It’s all in the mix...

It’s no secret that I like to make just about all that I possibly can and while I am lucky that I can make most things I do have my ‘cheat’ meals for when I’ve worked a long day and the last thing I want to do is come home and make a meal from scratch.

This is where leftovers come in for me. At the weekend I try to make meals that will leave me leftovers for another meal during the week. Today I made fajitas which is really a good meal for during the week as the most complicated thing is making your own flour tortillas. I’ve posted about them before – but honestly do you think they take that much time? If you have a food processor – it takes a few minutes. If you have to cut the vegetable fat into the flour – it might take you about 4-5 minutes but mixing the water in is just a minute – by hand or processor.

But the actual filling takes you just a few minutes. I keep sliced peppers in the freeze for just this meal (or pizza!) which I toss into the pan frozen – they thaw/cook with the onions and I leave that for a bit. I often add other veggies that I find interesting. Sometimes it’s a tomato or a courgette (as I don’t like peppers that much). Once that is cooked and I don’t mean over done but slightly under I remove to a bowl. I then toss in some chicken or turkey that I’ve put my own fajita mix on. Yes, you don’t have to resort to a packet for this meal. And the mix does double duty as a taco/nacho season mix. How can you get better than that?

So what is in this mix you ask? My own sort of concoction from various recipes that I saw on-line, feel free to omit or change it as you like.

Fajita recipe

Mix equal quantities of the following:

Chilli powder, oregano, paprika, ground cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, optional corn flour or corn starch.

I usually do about 2 tablespoons of each which gives me enough to make about 5-6 meals. I usually use about 1-2 teaspoons per meal. I read some recipes that used corn flour (corn starch on the other side of the pond) to the mixture to keep it from clumping together. I never had this problem and I think the only purpose it serves is to thicken the sauce for when making tacos or nachos. I just add that to my taco mixture when I make them. I did make this one with the corn flour as we are coming up to summer and I make this dish a lot as it's quick and easy. Also because the courgette adds a bit of water which with the corn flour makes a sauce of sorts.

At the end of the day I see a recipe as a possibility of what it can be – it is up to me to make it something that I like. I use them as a template and improve as I go along. Find your template and improve it until you have exactly what you want. Enjoy!