The other day I made Slow Cooker Black Beans w/ Super Chili Peppers and Quinoa w/ Summer Squash & Super Chili Peppers. I had the intention of making fajitas. Although it takes 8 hours to cook unsoaked black beans in the crock pot. Which means that that's just about all that you're going to do on the first day. And then, by the second day, you already feel accomplished. Plus you're tired, so you might as well give yourself a break from culinary endeavors. And then, it's been two days of making fajitas without actually having fajitas. So, you finally get around to sautéing some peppers for Black Beans, Quinoa, & Summer Squash Fajitas. Which really only required about 15 extra minutes today. But, you know how cooking goes sometimes!
You can also mix and match your own favorite ingredients or whatever you have on hand. I have a tendency to buy beans and legumes in bulk whenever they're on sale. I'm also rather fond of the slight bitterness to quinoa. It balances really well with sweet peppers and well as spicy black beans. Although you can easily substitute rice, pinto beans, and whatever peppers you like. Fajitas are a great do-it-yourself kind of meal where you use the same basic recipe to make it your own. It's also great for potlucks or big meals with picky eaters. Just place everything in separate containers and let everyone pick and choose what they want to add to their own plates.
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I know that fajita peppers are ordinarily julienned when you go to restaurants in the United States. Although I personally don't always like to bite into a large piece of pepper. I more like all of my foods to be about the same size, if not even a similar size and shape. I don't particularly like biting into something and having the entire pepper come out with it. This happens more with things like burritos and pizza where you go to take a single bite and half of the toppings come out with it!
When you're making food at home, though, you can cut things into whatever size and shape you like. So, if you prefer julienned peppers, absolutely go for it! I even made another variation of this recipe Fajitas w/ Black Beans, Quinoa, & Yellow Tomatoes a couple days later where I did Julien them, just to make you happy. But, slice your fruits and vegetables however you like them. Feeding yourself is enough of a challenge without adding in arbitrary culinary rules!
I also didn't make tortillas for this. I'll ordinarily make Homemade Corn Tortillas, which sound much more intimidating than they are. Once you get the hang of it, you can knock these out in about an hour with just masa harina, hot water, a splash of olive oil, and a dash of salt. They're delicious. We've just also established that I've been in a lazy day cooking rut. So, you get what you get!
Variations of Squash Fajitas
Without further ado, and because you have to have enough characters, internal links, and strategically placed focus keywords, you also get these obnoxiously long intros. A great tip is that recipes are ordinarily at the bottom of the page (unless they put a bunch of affiliate junk), so you can usually just scroll down quickly.
Or, we do all know that this is obnoxious, so the jump-to-recipe links are actually real. These are at the top of almost every page. Some are even auto-generated by the coding for the recipes. So, these aren't things that web hosts even have access to. They're almost always real links that will bypass all of the text at the top of the page. I don't know anyone who likes writing these. I would post so many more recipes if I didn't have to. But then you wouldn't be able to Google them! Unless you're Martha Stewart or Betty Crocker (who is not actually a real person).
You can also make corn tortillas, if you're feeling in the culinary mood today. They're simpler to make than they look.
Cook on low for 8 hours, or until the desired consistency is reached. I like to start the beans in the morning and then come back to then after work or before bed to wake up to freshly cooked beans.
Remove the bay leaves before serving.
Quinoa
Add all of the ingredients into a rice cooker. I like to start with the larger produce and then add the smaller ingredients. Top with the spices. And then add the quinoa and water.
Press the cook button on the rice cooker. It should take about 45 minutes to cook.
When the quinoa is fully cooked, let sit for 10 minutes. Then, fluff with a wooden spoon and serve.Do not use a fork or other metal utensil. It will scratch off the nonstick surface on the rice cooker. This will leach Teflon into your food and cause future dishes to stick to the bottom.
Fajitas
Preheat a large skillet on medium-high heat with high heat oil.I have a fajita serving skillet that you can see in the photos above. However, it's important to note that this is for serving only. While it is an actual cast iron skillet that can be used to cook, it's not large enough to cook a full batch of produce down.So, I used a larger skillet and then heated the ornamental one and transferred it afterwards for presentation. This is a little ridiculous and I'd recommend just putting everything on a plate! But this is an option, if you'd like to be as excessive as I was here.
Add thinly sliced produce to the skillet and cook for 7-10 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally in order to cook evenly. The edges of the peppers should lightly char.
Remove from heat.
Plate with beans, quinoa, sautéed peppers, sliced avocado, lime wedges, and a dash of salt and pepper.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
For more tips and tricks, I have an entire article on The Fundamentals of Stovetop Black Beans. This article can be particularly helpful if you want to soak the beans overnight beforehand. I also have another article on The Fundamentals of Slow Cooker Black Beans if you'd prefer to use a crock pot, instead of the stove. This takes 8 about hours, but is hands off and doesn't require soaking the beans.
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