I love fajitas and I have been making them almost as long as I’ve lived in Albuquerque. I believe the marinade recipe I started with came from a cookbook that belonged to a boyfriend’s mom. This is a very “loose” recipe, meaning you can make changes to suit your tastes, but I’m hopeful that I’m giving you a good place to start. It’s a little work to cut and marinate the vegetables, but remember, then you can make enough for a crowd and/or to have for a few nights.

Marinade:

6 limes

Olive Oil

Chile Powder

Garlic

Salt

Mexican Oregano

Squeeze the limes (about a half cup to a cup is good) and add at least an equal amount of olive oil. I go heavy on the chile powder (I keep it in abundance) while using just a pinch of the Mexican oregano. This is really a taste mixture- do you want it more acidic? Add more lime. Do you want more salt, more garlic flavor? Add more of those. Also, it depends on how much you want to marinate. See below for the vegetable amounts that I use that are usually enough for several meals for the two of us.

1 pound mushrooms

2 zucchinis

3 bell peppers (I prefer the orange/yellow/red combination)

1 onion

Slice and chop into small to medium pieces. Marinate the mushrooms separately because they should be cooked separately as they cook the quickest. I have read you shouldn’t marinate vegetables overnight as they start breaking down, however, that’s never happened to me. I have sometimes started the marination in the morning, but I prefer the night before. I use long, flat Tupperware containers to marinate everything and try to shake the containers several times– like when I open the refrigerator to do something else.

The vegetables can be cooked on the stove in a grill pan or on the outside grill in a vegetable basket (the reason you don’t want the pieces too small!). They are ready when they begin to brown and have char marks.

Serve with warm flour tortillas (warm those on the grill, too!) and with sliced/smaashed avocado and other toppings of your choice.