Oven-Fried Chicken Chimichangas

Made these for dinner last night and they were extra-yummy!  I did make a couple of changes, however.  I hate 'chopped' chicken in things like this - the texture just isn't right for me, so I put a chicken in the crock pot, sprinkled it with cumin, oregano, chili powder, salt and pepper, added a little water to the bottom and cooked it all day, shredding it when I got home.  For some reason, shredded doesn't bother me as much as the chopped.  And since my husband and older child would simply *die* on the spot if there were onions OR tomatoes in their food, I opted out of the picante sauce and instead tossed the chicken with homemade taco seasoning (which I just posted) and leftover broth from the cooking.  I had originally planned on pureeing the salsa, but was entirely too lazy to do so last night.  LOL

If you'd rather not butter the tops, I have no doubt you could brush with olive oil or even spray with butter flavored Pam if you really wanted to.  I made some homemade Rice-A-Roni (posted here) to go with it.  Very simple and tasty.

Oven-Fried Chicken Chimichangas

From: Campbell's Kitchen

Prep: 20 minutes
Bake: 25 minutes

Serves: 6

Here's a delicious way to enjoy chimichangas without all the mess from deep-frying...and guess what?  They actually taste better this way.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup Pace® Picante Sauce

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed

1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese  (about 4 ounces)

2 green onions, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

6 (8-inch) flour tortillas

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Fresh cilantro leaves

Directions:

Stir the picante sauce, cumin, oregano, chicken, cheese and onions in a medium bowl.

Place about 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla. Fold the opposite sides over the filling. Roll the tortillas up from the bottom and place them seam-side down on a baking sheet. Brush the tortilla rolls with butter.

Bake at 400°F. for 25 minutes or until they're golden brown. Serve with additional picante sauce. Garnish with cilantro.

Recipe Tips:

Tip: Substitute 2 cans (4.5 ounces each) Swanson® Premium White Chunk Chicken Breast in Water, drained, for the cooked chicken.

Nutrition Information

Nutritional Values per Serving

Using Pace Picante Sauce: :

Calories 341, Total Fat 17g, Saturated Fat 8g, Cholesterol 61mg, Sodium 672mg, Total Carbohydrate 28g, Dietary Fiber 3g, Protein 19g, Vitamin A 10%DV, Vitamin C 2%DV, Calcium 21%DV, Iron 14%DV

Taco Seasoning Mix

From the Make-A-Mix Cookbook published a bazillion years ago. LOL  Trust me... if you saw the photos in it, you'd understand.  Still a very valuable resource, however.

For my *special* blend, I add an additional teaspoon of ancho chili powder as well as upping the oregano and cumin to 1 teaspoon each. 

Taco Seasoning

Ingredients

2 teaspoons instant minced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon crushed red peppers
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Instructions

Combine seasoning ingredients in a small bowl or container, package into small jar until ready for use.

To make tacos:

Brown ground beef and drain off fat. Add water and dry seasoning mixture. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 20-25 minutes. If mixture gets too thick before cooking is complete, add a small amount of water to thin. Serve on soft or hard taco shells topped with your favorite vegetables and sauce.

Creamy Herbed Chicken and Noodles

Last night’s dinner wasn’t too bad, although it seemed to be missing a bit of something. However, I’m going to post the recipe anyway. I might fiddle with it some more in the future and find that magical, missing element. We’ll see. I also doubled the recipe because one serving as it was written would not have filled Zan up by any means. So, even with it doubled, the main meal came to a little less than 600 calories. Not TOO bad for a dinner. If you don’t count the biscuits I made to go with it. LOL OH! And one change I will definitely make in the future – this would be so much better with shredded rotisserie chicken!

Creamy Herbed Chicken and Noodles

The 1500-Calorie-A-Day Cookbook, pg. 120

6 ounces dry no-yolk egg noodles

½ pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup (4 ounces) light cream cheese with herbs and garlic, such as Alouette

2 tablespoons fat-free milk

1 medium garlic clove, minced

3 medium green onions, chopped fine (1/3 cup)

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the noodles according to package directions, omitting any salt or fat.

Meanwhile, heat a medium skillet over medium heat until hot, and coat the skillet with cooking spray. Cook the chicken 4 minutes or until no longer pink in the center, stirring frequently.

Drain the noodles, return them to the pot, and add the chicken and remaining ingredients, except the Parmesan cheese. Toss until the cream cheese has melted and the mixture is well blended. Sprinkle with the Parmesan.

Calories 290; total fat 6g (saturated fat 4g); protein 22g; carbohydrates 36g; fiber 2g; cholesterol 55mg; sodium 530 mg; vitamin A 2%; vitamin C 4%; calcium 15%; iron 10%

Time Shaver Tip: To save time, you can use about 1 ¼ cups cooked chicken in place of the raw chicken, using either leftovers from a rotisserie chicken or the frozen chopped variety.

Crazy Lady’s Note: You could easily add all sorts of vegetables to this making it more filling and a one-dish meal.