Chicken Chimichangas

I'm not sure if I've ever had a chimichanga before Sunday night. I had no idea what I was missing! It was a complete accident that we stumbled upon this Godsend of a meal. Sunday afternoon I was flipping through a Cooking Light cookbook trying to figure out what we were going to eat for the week so I could go grocery shopping. I had everything picked out when Ryan requested some kind of Mexican/Southwest chicken meal for dinner that night. The first recipe I came to that qualified was chicken chimichangas. Ryan asked what a chimichanga was. I said I didn't have a clue.  But the ingredients sounded good, so I added them to the list and we'd give it a shot for dinner.

For some reason I thought chimichangas were going to be like enchiladas (with a tomato based sauce and lots of cheese), which I love, but are really hard to do "light".   However, I was pleasantly surprised (once I'd already started making them) that they were much lighter, colorful and really easy to make. After sauteeing and shredding the chicken, it took about 15 minutes to combine all the ingredients, roll up the tortillas and pop them in the oven. By the time they were done (7 minutes later), dinner was ready! I made some fresh guacamole to go on top. Ryan doused his in hot sauce and green salsa. We LOVED them!! Couldn't get enough. The cooking spray made the tops crispy and the chicken filling was very flavorful. And did I mention they are COOKING LIGHT! Guilt free baby.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups shredded cooked boneless chicken breast

1 cup crumbled queso fresco cheese

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 clove garlic, minced

1 (4.5 ounce) can green chilies drained

1 (16 ounce) can fat free refried beans

6 (8 inch) whole grain flour tortillas

cooking spray

bottled green salsa

Directions: 

1.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

2.  Combine first 7 ingredients in large bowl and toss well.

3.  Spread 1/4 cup refried beans down center of each tortilla.  Add 2/3 cup chicken mixture.  Roll.  Place in casserole dish (coated with cooking spray) with seams down.

4.  Spray tops of tortillas with cooking spray.  Optional: top with a little extra cheese.

5.  Bake for 7 minutes. 

6.  Serve with green salsa, hot sauce and/or guacamole.

 Mmmmm...delish!