Who loves Mexican food? I do! I do! And for Mexican food lovers, the Chimichanga is a definite favorite!

For those of you who haven’t yet had the pleasure, Chimichanga is a flour tortilla, filled with a wonderful ingredient like chicken, or steak, or seafood, and is usually accompanied by great  side items like salsa, sour cream, cheese, guacamole, and Mexican rice!  And the wonderful thing about the following recipe is you can prepare the chicken and the sauce a day or two ahead and refrigerate it if you’d like! A real time-saver for the evening when you actually make the Chimichangas!

Ready? Gimme some Chimi!

Chicken Salsa:
Ingredients
4 lbs. chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
2 cups salsa, homemade or purchased
2 cups petite diced canned tomatoes
4 tbsp. taco seasoning
2 cups onions, diced fine
1 cup celery diced fine
1 cup carrots, shredded
half cup water
6 tbsp. sour cream

Place the chicken in a slow cooker. Sprinkle the taco seasoning over the meat then layer the vegetables and salsa on top. Pour a half cup of water over the mixture, set on low and cook for 6-8 hours. The meat is cooked when it shreds or reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. When ready to serve, break up the chicken with a fork then stir in the sour cream.

Chimichanga Sauce:
Ingredients
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1-½ cup chopped onion
6 chopped garlic cloves
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 4-oz cans of chopped green chiles (drained & rinsed)
3 cups chicken broth
¾  cup chopped cilantro (if desired)

Saute chopped onion and chopped garlic cloves in a skillet with vegetable oil. Add chili powder, cumin, sugar and salt; cook 30 seconds. Stir in chopped green chiles; cook 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and simmer until thickened, then puree. Stir in chopped cilantro.

Chicken Chimichangas:
Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
10 10-inch flour tortillas
20.5 oz refried beans (I use La costena brand – yummy!)
Chicken Salsa (recipe above)
Chimichanga Sauce (recipe above)
2-1/2 cups Mexican style shredded cheese
1-1/2 cup sour cream
2-1/2 cups chopped lettuce
Guacamole (I use “Wholly Guacamole” – delish!)
2 large tomatoes, chopped

Mexican rice

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Melt the butter and vegetable oil in a small pan.

Brush a rimmed baking sheet with some of the butter-oil mixture. Spread 2 tablespoons refried beans down the center of each tortilla, leaving a 2-inch border on both ends. Top with 1 cup chicken mixture and 1/4 cup cheese. Fold in the ends and roll up.

Put the chimichangas seam-side down on the baking sheet; brush with the butter-oil mixture. Bake 8 to 10 minutes per side, brushing again after you flip.

Remove from oven. Place each chimichanga on a plate and top with warmed Chimichanga Sauce, more cheese, and sour cream. Surround with chopped lettuce, guacamole, and diced tomato. Serve with Mexican rice.  Muy bueno!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
In the same way that these flour tortillas are filled with a wonderful ingredient, so are you as a follower of Jesus Christ! The Spirit of God dwells in you!

Each of us possesses the Holy Spirit from the time we repent and believe. “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” (Romans. 8:9-10).

Paul goes on to say in Ephesians 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit.” The Greek word for “be filled”, plerousthe, literally translates “keep being filled.” When the greatest evangelist of the nineteenth century, D.L. Moody, was asked why he said he needed to be filled continually with the Holy Spirit, he replied, “Because I leak!” Like Moody, we all run out of gas and need the power of the Holy Spirit to recharge our lives. To be filled with the Spirit means we are continually seeking, submitting to and experiencing the Holy Spirit’s guidance and control in our lives. Unlike the filling in a Chimichanga – once it’s depleted, it’s gone, but we can continually be refilled as we yield moment by moment to the leading of the Spirit.

And as we surrender to the control of God’s Spirit, we’ll find Him producing some amazing things in us! The filling of the Holy Spirit is accompanied by some great “side items” that Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit.  They are: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)!

So . . . ser llenos del Espíritu Santo. ¡Es muy bueno!

–     Cheri Henderson