so I didn’t try the dressing until the next day.

Maybe it’s because I know that this has raw onion and mayonnaise, but I tasted them and I thought that was weird. But I think it’s because I was looking for them. I actually think the dressing is pretty good. It was good enough to serve other people this weekend, and my little brother said he liked it, so I guess that’s good enough for me.

Here’s the recipe. I’ll put it in the recipes tab, as well.