I'm not Cuban (but this marinade is!)

My Dad is Puerto Rican.  My Mom is Irish.  Guess that makes me Hispirish!  I was lucky enough to grow up in a house where nearly every meal was homemade.  I know what you're thinking:

Keep reading.  Expand your food horizons.  I'm trying to help you out, here!

Though my mother does most of the cooking, my father is also a whiz in the kitchen.  Between the two of them, I was destined to cook!  Many of my absolute favorite recipes are influenced by my dual heritages.  They're separate, but equal, meaning you won't be seeing any flan-flavored soda bread recipes lurking around here.  It's just too much.  Flan is amazing.  Soda bread is amazing.  But ne'er the twain shall meet!

In a salute to my Hispanic side, last night's dinner was a Cuban/Mexican fusion of delicious-ness!  When I woke up yesterday morning, I threw together some homemade mojo marinade (the best thing to come out of Cuba).  This stuff is liquid gold and you will LOVE it.  Though we usually use it in the crock pot for a nice big pork butt, we used chicken yesterday for the first time.  Jess's idea...she's super clever, that one! 

Gather up the following items:

5 cloves of garlic, 1/2 fresh orange juice, 1/4 cup fresh lime juice, 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, 1/4 c olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 c sherry

Smash up the garlic.  I use a garlic press but perhaps you have some inner rage that you'd like to get out...perhaps with a hammer or rolling pin?  Do what you gotta do.  Just get that garlic smashed!  I use a super cool squeezer device to extract the juices from my citrus fruits:

Cool, huh?

Cut the fruits in half, stick a half in this gadget, and squeeze for all you're worth!  Relieves stress!   Once the juice is loose, add the rest of the ingredients and whisk them together.  It will smell fantastic!  This marinade goes well on pretty much anything.  I had 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I placed in a gallon size bag before dumping this marinade all over them.  Squish the closed bag with all the stuff inside in your hands for a bit...it's fun and will help get the chicken fully coated.  Stick in the fridge for at least 8 hours, longer if you've got time.  The longer it sits, the better it gets!  

When I got home from work about 12 hours later (sad, but true!), the entire contents of the bag went into Pyrex dish with a lid, and that in turn went into the oven at 375 for 35 minutes (all of which were spent salivating).  Once the timer went off, I shredded the chicken and put it in a deep skillet with all the juice.  I let it boil for a couple minutes, just to make sure the chicken was cooked through and that it had absorbed as much marinade as was chicken-ly possible. 

                                              Waiting was hard...Corona was needed!

Taco time!  A portion of that lovely, juicy, flavor-filled chicken went on to low-carb tortillas that we garnished with tomato, pepper jack cheese, cheddar cheese, diced onion, sour cream, cilantro, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.  These looked ridiculously good!

                     Jess likes extra sour cream.  I like extra cheese.  Aww...they're cuddling!

I really can't describe how delicious they were without saying something like HOLY GUACAMOLE, which, ironically, would have made these even better.  I didn't buy avocados yesterday...what was I thinking?!  Next time, guacamole is invited to the party!

Try it.  You'll like it.

-Sam