Thursday, April 11, 2013

Sickroom food

An up side of going to the doctor Monday is discovering that the nausea and accompanying unpleasant side effects were not a result of some sort of stomach upset.

In short, I don't have to be afraid to eat.

This is good news, since I'm a cranky enough sick person at the best of times; being hungry on top of that is pure torture.

In celebration of being able to eat, I decided to make a new dish last night. (Side note: It seems that "cooking" is still on the list of things that make my world spin in a not-so-great way, even with something this easy. I soldiered on, however.)


Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp salt
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 medium onion, sliced
1 large bell pepper, seeded and sliced 
12 flour tortillas
Toppings such as cheese, sour cream, and guacamole – if desired

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken strips in a greased 13×9 baking dish. In a small bowl combine the oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, dried oregano, and salt. Drizzle the spice mixture over the chicken and stir to coat. Next add the tomatoes, peppers, and onions to the dish and stir to combine. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Serve on tortillas with desired toppings.

Personally, I mixed the spices and oil in a bowl, then added everything else and stirred to coat. Much easier.

Next time I make these (and there will be a next time), I'll use half or less of the oil, and maybe drain the tomatoes a bit. By the way, fifteen ounce cans of tomatoes have now magically shrunk to ten ounces. I added some chopped up fresh tomatoes, which may have contributed to the over-juiciness of the finished dish.

I used La Tortilla Factory Smart & Delicious 100 Cal Whole Wheat Tortillas. not because they are low calorie, but because I was excited to find tortillas that are whole wheat. They are also a generous size, which helps mitigate the whole leak issue.

It's still a rainy day (we've had over three and a half inches of rain so far this month - exactly what our average rainfall for the entire month is), and I'm thinking about making soup. "Thinking about" means I've tossed a pound of ground beef in the sink to thaw, with a vague thought of making Italian Beef and Barley soup. Unfortunately, that takes more prep than the fajitas did, so whether or not it gets made depends on how I feel later. It's a crock pot soup, so once all the chopping is done, nothing else is required.

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