Cilantro-Lime Chicken Tacos with Grilled Bananas + Weekend Recap
Heat up the grill to make these cilantro-lime chicken tacos with grilled bananas! That's right, bananas. Trust me on this one :)
For this months Recipe Redux challenge, we're celebrating Taco Tuesday and sharing our healthy and creative taco recipes. My contribution is the recipe for these cilantro-lime chicken tacos with grilled bananas. I marinated chicken breasts in a tangy and slightly spicy cilantro-lime sauce before cooking them on the grill. And I know bananas on a taco sounds odd, but trust me on this one, it was a stroke of genius. They add just the right amount of sweet - think of it like a fruit salsa!
We basically lived off these tacos this weekend after I made them for lunch on Saturday. I thought it would be fun to give you a sneak peek at my weekend and share what I do when I'm not working (errr, even though I worked a good chunk of the day Sunday). Friday night we went out to eat with three of our couple friends at M Grille for sushi. Sushi and tacos in one weekend. Winning! Sorry, that was so five years ago...
SUSHI!
We started with sweet potato tempura which was perfect and this peach jalapeno cocktail - I love spicy cocktails! Then I got a spicy salmon roll and a roll with shrimp, tempura flakes, and avocado topped with more salmon, then proceeded to steal my friends leftover sushi because I have no stopping point with sushi. Seriously, Japan better be prepared for me when I come visit in May!
Did I get shamed by a fortune cookie??
The next day I took Savannah to the National Eating Disorders Association walk at the USC campus. My office mate, Sue, a therapist with The Eating Recovery Center, was one of their speakers and she did an amazing job. I also ran into one of the dietitians I worked with at the VA as well as my lovely friend Rachel Tenny, who is a therapist and also an artist behind the #mybodyisenough project. She is incredibly talented and just a lovely and inspiring person to talk to, so definitely check her work out for pretty pastels and body positive goodness. Also, I think Savannah had literally the best day of her live getting loved on by everyone there. I have to say, it's a good thing we don't want kids because I get waaay too much of an ego boost from people thinking my dog is cute! Pretty sure I would be a stage mom!
Furry ED Warriors!
Spent the rest of the afternoon grilling out in the backyard with Scott while enjoying one of his home brewed beers. I manned the grill making these 💣 tacos while he did some woodworking for the house. The pups supervised.
My little supermodel!
My sous chefs hard at work
We spent the rest of the day vegging out on the couch trying to complete our mission of watching all the Oscars movies. We knocked out Lion and Arrival, which were amazing, especially Lion. I honestly didn't realize I could cry so hard. Just in case anyone with Academy voting privileges is reading (ha!) Lion and Moonlight are now my picks for best picture so please sneak in a vote for me ;)
I spent a good chunk of Sunday working, but took a break to go for a run over to Cock and Bull Pub to meet up with Scott and his friends for a beer. We had some good laughs admitting our first concerts. I think I was the only cool one with R.E.M. as mine (compared to Creed, Godsmack and Kris Kross for sure!).
For a Sunday night dinner, I made these stuffed roasted poblanos with cashew-chipotle sauce and they were one of the best things I've made recently. Didn't get a picture since it was dark out but trust me when I say they smelled and looked incredible. It took a little effort, but well worth it! That cashew chipotle sauce is definitely going to be showing up on the blog in some form.
Anyway, on to the recipe! Hope you pull it out the next Taco Tuesday...or any night of the week you'd like to enjoy a cold beer and a hot grill in the backyard :)
Cilantro-Lime Chicken Tacos with Grilled Bananas
Serves 4
Ingredients
1/2 cup cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 red onion, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch rounds
2 peppers, stemmed, seeded and sliced
3 bananas, peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
8 corn tortillas
Guacamole, for serving
Cilantro, for serving
Instructions
First, marinade the chicken. In a blender, combine cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic and salt. Place chicken in a lidded plastic container, add marinade, cover and shake to coat chicken. Refrigerate for up to 24 hours to marinade.
When ready to cook, oil the grill then turn grill to medium-high heat. Pick up chicken with tongs, letting the extra marinade drip back into the container, and place chicken on the hot grill. Cook 4-5 minutes per side until cooked through.
Toss the onions, peppers and bananas with a teaspoon of oil each. Place onions, peppers and bananas on the grill. Onions will need about 3-4 minutes per side, peppers will need about 2 minutes per side, and the banana will need about a minute per side for a light char.
Remove chicken, vegetables and fruit to a clean platter. Let chicken cool about 10 minutes before slicing. Cut onion rings in half
While chicken is cooling, heat tortillas over a low flame on a gas grill.
Fill tortillas with a couple chicken slices, red onion, peppers, and banana and top with a dollop of guacamole and a sprinkle of cilantro.
