Mar 07 2009
Transforming Leftovers – Beef Chimichanga
I’m always looking to put a spin on leftovers. When I was in college, I had a reputation in our apartment for packing up leftover food, putting it in the fridge, and promptly forgetting about it. On any given day, you could open our fridge and find my latest science experiment. I’m still not the best about eating up leftovers, but I’ve discovered if I really try to think outside of the box in terms of what I can do with these foods, I’m much more likely to actually eat them.
In this particular situation, I didn’t have to make a big change, but I did have to make something I’d never made before. Had I known that making chimichangas was this simple, I would have done this a long time ago.
Simple Beef Chimichangas
per serving
Leftover taco meat
1 slice cheddar cheese
1 tortilla (preferrably made without hydrogenated fats)
olive oil
lettuce
salsa
sour cream
guacamole
Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Warm the tortilla in the microwave according to the package directions. Place the cheese in the center of the tortilla. Top with taco meat. Fold the top and bottom ends in towards the middle, then fold each side over, so the tortilla is folded up like a little pocket.
Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Place tortilla seam-side down into a glass baking dish. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top, and brush with a pastry brush to evenly distribute. Bake for 20 minutes. Make a bed of lettuce on your plate and place the chimichanga on top. Add salsa, sour cream, and/or guacamole as desired.
