In looking through the kitchen for dinner ideas, the only real main course I had was a bag of frozen chicken breasts. Hrmm… there’s also a can of pineapple chunks in the pantry. Bingo. Call it Caribbean Chicken, or Pineapple Jerk Chicken.

• 4 thawed chicken breasts (I used the frozen boneless variety)
• 1 can pineapple chunks (12oz can)
• Caribbean Jerk seasoning
• Garlic powder
• Lemon pepper

Warm some olive oil in a large cooking pan over medium-high heat
Add the chicken breasts. After searing one side, flip to the other.
Season the top side with garlic powder, lemon pepper, and jerk seasoning.
Add 12-20 chunks of pineapple and about half the juice to the pan (pouring around the chicken, not on the chicken).
Cook for 7 minutes.
After 7 minutes, turn the chicken over.
Season this side lightly with the spices. Add the rest of the pineapple juice to the pan. If you wish, add the rest of the pineapples. I opted to leave these aside as a snack to enjoy while the chicken was cooking.
Cook for 7 more minutes, watching to make sure the juice doesn’t blacken all the way down. If necessary, add a little water to the mix to keep it from charring.

Remove from heat. Let sit for five minutes and enjoy.

Making a batch of chili for the Mrs. Swanky to take to work. The last time I made some, I wound up winning 3rd place in an informal cookoff. Here’s the recipe I came up with that won:

2 pounds skirt steak - non-tenderized
1 pound ground turkey

half an onion (not a sweet onion), chopped
6 green onions, chopped, including as much of the green stalk as possible
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 Hatch chilis, roasted, peeled and chopped
2 cans New Mexico green chilis, chopped
2 chopped jalapeno peppers
2 vine-ripened tomatos, chopped
1 bulb of garlic

1 can diced tomatos & chilis (RoTel or HEB brand is good)

chili powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup masa or flour
oregano
cumin
dried red peppers (like for pizza)
salt
seasoned salt
black pepper
red pepper

water

Chop the skirt steak into cube-like pieces. Brown and drain off the fat.
**Note: leave the fat in if you want a stew-like consistency.

Peel the cloves from the bulb of garlic.
Add the tomatos, onions, red bell pepper, jalapenos and garlic to the meat.
Add all spices except cumin, flour and dried red peppers
After simmering for a few hours, add the remaining ingredients.
Add water as needed to keep everything lightly submerged.
Simmer for a day, stirring and adding water as needed.
*Note: I transferred everything to a Crockpot after it cooked down a bit.
Makes it safer to leave on overnight and easier to transport if needed.

That’s what won. This time around I modified it slightly because we’re out of Hatch chili season and I ran out of brown sugar. Instead, I used canned Hatch chilis, 1/3 cup of simple syrup (sugar & water boiled down), and lean stew meat. HEB was out of decent looking skirt steak.

Here’s some pics to whet your appetite. Click on them to see them larger:

Here’s my first recipe blogged. Other than the drinks listed on the side of the site, that is.

Fajitas consist of the meat, the vegetables, tortillas and toppings. You’ll start and end with the meat. Fajitas are made with skirt steak and skirt steak is very tough if not prepped properly. You may find tenderized skirt steak at your grocer, but I prefer it untouched. The texture is better.

As I said, we start with the meat. We also need to start the day before you want to eat the fajitas. The marinade process takes time. Overnight is good.

Take 2 pounds of skirt steak. Trim the excess fat and butterfly the meat. You butterfly the steak by laying it flat and with a sharp knife, slice flat along the meat as if you are filleting a fish. Don’t cut all the way through. You want to leave one side uncut so the meat can open up like the wings of a butterfly. If you need to halve the meat in order to make it easier to handle, go ahead. I usually end up with two or three pieces butterflied.

Place the meat in a 9 x 13 pan or a large-enough plastic container.

My marinade is made up of beer, water, lime juice, Worcester sauce, soy sauce, garlic and Italian dressing.

Pour the 12oz beer over the meat. Seeing as fajitas hail from Texas, a Texas beer is preferable. I prefer Lone Star. Avoid the dark ales and stouts unless you want the meat to reflect the taste of the beer.

Add a healthy dash of Worcester sauce, soy sauce and Italian dressing.

Add approximately two Tsp. minced garlic.

Add water to bring marinade to the top of the meat. Stir the meat and marinade till ingredients are uniform.

Squeeze the juice from one lime over the mix, cover with foil and chill in a fridge overnight.

The day of the feasting, you want to prepare the vegetables and warm the tortillas. Take an oven and set it to 350 degrees. The traditional tortilla used with fajitas is the flour tortilla. Today you can find all kinds that work well. There’s whole wheat, spinach, peppered and vegetable-flavored tortillas. I prefer either whole wheat or plain flour tortillas.

Take the tortillas out of the wrapper and place in aluminum foil. Enclose the foil loosely around the tortillas and place in the oven. Warm them for 20-30 minutes.

The vegetables used in fajitas can vary, but onions and bell peppers are a must-have. Other veggies could include tomatoes and lettuce.

Take one red bell pepper and one yellow bell pepper and slice both into long strips.

Slice the onion. Take both veggies and saute over a hot flame in some butter and crushed pepper. When the veggies just start to soften, pull from heat and place into a bowl.

Now we’re back to the meat. Take the marinated meat and cook over a hot flame for about 7 minutes per side. Once cooked, slice against the grain into long strips, then cut again into smaller pieces.

Remove your tortillas from the oven and turn it off.

To serve, take a tortilla and place a portion of meat in it. Add vegetables and top with shredded Monterey Jack cheese and salsa. Enjoy!

Recommended beverage: Mexican Martini or frozen Margarita.