Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas

Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas

      My son has graduated from college this year! His major? Law enforcement. He currently is taking his skills class which will finish up at the end of June and then he'll come back home and get prepared to take his POST test to become a police officer.

     It's all a process to become a police officer. Most people think that you just graduate from college and poof! You're ready to work as a police officer, but it just doesn't work that way.

     There are a lot of steps to take to actually becoming a police officer. One has to first be certified as a first responder. Then there's the background check and the traffic violations check. All this and the college credits earned must then be submitted to the department head to sign off on before the POST test can be taken.

     There were other things that he needed to do like take a class on DWI training, learning how to drive a squad car, learn how to clear a building and shooting a gun. Of course all these classes have technical names that I don't know, but regardless there are a lot of steps to becoming an officer.

     I don't think your average citizen realizes the training that one must go through to become a law enforcement officer.  Also I don't think people realize how much continuous training they must go through to keep up to date and well trained throughout their careers.

     I also wonder if people realize the great sacrifice that these men and women give everyday to keep our communities safe. I know we are all guilty of complaining about getting busted for speeding or what have you, but the truth is what would happen to our communities if we didn't have them. Something to think about.

    Well I'm am happy to say that soon my son will be home and we are going to celebrate his great accomplishment by having a party. We are going with a Mexican theme and I of course had to test out a recipe ahead of time to see if it was worth serving for the party.

      I found this recipe on facebook and I copied the recipe thinking that maybe I might make it sometime and then I got the bright idea of making it for the party. I just want to say that this fajita recipe is totally awesome. I don't think I'll ever make fajitas on the stove top again. This recipe is quick and easy. I made it with fully cooked frozen chicken from Aldis, but I'm thinking I could easily do this with the frozen beef for fajitas that I've see at Sam's Club.

Fresh out of the oven Chicken Fajitas

     I only slightly tweaked the recipe, but my family thought this was a winner. I hope you enjoy it.

Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas
1 pound fully cooked frozen chicken
2 T canola oil
2 t chili powder
1 1/2 t cumin
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4t seasoned salt
1 (15oz) can diced tomatoes, lightly drained
1/2 can (4oz) of diced jalapeno peppers
1 medium onion, sliced
1 green pepper, cut into strips

flour tortillas
sour cream

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken into a greased 9x13 inch pan. In a small bowl combine oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and salt. Drizzle the spice mixture over the chicken and stir to coat. Next add the tomatoes, jalapenos, onion and green pepper and stir to combine.
Bake uncovered for 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.
Serve in warm flour tortillas and top with sour cream.

Green chilies can be substituted for the jalapenos and red pepper can also be added or combined with the green peppers.