Chicken Fajitas

One of my summer favourites, I prepared this to have on hand for the week's dinner. Usually chicken breast would be a more typical choice, but chicken thighs were at a very good price at the supermarket and I happened to have a fifth in my freezer, so it worked out well. Also a nice way to use up the 1/2 bell pepper I had in my fridge from last week's Three Bean Salad.

Cilantro Lime Marinade
makes enough for 4 - 5 pieces of chicken
adapted slightly from The Joy of Cooking

2 limes (1/4 cup lime juice)
1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 scallions, chopped (if you don't have scallions, substitute with 1/2 small red onion, diced)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp. anise (optional)

Last night I marinated one of the chicken thighs in the marinade while I prepared the rest of the ingredients for fajitas and meals for the rest of the week, placing the other four chicken thighs in a ziplock bag with the marinade once I began cooking the marinated thigh. They're sitting in the ziplock bag and I'll either cook them tonight in the stove or the oven. Another idea would be to cut chicken breast into strips and marinade or freeze so that the chicken pieces are ready to use at a later date. Thighs are not really typical fajita meat, but as I said before, they were very cheap so that trumped tradition.

I also prepared some rice (1/2 cup dry cooking with half a chicken bouillon cube), a can of low sodium black beans cooked with about a half cup good salsa), and 1/2 bell pepper and 1/4 white onion sautéed in a small amount of olive oil and a bit of the Cilantro Lime marinade. I made two fajitas using small, 6-inch whole wheat tortillas, topped with 1/2 chopped tomato, a bit of grated cheddar cheese and a dash of hot sauce.

Now I've got some good things waiting for me in the fridge for the week that I can use either separately or combine into other things -- I might turn two of the chicken thighs into meat for a chicken salad one night, or use the rice later on for fried rice. Vamos a ver, as the Spanish would say.

Cost of certain ingredients (other than what I had on hand):
4 Chicken Thighs $1.63
Cilantro $1.39
Green Bell Pepper $.46
Black beans $.99
3 Limes $.38
Scallions $.89 (also using this for this week's lunch recipe)

Total: $5.74