Baked Chimichangas

Since I have an abundance of chicken in my freezer, I filled up our meal plan with poultry dishes! On the menu tonight: baked chimichangas. I've adapted a recipe I found awhile back at Or so she says for a little more convenience on my part. I also adapted it to feed my larger family (we've doubled the number of children in our house in less than a week!). If you have a smaller family, just half the recipe. (I will update tomorrow with pictures.)

Baked Chimichangas

2 chicken breasts

1 1/2 c. salsa 

2 t. ground cumin

1 1/2 c. shredded cheese

12 flour tortillas

olive oil

any toppings you want (we use more cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, &-if I'm lucky-guacamole)

1. Place your chicken in the crockpot and cook on low for about 8 hours.

2. About half an hour before dinnertime, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

3. Shred your chicken or let your kids go at it with kid-safe knives.

4. Add salsa, cumin, and cheese. 

5. Place about 1/2 c. of mixture on a tortilla and roll up. Place seam-side down on a baking sheet and continue with the rest of your tortillas. Brush with olive oil.

6. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

7. Garnish with your favorite toppings & enjoy!

Linking up to Slow Cooking Thursday.

11. tough teachers

12. bonding with FG over hours of homework

13. 2 new sisters who joined our family last night

14. sharing a meal with friends

15. my sweet baby's voice

Holli Frijoles

One of my frugal family favorites is pinto beans. I make these almost every week, and we will eat them in bean and cheese burritos or on a tostada topped with cheese. Sometimes we add sour cream, tomatoes and lettuce, but usually we're purists. This is an easy and extremely inexpensive meal, and takes less than 5 minutes to prepare.

Our cast:

Pinto beans

Jalapeños

A red onion

First you'll want to sort and rinse your beans. Remove any rocks or debris and run them under some water. 

Now dump it all in a crockpot and cover with a few inches of water (don't skimp on your water).

Slice up your jalapeños. I use 3, but you can adjust according to your heat tolerance. No need to remove seeds or dice--big chunks will do. Discard the stems.

Now for the onion. I've made this with a whole onion and a half, and I didn't notice a difference in flavor, so we use half to be more economical. I've used white, yellow, and red onions; Hubby prefers the red. Again, no need to dice, just chop it up a bit.

Throw your veggies into the crock, and turn it to low.

Or turn it to high because you didn't get around to starting dinner until late morning. ;)

Now go play with your kids and enjoy your day. We went to the park and walked around the lake a couple times. At dinnertime, add some shredded cheese (& a tortilla if you're like Hubby), and enjoy your filling meal. 

And yes, I understand there aren't any veggies in our meal. Eat 'em at lunchtime. ;)

Linking up to the 4 Moms' Tip for Feeding a Large Family on a Budget and to Slow-Cooking Thursday