anniversary fajitas

I am still vacation in California with the kids, and though we've had record temps (104+ degrees) and a yucky, smoky haze we've also had a heck of a lot of fun! This week was my parents' 30th anniversary so I treated them to some yummy grilled steak and chicken fajitas with a side of El Torito's sweet corn cake (found the mix at the local Bel Aire grocery store) and a side salad. I thought I'd share the fajita recipe I used, which I found on the Food Network's site courtesy of Paula Deen.
Note: Grill the steak or chicken before you cut it into bite-size pieces or strips. If you don't you'll have to use a grill saute pan and kind of stir fry the meat. Yeah, common sense would tell you to do just that but of course I'm on vacation and common sense is in short supply...duh!

Gold Medal Sizzling Fajitas
1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
3 T lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
Dash hot sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 lbs meat (boneless, skinless chicken breast, steak or peeled and deveined shrimp)
1 medium onion, halved and sliced lengthwise
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
8 (8-inch) flour tortillas

Toppings
1 lime, juiced (we actually didn't have lemon juice for the marinade so I used the lime juice instead--super yummy!)
Sour cream
Salsa
Guacamole
Cheddar cheese, shredded

In a resealable plastic bag combine 2 T of the vegetable oil, lemon juice (or lime juice), garlic, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, hot sauce, salt, pepper and your choice of meat. Seal and toss the bag around to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator: 15 minutes for shrimp; 20 minutes for chicken; 1 hour for steak.

Preheat your cast iron servers in a preheated 400 degree F oven for at least 20 minutes, to get a good sizzle when you plate the fajitas. (We so skipped this step but if you've got cast iron servers and no small children around this could be fun!)

Heat the outside grill or a large indoor grill pan to medium-high heat. Remove the meat from the marinade and place it on the hot grill; discard the marinade. Cook meat until cooked through (chicken about 5 minutes per side, skirt steak about 3 minutes per side for medium-rare and about 2 minutes for shrimp). Slice the chicken and steak into strips.

In a large skillet heat up the remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and fry the onions and bell peppers until crisp-tender with some salt and pepper.

Wrap the tortillas in foil and warm them in the oven with the servers for 15 minutes (or do what we did and microwave for about a minute). When you are ready to serve, remove the cast iron servers from the oven and quickly arrange the meat and peppers and onions on it. It will immediately start to sizzle from their fat and moisture. Serve sizzling immediately with the warm tortillas and other accompaniments. (Or just lay everything out buffet style and dig in!)

A great marriage is not when the 'perfect couple' comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences. --Dave Muerer