An Oldie but Goodie

I dug up this recipe the other day:

Roasted Chicken Chimichangas (from Cooking Light, April 2004)

This is a recipe I used to make often for my husband and myself, pre-kids. I always liked it since we love Mexican food, this is really easy to make, and it makes leftovers that freeze well. I tried it out again on the family this past week. The original recipe does call for ingredients I know my kids won't eat, but it was really easy to leave those things out of their portions.

These chimichangas are oven-browned instead of deep-fried. The filling uses queso fresco, but I've always used shredded Mexican blend reduced-fat cheese.

Yield

6 servings (serving size: 1 chimichanga and about 4 teaspoons salsa)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups shredded roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled queso fresco cheese
  
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
• 1 (16-ounce) can fat-free refried beans (Spicy fat-free refried beans are really great in this!)
  
• 6 (8-inch) flour tortillas (I usually use whole-wheat tortillas, burrito size)
  
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup bottled green salsa

Preparation

Preheat oven to 500°.

Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl; toss well.

Spread 1/4 cup beans down center of each tortilla. Top each tortilla with 2/3 cup chicken mixture; roll up. Place rolls, seam sides down, on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Coat tops of chimichangas with cooking spray. Bake at 500° for 7 minutes. Serve with salsa.

For the kids, I reserved some plain roast chicken and I topped smaller (fajita) sized whole-wheat tortillas with refried beans and then the chicken and then some cheese. I cut the finished chimichangas in half, which the kids picked up and dipped in mild salsa. My finicky five-year old proclaimed that I needed to add this dish to her "favorites" list, which I was very happy to hear!