Well it is officially summer and that means the bar-b-que. But as a vegan or vegetarian I never really do anything on it, I mean my veg burgers can be heated in the microwave. Granted they taste better on the Que, but since I don’t own one I don’t use one. But hanging with my parents I get to use theirs. So I decided to break out of my rut of the oven and try my hand at grilling some veggies. And not just any veggies. A veggie-filled BBQ Fajita! Sounds awesome right?

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I love fajitas and love trying new Mexican restaurants to find the best ones – because, yes, there are bad fajitas out there. Bad as in absolutely no flavor, or boiled veg instead of sauteed. Blech. So I decided to make my own, and to also get outside and use the BBQ – which I have never actually used by myself. And, still haven’t. This turned into a two person effort because I almost mandolined the tip of my middle finger off during the veg chopping step. Totally a pain-filled bummer, and I felt like one of the Chopped chefs that cut their fingers while competing. So, in stepped my dad who chopped some veg but totally handled the BBQ. He layed down the foil, Pam’ed it up, poured water on the fire, and stirred everything. Great dad! And quite thankful to his expertise cause I had no clue how the cooking on the bbq would go – burning left by myself, that’s how.

Chop all the veggies, carefully, using a knife or madolin. This turned into more veggies than I thought (like normal) so my one bowl turned into two then turned into one humungo bow holding all the vegl. Pour oil and squeeze limes over veg and mix with hands then dump on your homemade fajita seasoning and let sit about an hour. Start up the bar-b-que and get two long pieces of foil and fold long sides together for one long-wide piece. Lay carefully over bbq grates then spray with Pam – which we learned after the first batch was necessary. Also pouring more oil over the veg after you get it spread out is needed.

Carefully stir the veg around the foil; things will stick, but just keep stirring I used a long handled-spatula to do it. Best thing to do if you can, is to get the potatoes on first for a few more minutes then add the rest. Your veg will be crunchy and yummy, which is why you need to put the potatoes down first for a little while longer, but it didn’t bother me. It turned out so good with the smokey flavor from the bbq and the crunchy-spicy fajitas. Yum. And putting the tortillas on the top rack after the veggies were all done and getting the smokey hot only added to all the awesome flavors going on.

Homemade Fajita Seasoning (no salt added),

3 Tbsp Cornstartch
2 Tbsp Chile Powder
1 Tbsp Paprika
1 1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
1 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 Tsp Ground Red Pepper
1 Tsp Cumin
1 Tsp Black Pepper

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Fajitas

1 Pkg Beyond Meat Lightly Seasoned Chicken Strips
3 Zucchini, washed and sliced thin
5 Carrots, washed and sliced thin
1 Pkg Mushrooms, washed and sliced thin
2 Red Peppers, washed and sliced thin
2 Green Peppers, washed and sliced thin
1 Yellow Onion, halved and sliced thin
2 Baking Potatoes, washed and sliced thin
Olive Oil
2 Limes, juice squeezed
1/2 Bunch Cilantro, washed and chopped
4ish Tbsp Homemade Fajita Seasoning
Mission Tortilla White Corn Tortillas

1. Make fajita seasoning and put in air-tight container.
2. Wash and cut all veggies into thin slices using either a mandolin or sharp knife.
3. Pour olive oil and squeeze lime juice into large bowl.
4. Dump all veggies and chicken into the bowl and place Saran wrap over bowl and press really well. Use hands to mix and coat everything.
5. Dump seasoning and cilantro into the bowl and mix, mix, mix it up with your hands.
6. Let sit about an hour.
7. Heat up BBQ. Place long sheets of foil over grates.
8. Pour veggies & chicken onto foil and just keep mixing things. BBQ until done.
9. Take off veggies and put in a bowl. Take off foil.
10. Lay corn tortillas on grates and heat through. Turn when one side is done.
11. Make fajitas and enjoy!

**BBQing really depends on you bbq. Ours like to heat up really big with huge flames even when on a super-low setting, so closing the lid didn’t work well. Also, our grates are right over the fire, if yours are higher up you may be able to not burn things as quickly as I did 🙂 Just keep mixing!