Chicken and Chorizo Fajitas

I got the idea for these fajitas from a local Mexican joint. They have fajitas you can order that has chicken and Mexican chorizo, peppers, mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes. I think they even have mozzarella cheese on them, which sounds weird, but is actually really good. I love them. Wash them down with a premium margarita and plenty of chips and salsa and I'm in Heaven.

Unfortunately, I'm sure they're not the healthiest. Especially considering I feel compelled to drink a margarita and overindulge in chips. So, I decided to make a version at home.

They came out pretty well, but something was missing. Probably the extra oil or lard or whatever they cook it in. Or maybe, they just have better chorizo? Overall, a fairly good version. I might add chili powder and cumin to the chicken next time to give it a little added flavor.

Chicken and Chorizo Fajitas
Serves 2

2 tsp canola oil
6 ounces boneless skin less chicken
2 ounces Mexican chorizo (no the pre-cooked Spanish kind)
1 garlic clove
1/2 medium onion sliced
1/2 medium orange or red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 medium green bell pepper sliced
3 oz or so white button mushrooms, slice
2 small roma tomatoes, chopped
6 small corn tortillas

Warm a tsp of oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and chorizo and cook until cooked through. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Add the other tsp of oil and the garlic, onion, peppers and mushrooms and cook until all the veggies are tender. Then, add back chicken, chorizo and add the tomatoes. Cook until warmed through. Serve with tortillas.

Optional toppings I added: light sour cream and pico de gallo.

Food Journal: April 3, 4 & 5

I thought I would make this a separate post because I have a regular post to make that includes a recipe. Keeps everything from getting too wordy I suppose. Looking at my weekend's journal, it doesn't look great. Ate waaayyy too many cookies on Friday and then lacked general nutrition on Saturday and Sunday. Most say they overeat on weekends. But because I sleep until lunch time I'm usually fine on calories, it's just random foods I manage to eek in around errands. At least I kept up with workouts.

Friday
Eating was awful. I'm human to say the least. I got a 30 minute c25k session in, though!

Breakfast: Strawberry-Orange Smoothie, 1 tbsp 1/2 and 1/2 in coffee
Snack: M&M cookie and a Timbit
Lunch: Leftover lighter beef chili and a corn muffin
Snack: 2 oz. lean ham, 1 tbsp light cream cheese and about a 1/4 of a bell pepper, sliced
Dinner: Cookies. I lost count, honestly. And possible some orange juice

Saturday
I spent most of the day sleeping, so I had a scattered eating approach, but I didn't eat too much. Light on fruits, though. Plus, I burned 400 some calories on the elliptical in the afternoon.

Breakfast: corn muffin, 1 slice Great Harvest honey wheat bread with 1 tbsp Smart Balance Light, 2 overeasy eggs cooked in 1 tsp olive oil, 2 tbsp 1/2 and 1/2 in coffee
Snack: Banana
Dinner: 2 servings Spanish Tortilla (I'll post tomorrow on this), about 1/2 cup sliced strawberries with 6 oz. nonfat vanilla yogurt
Snack: Mini bag of Orville Redenbacher's natural salt and pepper popcorn

Sunday
Still slept late and didn't get enough healthy stuff, but again, didn't eat too much and am planning 45 minutes of yoga tonight.

Breakfast: 2 servings Spanish tortilla, 2 tbsp 1/2 and 1/2 in coffee
Snack: Kashi strawberry cereal bar while I was running errands
Dinner: Leftover lighter beef chili and the last corn muffin, 1 tbsp light sour cream
Snack: I am planning to try a new greek yogurt with some sliced strawberries tonight. I'll review it later in the week.

Lighter Beef Chili - Take Two

Ugh. This day started off rough and it's my own dumb fault. I blew off exercise last night and sat on my butt watching TV. Then, I couldn’t fall asleep and ended up being awake past 12:30 a.m. I struggled to be awake before 7 a.m. this morning.

Feeling tired in the morning is a recipe for disaster. Chocolate chocolate chip cookies were sitting in the empty cube across from mine — calling my name. I caved around 10:30 and had one. Oops.

I even flirted with the idea of ditching my lunch and buying it in the cafeteria. But not surprising, today's cafeteria options sounded more disgusting than my leftovers.

After lunch, I slugged more coffee and it gave me a short pick-me-up. But I was already feeling the crash by 4 p.m. And I was facing a busy evening of stopping by the library to drop off my overdue books, the grocery store to pick up breakfast goodies for the office’s breakfast for charity thing tomorrow, exercising, blogging, cooking dinner and after dinner clean up and folding the three giant baskets of laundry that have been sitting in the middle of my kitchen since Sunday.

Even if I weren’t exhausted, looking at that to-do list is tiring. Maybe I’m trying to accomplish too much. By the end of the day, I just felt inspired to finish something. Maybe it was the gorgeous weather.

Because I was so lazy last night, though, I failed to cook the pinto beans for tonight’s chili, so I ended up throwing in black beans instead. Then I added a handful or so of frozen corn and some cumin, and used fire-roasted diced tomatoes instead of plain — just because it sounded good. Like I said, I felt inspired. I liked it the first time I made it, but I think this was a fun twist. In fact, I really liked it this way.

I also made a boxed corn bread mix, but lightened it with egg beaters and skim milk. I’m generally not a fan of egg beaters, but I don’t notice the difference in most baked goods.

I’m a day behind on my full disclosure food journal.. so here's yesterday and today.

Yesterday
Breakfast: Smoothie made with ¾ cup nonfat vanilla soymilk, ½ large banana, 3 tbsp orange juice, 5 oz. frozen strawberries and a slice of Great Harvest honey whole wheat with a tbsp natural PB on the side

Lunch: Leftover spicy asian noodle dish with the snow pea and water chestnuts on the side. I don’t think I’ll share the photo, it didn’t look that appetizing. Oh, and an apple.

Snack: ½ cup of the leftover tuna salad with 4 Kashi party crackers. Meant to eat only 2 crackers, but I was snacky.

Dinner: Chicken and chorizo fajitas, which were a take off the fajitas I order at a local Mexican joint. They were good, but not as good as the Mexican place. Probably healthier though.

Late Snack/Dessert: 2 small corn tortillas (snacked while cleaning up the kitchen. Ugh.) and yogurt with strawberries.

Today
Breakfast: Ezekiel sprouted grain English muffin, roma tomato, slice of 2% cheddar.

Snack: Cookie. Oh well.

Lunch: leftover fajitas, apple

Snack: 2 oz. lean ham, 1 tbsp light cream cheese wrapped around green bell pepper slices.

Dinner: Chili and cornbread. Yum. Looks like I’m light on veg again today. Cornbread counts, right?

Dessert: Yogurt and strawberries… again. I heart them.