Healthy Waists, Healthy Wallets: Grilled Vegetable Fajitas

Making dinner during the summer is HARD, y’all.

Who wants to spend hours slaving over the hot stove when it’s 287 degrees outside? But while ordering a pizza or hitting up a drive thru is easy, it’s not cheap, and it’s not healthy.

I’ve been trying to get my family to consume less meat this year. Not only is it better for our planet (seriously, do you know how bad meat is for the environment, be it from deforestation, greenhouse gases, and the pollution that factory farming produces?), it’s better for our wallets and it’s better for our waistlines.

This is a quick and easy recipe for grilled vegetable fajitas. If you don’t want to grill them (or make a partner or older child grill them!), you can roast them in a 425° oven or do a quick sauté. The best thing about them is that you can use whatever vegetables you like and what are on sale!

Grilled Vegetable Fajitas

Ingredients

For the vegetables

(Please note that these are the veggies that my family likes. You are welcome to add or subtract to suit your family’s tastes!)

1 zucchini
1 red or yellow bell pepper
1 poblano pepper
2 to 4 whole jalapeño peppers
1 or 2 portobello mushrooms
1 small red onion
2 or 3 Roma tomatoes (only if nice and ripe)
1 bunch asparagus (if they’re not too expensive)
olive oil or avocado oil
salt and pepper

For the tossing sauce (Don’t worry, all will be make clear!)

1 bunch cilantro
1 or 2 limes
2 to 4 garlic cloves
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ cup olive oil
salt and pepper
1 jalapeño pepper, optional

Fajita fixins

Tortillas of your choice, warmed
Guacamole or diced avocado
Salsa
Pico de gallo
Sour cream
Shredded cheese
Limes, quartered
Refried beans
Spanish rice

Directions

First, make the tossing sauce. Remove the ends of a bunch of cilantro. Place the cilantro, along with the garlic, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper, and the jalapeño if your using it into a blender. Squeeze in the limes. Pulse the blender to combine, then with the blender running, drizzle in the olive oil. Allow this to sit while you preheat the grill and prepare the vegetables for grilling.

Preheat the grill to medium-high.

Prepare the vegetables. Slice the zucchini on the bias into ½ inch slices. Cut the bell pepper and the poblano pepper into 1 inch strips. Cut the Roma tomatoes in half. Slice the red onion into thick rounds. Leave the mushrooms and the jalapeños whole. Snap the ends off the asparagus. Place everything in a large mixing bowl and toss with oil and salt and pepper.

Grill the vegetables in batches to avoid crowding the grill. As one batch finishes, place them in another large mixing bowl and let them sit while everything else continues to grill. Once everything is grilled, cut the portabellos into strips. Then toss the vegetables with the tossing sauce. Start out with about half the sauce and taste. If you want more sauce, add more sauce!

Serve warm with whatever fajita makings you like. Makes enough for 4 hungry people with some leftovers for my salad the next day!

Other vegetables I love to grill

Eggplant
Green onions
Corn
Leeks
Baby artichokes
Raddicchio
Lettuce
Carrots
Radishes
Cauliflower “steaks”
Fennel
Winter squash
Brussels sprouts
Green beans
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Broccolini