Tequila Lime Marinade for Tequila Lime Chicken Tacos

I. Am. So. Tired.

So this is gardening. I’ve had a vegetable garden before, but I had a lot of help and I certainly did not mulch it–and since I am so dumb that I mulched this darn garden by hand, the mulching was truly horrific (I have since purchased a hoe). And I am still not done, the mulch is too thin, although at least I have the hoe and a shovel now.

But look, the front of my house is not so bare and ugly any more!

Here’s the thing about having a totally blank slate to work with. It is completely overwhelming. So my solution has been to plant mostly annuals, giving myself 6 months to a year to think about what I want to do in the long run. There are the obligatory evergreen shrubs, for color in the winter, and one other shrub I just really liked (it is the My Monet, next to the evergreen boxwoods, in the center so you cannot see it well), but almost everything else is an annual out front. To the far left–or the bottom of the photo on the right– is my tiny herb garden, which you can see in the picture above (since I don’t have a traditional garden dug yet–you can see purple basil (a GREAT sub for Thai basil and so gorgeous), thyme and cilantro growing there). On the north side of the house, well, all of the shade plants I loved were perennials, so we shall see next summer how I feel about them. I suppose they can be dug and moved if necessary. I did not like their photo–maybe I’ll post one when I have that area more organized.

My favorites are these geraniums with variegated leaves. Their blossoms will be pale peach/pink.

Anyway, aside from the herbs, what does this have to do with food and/or blogging? I am sore, tired, and barely able to type. And why didn’t I realize that you use tools to spread mulch for goodness’ sake? So my cooking has been pretty low key and easy–which is exactly what this dish is.

This is another very simple marinade. I confess I don’t know if this one is as flexible as my favorite because I only use this one on chicken. But it is outstanding on chicken, it makes GREAT tacos.

Tequila Lime Marinade

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup decent quality tequila (like Cuervo Gold)
1 T olive oil
1/4 cup rough chopped cilantro
1/4 smell-medium onion, roughly chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, smashed and rough chopped (do not bother peeling)

Put all of the marinade ingredients into a ziplock freezer bag with 2-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts. Marinade for up to 6 hours, although you will get good results after 30 minutes.

Tequila Lime Chicken Tacos

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Marinate chicken as directed above. Pat the breasts dry and salt and pepper them while you heat a large, heavy, oven-safe skillet on medium high heat. Heat 1-2 T olive oil. When it is hot, add the chicken breasts to the oil. Leave for about 5 minutes–do not flip until they come up easily and are browned on the bottom side. Flip the breasts and put the skillet into the oven. Bake until they are cooked through but still juicy–this will very much depend on the thickness of the breast; mine were ready after about 6 minutes.

Let the chicken sit for about 10 minutes while you prep the tortillas and garnishes:

chopped cilantro
chopped red onion
diced avocado (I was out)
chopped romaine lettuce
sour cream
crumbled queso fresco (feta might sub ok)
Tapatio hot sauce
lime wedges (I forgot)

For the corn tortillas, a good way to make storebought, less than fresh corn tortillas more palatable, even tasty (as long as you have not had fresh made recently), is to take a dish towel and dribble 2-3 tablespoons of water onto it. Wrap the tortillas into the towel and heat in the microwave, at 40-50% power, for 2-3 minutes.

Chop the chicken and top with garnishes onto 2 corn tortillas (1 will fall apart and not support the weight of the filling).