Going Jane: Chicken Chimichangas...yummy!!

I love Mexican food (it falls right after American & Italian! lol!) ...we probably average eating Mexican at least 3-4 times each month. But I'd never tried my hand at chimichangas until I saw these Chicken Chimichangas at the Cutting Back Kitchen. They looked so yummy I had to give them a try.

Now her recipe called for cubed, cooked chicken breast. So I picked up some chicken breasts in the easiest way possible: online grocery shopping. Love it.

I put them in a 9x13 baking dish and baked them @ 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Why bake? I have 3 kids age 7 and under. Anything I can do to prevent unnecessary & annoying whining is a plus. And they can and will whine about almost anything, depending on the situation...including the crispy edges and "brownness" from grilling chicken breasts.

Then I chopped them up. Now I left mine in pretty big chunks...again as a preemptive strike. Just in case the kids don't like the entire chimichanga, there are big chunks of chicken they can pull out. And rinse off if necessary. Trust me...I've been there and done that with them. Wanna know what I used to cut them quickly? My Pampered Chef crinkle cutter. Seriously love it. You'd be amazed at all the things I cut with that...plus it's safe for letting the kids cut, too. And it cuts food into bite-sized pieces on little people's plates in no time flat.

Add in the rest of the ingredients for the chicken mix (salsa, refried beans and taco seasoning).

Cook until warmed through.

Add 1/3 cup to warmed tortilla. OK...I admit it. I'm too lazy to warm the tortillas. I just lay them on the stove while it's preheating. The bottom ones were warmed well, the 1st couple, not so much. Thus the cracking in the wrapped chimichanga below. Now the cracking doesn't bother me and mine. But if it bothers you, by all means warm them up.

Toss on some cheese. I used a fiesta blend.

Then wrap your chimichanga...see the crack I mentioned?

And roll each one in foil. Here's my stash: 14 in all.

For our 2 adults and 3 kids, I baked 5. Now obviously, that meant there were some leftovers.

So I froze them. Trust me...they were just as good the second time around.

Now doesn't that look yummy? Want to try it for yourself? Click on my printable recipe card below.

And speaking of yummy, this Ohio girl here's there's tons of yummies for your tummies at the Indiana State Fair...including something called a garbage burger? Stay tuned next week and I'll report back on my visit (Indiana Soybean Alliance is providing me with tickets and meals for my family and I). Guess what else they are providing? 4 tickets for a lucky blog reader of Going Jane. Be sure to check out my giveaway...there are also links there for other blogs giving away tickets, too! Enter with each for multiple chances to win!