I think I could eat mexican food every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it. I love eating it all and I love making it because it's typically easy and cheap. A few of my fave mexican dishes are enchiladas, burritos, and tamales. However, above all, I love biting in to a crunchy, deep fried chimichanga, often covered in cheese. Awful for your caloric intake, perfection to your tastebuds.Grant's mom makes the best chimichangas I've ever had and best of all, they're just pan fried and contain no meat so there are a lot less calories. I started making them right after Grant and I got married, as my go to dish. I always had everything in my pantry to make them, plus they are ready in about 30 minutes, start to finish.
I made them the other night when our friends the Libbys came over for dinner. They loved them too!
Ingredients:
-1 small packet of saffron rice or mexican rice, cooked (I use Mahatma)
-1 can of refried beans
-8-10oz of shredded cheese (I used the Sargento mexican blend)
-1/4 cup of your favorite chunky salsa (Grant like the black bean and corn salsas the best)
-A handful of chopped cilantro (optional, but delicious)
-12 small-medium flour tortillas
-Enough canola oil to fill a heavy skillet 1/4 of an inch (optional)
Mix all of your ingredients together in a medium size bowl. Something I find that works well for blending all of your ingredients is a pie dough blender or a potato masher.
Heat your oil in a heavy skillet or shallow pot over medium heat. It will take a few minutes to reach the proper temperature. Put a large spoonful of the mixture inside each tortilla, close the ends, and roll it up, placing it in the pan seam side down.
(To make it even easier and take away a few more calories, I put all of mine on a cookie sheet, sprayed them with Pam, and baked them at 350 for 12-15 minutes)
When they are all done, plate, and serve over lettuce with tomatoes, avocado, sour cream, and salsa!