Homemade Chimichangas

Thomas' brother's family got us a cookbook for Christmas called Fabulous Freezer Meals. The author, Jenny Ahlstrom Stanger, provides all sorts of recipes based on pre-made meal "building blocks" you can cook and store in advance, like taco meat or spaghetti sauce. I personally can't wait to try some of the recipes the ice cream cake section...

Anyway, we recently adapted her recipe for chimichangas. They turned out awesome, and they freeze pretty well, so if you feel like cooking a ton of them, you can easily have several meals from it.

Chimichangas
1 lb ground beef
about 1/2 a medium onion
1 regular can refried beans OR whole pinto beans
shredded cheese (about 1 cup)
about 8 flour tortillas
vegetable oil

1. Heat onions in a frying pan (in a little bit of oil). Add beef. Season to taste, using salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder, etc.
2. Once beef is browned, drain and cool for a few minutes.
3. Build chimichangas one at a time by placing a little bit of the beef, a spoonful of the beans, and some cheese in the center of a flour tortilla.
4. Roll chimichangas, folding two sides in for the "ends" and then folding the rest in on itself. Secure with a toothpick.
5. Heat some vegetable oil in a small frying pan, enough that you have about 1/4 inch of oil in the bottom. 
6. Place chimichangas (we did two at a time) seam-side down in the hot oil. After it cooks for a few minutes, the tortilla will be golden brown and it should stay (mostly) closed. At this point, flip the chimichanga in the oil using tongs and/or other utensils, very carefully.
7. Once brown on both sides, transfer to a plate covered with a paper towel to drain the oil.

Simple Mexican crowd-pleasers

 Several months ago we had the privilege of having dinner at Thomas' cousin Ryan's home. His lovely wife Amanda prepared a Mexican food feast that was muy bueno. Earlier this week, we tried out the main dish from this party, "New Mexico Style Carnitas," at our own dinner party with some friends - our dinner contest winners, in fact. It was pretty simple to put together and tasted fantastic.

Carnitas
2.5 lbs carnitas (pork shoulder) cut into bite-sized pieces
5 roasted/peeled anaheim chiles, or 1 can green chiles in a pinch
2-3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
salt to taste
1 c water
2 tbsp cooking oil
**I altered this a little and added about 1/3 a medium-sized yellow onion. The package of meat we got was a little larger than this recipe called for, so I added more garlic (close to a full "head" of garlic).

1. Heat oil in a large sauté pan. Add garlic (and onions if you choose to do so) and salt; then add pork and sauté until pork is cooked (about 7 min). 
2. Transfer to a crock pot and add chile and water. Stir together and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6-8 hours. 
3. Transfer to oven safe dish and finish at 400°F in the oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

We served our carnitas on warm corn tortillas with guacamole (also homemade - mash up an avocado or two, add sour cream, salt, pepper, and some chili powder) and salsa. We had this Mexican rice as a side.

Mexican rice
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup (or more) chopped onion
a few cloves minced garlic OR garlic powder to taste
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth

1. Heat oil in saucepan large enough to cook rice. Add onion, garlic, salt, and cumin; sauté until transparent. Add uncooked rice and coat with oil.
2. After a few minutes, stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil.
3. Turn down heat, cover, and let simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Let us know what you think!
oxox

Enchiladas à la Lisa

(at the bottom, it will say that this was posted by Thomas, but don't believe it. This is Lisa posting.) ;o)

When I first moved out to Utah two years ago for school, I had this ongoing list in my head of "Top 10 Single College-Student Dinners." Unfortunately, I did not write it down, but (for me at least) it included Little Caesar's $5 pepperoni pizzas, Top Ramen with frozen veggies, and beef enchiladas.

This weekend I had the opportunity to roll some yummy enchiladas for a little former-roommate party at our apartment. Thomas encouraged me to take some photos, so here you are:

Enchiladas

1 can red enchilada sauce (I used the large can of Las Palmas Enchilada Sauce this time, but Old El Paso would be my top choice)
1 small onion, diced
1 Tbsp. or so of oil
ground beef (you need about 1 lb if using the small can of sauce; I used about 2 lbs with the large can)
spices of your choice; I like some garlic, salt, pepper.
small corn tortillas (about 15, for the larger can of sauce)
approx. 1 1/2 cups of grated cheese (I prefer Monterey Jack)

1. Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan. Add onion pieces and let them cook and soften for a few minutes.
2. Add ground beef. Season to your liking and allow to brown.
3. Once cooked, drain your meat.
4. To the cooked, drained beef, add about half of the can of enchilada sauce and about half of the grated cheese.
5. Spoon a bit of this mixture into a corn tortilla**. Roll it up and place it with the overlap down into a lightly greased baking dish. If you use the large can of sauce, like I did, you'll need a 9*13 plus a 9*9. 
6. Continue filling tortillas and placing them in your baking dish until your filling runs out.
7. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the rolled enchiladas. Use a spoon or other utensil to ensure the sauce covers as much of the exposed tortillas as possible, as this will reduce dryness. Top with the rest of your cheese.
8. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°. Serve with your favorite salsa or guacamole, and perhaps some rice or refried beans!

**Depending on the corn tortillas you are using, you may notice that after sitting in the pan for a moment, they will crack along the top. To remedy this, it is helpful to take individual tortillas, place them into a damp paper towel, and microwave for about 12 seconds before filling and rolling. I used La Banderita brand tortillas this time and did not find this step necessary.

Happy cooking! oxox