Fantastic Fajitas For Family Festival Fun!

taco, burrito… what’s that comin’ outta’ your speedo?!

fresh ingredients rock!

pump, pump, pump it up!

he’d better hurry if he wants some…

if they’re nachos, then whose are they?

Every year the Coachella Valley Date Festival comes to town (think way overpriced rides, food, and flea market at your local fairgrounds). It’s quite huge, and actually a lot of fun, but be prepared to spend at least $100 or more for even just 2 people. We bought an unlimited ride bracelet for Ryley, and then just a handful of tickets for us to join her on some of them. We had our faces painted and wandered through the vendor booths to see what kinds of fun items they were selling – everything from beef jerky to designer purses to gooey splat balls (they splat instead of bounce. Don’t ask.) and more. Knowing that the fair is a bit pricy, I was hoping to avoid the food aspect of it, simply because a chicken kabob is $9 and a bottle of water is $3.50.

Since we needed to wait for Ryley to get out of school, and then for Jeremiah to finish up at work (I had the day off, woo hoo!), I went to Cardenas and bought a whole pound of prepared (marinated) flank steak for only $5. I love those Mexican Marketas! We always have a stock supply of tomatoes and avocados in the house (those are staples to me like pasta or beans), and I wanted to use the rest of the omelet ingredients before they had a chance to go bad. Since I had jalapenos, red bell peppers, and sweet onion, I sliced them all up and sauteed them in the juices from the meat that I had just cooked. I used my Rotary Grater ($19.50) to shred a bunch of cheddar cheese, and it’s safe enough for Ryley to use to make herself some nachos since there’s no visible sharp parts.

I ALWAYS make my salsa and guacamole from scratch. Once you’ve had “real” guacamole, a bag of frozen green goop simply doesn’t cut it. I can’t give you exact recipes because as I’ve stated before, I tend to just throw in various amounts of ingredients until it smells and tastes right. My guacamole includes lots of fresh avocado, cilantro, sometimes tomato and onion (but not today), a bit of fat free mayo or sour cream, a teeny squirt of citrus (lemon or lime), and seasoning. I always season with some garlic salt, and a mix of chili powder, white pepper, and paprika… or simply use The Pampered Chef Southwestern Seasoning ($6), which literally could be used by itself and makes a darn good guacamole! My Mix N Masher ($10.50) is good for more than just potatoes, so I mash it up with that because it mixes the ingredients well but leaves a bit of chunky texture which is perfect for homemade guac. I read once that if you save an avocado seed or two, put them back into the guacamole and it helps slow the oxidation process that makes it turn brown. Or, if you’re like my family, just finish the whole bowl and you won’t have to worry about it. The salsa is just as easy when you have our new Manual Food Processor ($49). It’s perfect for jobs like tapenades and chunky salsas. I simply toss in chunks of tomato, onion, cilantro, jalapeno or serrano (more heat in serrano chilis), and garlic, and then give a few pumps of the handle. Da da da da da da daaaaaaa [that was my trumpet herald], salsa! When I’m feeling fiesty I’ll add avocado to the salsa, too (I LOVE avocado. Honestly, I sometimes just spoon it out straight from the skin.).

After flipping a few tortillas on our burner (gas is better but I still do it with our electric stove, and the burnt pieces flake right off when they’ve cooled, haha) – I’ve gotten up to 3 at a time, but can’t seem to do more than that – we have everything we need for fajitas! Sometimes I’ll warm up some black beans (better for you than refried, and gives a great unique flavor) or make a batch of red rice, but this time we wanted to be full without feeling too heavy for walking around at the fair. Everybody loads up what they want and it’s fresh and delicious, without the cost of going to a restaurant. So we ate our fajitas and nachos, went to the Date Festival, and had so much fun riding the rides and wandering around that of course… we got hungry. Are you kidding me?! We just ate!! I don’t know, I think it’s something about having fun in the moment, seeing everyone walk around with cotton candy and elote (grilled corn with all kinds of stuff on it – mayo, parmesan cheese, lime juice, hot sauce – weird but delicious), and sniffing all the wonderful food smells wafting through the air. So naturally, we ate again. Between the 3 of us, we had a HUGE bag of cotton candy, one corn on the cob, one Hot Dog on a Stick, a monster size cherry lemonade, a bottle of water, a ridiculously large turkey leg (that bad boy was $11!!!), one beer (Jeremiah earned it after paying for EVERYTHING ELSE, haha)… and we still wanted more. I think they put drugs in their food.

Oh well, so much for planning ahead, haha. But all in all, we had a blast last night and I’m grateful for opportunities like these to spend quality time with the family, just goofing off and enjoying the moment. I won’t even start in on how all that food put me into “fartiac arrest” later on, but I guess it comes with the territory…

no cotton candy = no fair!

unhinging the jaw

Face Painting!