Sunday Night Dinner at Sheffield - Mexicana Style

Here I am again, telling you what I had for dinner. But it was just too pretty not to share! Maybe I will just limit the "this is what I had for dinner" posts to Sunday Night Dinners at Sheffield. It's started to become a bit of a tradition to gather friends and family in our apartment on Sunday evenings to cook and feast. Preparing food is such a collaborative, group-friendly activity and an excellent cure for the Sunday Blues. Now, I can't take credit for this delicious specimen of colors that is enticing several of your senses at the moment. My roommate, Jenny, whipped up this fantastically fresh salad of black beans, corn, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro and lime juice. That's the other perk of cooking with a bunch of friends -- no one person has to do all the work.

Jenny's mom was in town, so we were eager to show her that we are grown ups. Unfortunately, we don't own enough chairs to sit around the table we so lovingly loaded with food, so the couches had to suffice. I think she was impressed with our culinary prowess, even if it was just chicken fajitas.

No recipe needed here -- choose the brightest, most cheer-inducing peppers you can find (we went with orange, green, and yellow for the most pop, both visually and flavor-wise). Slice them up and toss them around a hot skillet with some vegetable oil and an equal amount of sliced onions. I'm a fan of the big, golden Spanish or Vidalia onions because they're a bit sweeter and go really well with the peppers.

Our protein of choice for this Mexican fiesta was chicken. Sliced, seared, and seasoned with the perfect blend of spices (read: taco seasoning packet. Why mess with a good thing?) As much as I love to lug out my biggest, heaviest, most complicated cookbook and work my way through step after complicated step of an elaborate recipe to impress my friends, sometimes a simple taco night is all you really need.

Our Sunday spread was on the table and ready to be unceremoniously inhaled while watching America: The Story of Us (in exchange for feeding people I force them to watch the History Channel...everybody wins?).