Lime-Chicken Tacos

Ever get in a cooking rut? You know what you're good at, so you just rotate those few meals every week? I'm not picky when it comes to meals... I could probably eat toast for every meal if I didn't have to cook for someone else! But I tried something new this week. If you know my husband and I, you know we love Mexican food. I don't claim to cook anything "authentic", but tacos happen way to often to mention in our household. Rather than just using plain old chicken breast, I switched it up with the recipe below. It was so good! And it tasted like it was from a restaurant. Super easy to make, too.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast meat - cubed
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
10 (6 inch) flour tortilla

DIRECTIONS
Saute chicken in a medium saucepan over medium high heat for about 20 minutes. Add vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, green onion, garlic and oregano. Simmer for an extra 10 minutes.
Heat an iron skillet over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the pan, warm, and turn over to heat the other side. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Serve lime chicken mixture in warm tortillas topped with tomato, lettuce, cheese and salsa.


THINGS I CHANGED:
When it comes to cooking, it's a bit of an experiment (while baking is a science). Unless the ingredient is essential to the recipe (like the chicken!), it's okay to omit things/change things up. One thing I always do before making something I've found online is read the reviews. A few people mentioned leaving out the oregano, because it gave it an "italian" taste. So I left it out. A good replacement for that would be cilantro, though it seems that people either hate or love it!
I also left out ground black pepper and green onions (simply because I didn't have any!). I also only had bone-in chicken breast. I was really wary of how that would cook in the pan, so I baked it first (425F for 50 mins), then cut off the meat and cooked it in the pan. That takes a bit more planning; even cooking it a day or so beforehand would be alright.


A second new thing I tried with this meal was the guacamole. I had never made it before but I love it so much! Just one of those things that are intimidating to make. I used this recipe:

INGREDIENTS
3 avocados - peeled, pitted, and mashed
1 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup diced onion
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, mash together the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Mix in onion, cilantro, tomatoes, and garlic. Stir in cayenne pepper. Refrigerate 1 hour for best flavor, or serve immediately.

THINGS I CHANGED

I only used one avocado. I had another one I was keeping as a backup just in case! Because of that, I only used the juice of half of a lime (the other half from the tacos). The reviews said to use about half the amount of salt, so I just added a pinch. I didn't use onions, cilantro or cayenne pepper. And my tomato was just a regular (half) tomato. I made it about an hour ahead of time (room temperature dip makes me cringe). Wow. This guac was good. I highly recommend! Here's a close up of my taco. 

I wouldn't mind adding this to my meal rotation!