Last night we made fajitas which I love, especially at Mexican restaurants when the skillet comes out with the vegetables all sizzling and smoking. To make fajita’s at home, we used to buy fajita marinade in a jar from the grocery store which made it a really quick go-to meal because you just had to cut up the veggies you wanted and add the sauce. But I either haven’t looked for that jar on recent grocery trips or I can’t find it anymore, so I decided to whip up my own marinade. Its tangy and spicy and worked really well on the tofu/onion/green peppers mixture that was the filling for our fajitas! It also really wasn’t hard to make, and I think it may be worth me making a batch and storing for anytime a fajita craving hits (which is all the time).

I start by cutting up half of a jalapeño and garlic to sauté.

I sauté the onion and garlic in a tiny bit of vegetable oil.

Then I mix up the other ingredients, starting by juicing the limes and adding in a bunch of spices.

I use some fresh cilantro from my little herb garden.

Then I combine everything and mix.

I blend it all up for a few minutes in the blender so it becomes a nice puree.

Prep + Cook Time: 20 minutes

Makes about 3/4 cup of marinade

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 jalapeño, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 limes, juiced
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon chipotle spice blend (if you don’t have this, it won’t kill the recipe!)
• 1/2 teaspoon corn starch
• 3 sprigs cilantro

Recipe: 

1. Heat up the vegetable oil in a small frying pan on medium heat. Sauté the jalapeño and garlic in a frying pan for about 3 minutes. Set aside
2. In a bowl, combine the juice from the lime, water, paprika, salt, chipotle spice blend, and corn starch. Then mix in the lemon juice and cilantro.
3. Add in the jalapeño and garlic and mix.
4. Puree in the blender until smooth.

To use: Sauté the vegetables/protein you will be using for your fajita’s with a little bit of oil on medium heat. Pour on the marinade and let it cook with the vegetables for 3-5 minutes so that the flavor seeps through. Serve with your favorite fajita toppings (mine are the basics: cheese, sour cream and salsa!)