Chicken Chimichangas

 I have been using this recipe for years.  It is seriously one of my favorite things to do to a tortilla.

Chicken Chimichangas

2 cups prepared shredded chicken (there are tons of ways to season and shred chicken, my favorite is probably to let it sit in the crock pot all day with some onion, water to cover, and taco seasoning mix)

1 can refried beans

2 cups chredded cheddar cheese

8-10 flour tortillas

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1.  Prepare and shred chicken.

2.  Heat refried beans.

 3.  Lay out tortillas, spread with warm refried beans, top with 1/4 cup shredded chicken and 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese.

4.  Fold ends of tortillas in and wrap tightly.

5.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees and prepare pan... okay this is the best part, so pay attention.  Cover a cookie sheet with foil, then spread a little less than 1/4 cup of cooking oil all over the pan.  Place the folded tortillas on the pan and bake for 8 minutes, then flip over and bake for another 8 minutes.  The oil makes the tortillas toasty and so good while the cheese gets ooey goey on the inside.  When you are done baking, you can just toss the foil and the pan stayed clean!  You can also make these chimichangas with just beans and cheese or with beef, or pork.

Bajio Pork Salad

I am in LOOOVE with Bajio's Pork, so I was super excited when I came across this recipe from the Bajio Operations Director, Bonnie El Halta.  She prepared the recipe for ABC 4 in Salt Lake.  You can view the link HERE.  Or just follow the recipe below.  You can also use the pork in burritos, quesadillas, chimichangas, or whatever else you are feeling saucy for.

Bajio Pork Salad
Ingredients:
3 lbs of pork roast cut into baseball sized pieces
2 quarts of water
4 cups sliced white onions
¼ cup of salt
1 cup of sugar
Boil pork until tender (approximately 2 hours on a medium simmer)
*I actually put the pork like this in my crockpot and let it simmer on low all day, works great!

For the Marinade:Simmer together the following ingredients for 1 hour (Again, used the crockpot, turned to high for 1 hour)
4 cups enchilada sauce
1 cup dark sugar (used brown sugar)
2 cups soda water (couldn't find, so I substituted Sprite)
1 pkg taco seasoning of choice
Cook pork until tender.
Drain pork and shred with a fork, keeping the pork in the original cooking pot.
Pour hot marinade over shredded pork.
Keep warm.

Prepare salad with the following ingredients:
Shredded lettuce
Diced tomatoes
Fresh cilantro
For family style, place salad ingredients in a large bowl.
Top with warm pork.
Add cilantro and lime as garnish.
Add a Ranch Style dressing as desired.

Pork Quesadilla
Using the pork recipe above:
Heat large 14” tortillas.
Sprinkle with cheese.
Add the pork.
Fold over the tortilla and cut into wedges

Snowflake Quesadillas

One of my kids favorite things to do in Winter is make paper snowflakes.  They make them by the hundreds and hang them everywhere.  For lunch the other day we decided that we would try making our quesadillas into snowflakes and it worked!

I don't know why my computer, or maybe it's blogger, keeps flipping my images.  I have tried everything.  Does anybody know how to fix this?

Here's what we did.  First clean a pair of kid friendly scissors (or kitchen shears if you have them) so that they are nice and sanitary.  Give each child a FRESH tortilla.  Stale ones will just break into pieces.  Fold into half and then half again.  Have the kids cut large shapes out of the sides, leaving some connecting pieces. (If you are not familiar with making paper snowflakes, you may want to practice with paper first.)

Butter another tortilla that hasn't been cut and place it butter side down on a heated skillet.  Sprinkle with shredded cheese and top with the cut snowflake tortilla.  Toast for a couple of minutes until the cheese is melty.  You can then flip the quesadilla over and the cheese shouldn't fall out on the skillet if it melted enough, then toast for a couple of seconds until browned.

Serve with salsa and sour cream!

Ready to flip.

THEN, here is the best part.  Take all of the cut out pieces and put them in a ziplock back and toss with melted butter, then lay them out on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and broil for a couple of minutes until browned.  And now you have yourself a nice dessert!

Chicken Chimi-Cha,Cha,Cha-changas

So easy, yet, sooooo good! Buddy couldn't say "chimichanga" and so he is the one who came up with "chimi-cha-cha-cha's".

CHICKEN CHIMI-CHA,CHA,CHA-CHANGAS

1 (14 oz) can of refried beans

Shredded cheddar cheese

3 chicken breast halves

1/2 package taco seasoning

5 large tortilla shells

1. In the morning, place chicken in a crockpot with 1/2 cup water and 1/2 package of taco seasoning. Let cook on low for 8-10 hours. At the end of cooking time, shred the chicken. (If you don't have time for the crockpot, the chicken can also be cooked in a tablespoon of oil over medium high heat until cooked through.)

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

3. Warm the refried beans to loosen them up. Also warm the tortillas to make them easier to fold.

4. To assemble, spread about 1/4 cup of beans on each shell, then add chicken and sprinkle with cheese. To fold, fold the sides up first and then take the side closest to you and fold it up over to the middle, tuck the flap under the filling and then fold once again to the far side.

5. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lightly oil.

6. Place the chimichangas on the cookie sheet and bake for 16 minutes, turning them once halfway through.

7. Serve with Mexican rice, leftover refried beans, sour cream, and salsa.

Makes 5 chimichangas