Single and Cooking for One: Lazy Dinner: Chicken Fajitas

So I was being very lazy tonight. It's American Idol night, which means lots of oogling and being in love with the very talented and hot Casey James! I wanted something easy and quick to make, so I decided to make chicken fajitas.

I had bought an Old El Paso Fajita Dinner Kit a few weeks back, but I haven't used it. Until this weekend, when I went on a grocery shopping spree, I didn't have any chicken strips to make the fajitas with. But now I do.

The box calls for bell pepper and onion. I didn't have any bell pepper in my frige -- simply because I cannot afford to buy bell pepper on my budget. (Around here, they cost almost $1 for each bell pepper. That doesn't sound a lot, but when you see how tiny these peppers are, you realize that it's definitely not the price.)

I heard that there is a Farmer's Market on the town square on Saturdays, but since I'm either in Huntsville with my current boyfriend or in Nashville visiting family or friends on the weekends, I just haven't had the opportunity to go to the Farmer's Market. Plus, I don't carry a lot of cash on me. I'm a city girl -- I use my plastic for almost everything I buy!

So back to my dinner story . . . I had the fajita dinner kit, and I had a bag of white onions. (They are about a dollar cheaper than yellow onions.) I also had left over mushrooms that I didn't use in the salmon marsala last night. I figured the onions and mushrooms would make up for not having bell pepper.

So off I went making dinner. It took me between 35 and 40 minutes to make my dinner. That includes the time it took to chop up the onions and mushrooms, slice the raw chicken tenders, and actually cook the meal.

Before I give you the recipe, I wanted to break down what my total cost was for this meal. (Keep in mind that I halved most of the prices, because I only used half of what I originally bought.)

PRICE BREAKDOWN:

Half of a bag of onions - $1.10

Half a carton of mushrooms - $1.15

1 lb. of chicken tenders - $4.32

Fajita Dinner Kit - $2.00

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Total cost = $8.57

Total servings: 4

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Price per meal = $2.14

$2.14 is not bad for a meal at all. It is comparable to a fast food meal, and it actually tasted pretty good. Unfortunately, I hadn't read the back of the box when I bought it. My meal apparently has 890 mg of sodium -- that's almost 40 percent of the recommended daily value! Fortunately, I do not eat a lot of foods that contain salt, and I almost never add extra salt in my meals. So hopefully I will not die from all this extra salt.

Since I will be eating these fajitas for lunch tomorrow and Friday, I will throw in some raw carrots for some added health benefits. No dressing for me. I am going to try to reduce my sodium intake when I eat the leftover meals.

Quick and Easy Chicken Fajitas with Onion and Mushroom

Ingredients
3 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 lb. skinless chicken breasts or chicken tenders, sliced thinly
Garlic powder, optional
Fajita dinner kit
2 medium-sized onions, sliced
1/2 carton mushrooms, sliced

Directions
In a large skillet, heat oil in medium-high heat. Carefully add chicken strips to hot oil. Cook thoroughly, stirring until chicken is no longer pink in the middle. (You may add garlic powder on chickens, if desired.) Stir in the seasoning mix until chicken is well coated.

Add the sliced mushrooms and onions and stir. Cook uncovered for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are coated and tender. Stir frequently.

Warm tortillas in the oven or microwave. Follow box instructions.

Spoon chicken mixture onto tortillas. Serve and enjoy.