Fajitas in a Flash

I didn't plan on having fajitas for dinner, but that's what we ended up with. Following an afternoon of strolling the mall, the guitar store, and Sam's Club (where we were apparently too late for samples), we returned home to have pork chops on the grill. However, when I opened the refrigerator door an unsavory aroma (heralding from the package of pork) nearly bowled me over. I pulled out the chops, not realizing at first that they were the offending items, to be greeted by heavy green bands running throughout the meat and along all the edges. Needless to say, we did not eat them. Since we only purchased them a couple of days ago, and their sell by date hasn't even passed, we will be returning them to the store tomorrow. In the meantime, the chops went into the freezer to minimize, the smell and Jeff called the grocery store while I was left to find a plan B for dinner.

Upon rummaging through the fridge I found a myriad of fresh veggies including sweet onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and home grown tomatoes. In addition, sour cream, grated cheddar, and mango salsa seemed to call to my foraging hands which also came across about three quarters of a pound of steak which all led to the inevitable conclusion that we should have fajitas for dinner. Luckily, since everyone was hungry from shopping, this came together quickly. To speed up the process, I heated my pan and vegetable oil while I chopped the veggies into bite-sized pieces. Everything went into a large bowl to be tossed with plenty of seasonings like chipotle sauce, garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper before going into a smoking hot skillet which seared the meat and vegetables, sealing in juicy flavor. Within five minutes the sizzling fajitas hit the table with all the fixings and we sat down to enjoy. Since this is basically a one-dish dinner, clean up is easy, too (which makes Jeff happy). For dessert we had several kinds of fruit we picked up at Sam's Club today. Most notably, a batch of the sweetest, ripest apricots I've ever eaten.

So, although my original dinner plans were thwarted, I think the meal turned out well. Everyone left the table satisfied, at the very least and we weren't even tempted to order take out.