Chicken Fajitas or Tacos

It's summertime which means once again I have smoked,shredded and frozen several chickens for convenient summer meals.  When I started doing once a month cooking a couple years ago, these chicken fajitas were one of the very first meals I tried as evidenced by its location in column L of the 'Recipes' tab. They turned out all right.  

I combined the marinade with the sliced, raw chicken in one bag and froze it.  In another bag I combined the pepper and onion slices and froze them separately.  I thawed the chicken, cooked it and then cooked the peppers and onions from their frozen state. The fajitas tasted pretty good, but the vegetables were a little mushy. If I were to try to it again I might consider using a frozen veggie mix from the grocery store as the flash frozen vegetables may not be as mushy.  Or I would just go with fresh vegetables like I did for this newer rendition.

I realized with my frozen, pre-cooked chicken I can make fajitas or tacos fairly easily and this replaced having dedicated fajita meat in the freezer.  It is fairly easy although it does require prepping the peppers and onions on the day of.  You may be able to save some time with pre-cut peppers and onions from the produce section or salad bar at your grocery store.

3 bell peppers, whatever colors you want, sliced

1 onion, sliced

2 small zucchini, sliced, (optional, I realize zucchini in fajitas is uncommon, but I like them.  Plus more veggies is always a good thing.)

3 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken

2 tsp minced garlic

4 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

2 tbsp lime juice

vegetable oil

tortillas

avocados

sour cream

1. Coat the bottom of a skillet with oil and heat over medium-high heat.  Once the oil is hot, add the peppers and onions.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften.  Add the zucchini and continue to cook until all the vegetables are tender and browning.  Remove them from the pan.
2. Add the garlic and spices to the pan an cook for a minute.  Be careful to not let them burn!  Add the lime juice then the chicken.  Cook until the chicken is just heated.  Overcooking will make the chicken tough. 
3. Add the vegetables back to the pan.  Serve with tortillas, avocados and sour cream.

To make tacos, omit the peppers, and you don't need to remove the onions from the pan. Serve with corn tortillas.  These are particularly delicious with avocado cucumber salad on top.