Fajitas and Mojitos

I never learned to cook or had any interest in cooking up until the past few years. In fact, in my old apartment, I kept shoes and purses in my kitchen pantry and a friend joked that the best place to hide gifts for me was in the oven.


My disinterest in cooking was probably because fresh ingredients weren't common in my house growing up. It was the era of TV dinners, canned vegetables and microwave ovens. So to me, the act of cooking from scratch seemed like a waste of time. I mean, why spend an hour preparing a dinner that's going to be gone in five minutes when you can nuke a ready-made dinner for two minutes and throw away the dish?

I know better now. Lucky for me, my fiance grew up cooking meals with his mother, so he knows his way around a kitchen and always makes dinners, desserts, and appetizers with fresh herbs and veggies. Thanks to him, we eat like kings even on weekdays, when many people can't be bothered cooking a big meal. And cooking that way is an art; so much color and flavor and the end results just can't be beat by Swanson or Hungry Man.

Now I'm having a great time learning to cook and experimenting with new dishes, though many times I end up frustrated and disappointed in the end result. But I am getting better. Slowly but surely.

Last night, we made Cilantro-Lime Chicken Fajitas in whole wheat wraps and I made the guacamole from scratch, using this recipe and gorgeous fresh veggies.

Of course, there was a cocktail involved with this dish. How could there not be?



I made a light Mojito using:

1 shot of clear rum

5 or 6 mint leaves, torn and muddled with 1 tsp of Agave Nector for sweetness and the juice of two good size lime wedges

3 oz. of club soda

Pour it all over ice with a wedge of lime and ahhhh.....

Delic.

Putting dinners together and making drinks from scratch takes time, and there are days when we have leftovers or something quick, but the time that we spend in the kitchen together creating a meal makes even the most mundane days into something special.