Quick and Cheesy Chimichangas

Hungry and Tired - a combination that usually results in crappy fast food or blah food at home. After coming home form a weekend of camping and a long drive, I just wasn't up for a big production number in making a meal. So I came up with these - they are fast, tasty and simple. This recipe makes about 6 chimichangas

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb ground lean beef
1/2 onion
salt, pepper, garlic powder and chile powder to taste
1 jalapeno, minced (OPTIONAL)
shredded cheddar cheese
4 large burrito-sized flour tortillas (11-12")
oil for frying
sour cream, minced cilantro and chili powder for garnish

and last but not least -

1 can Ranch Style Beans

METHOD:

Chop up the onion and reserve. Brown the ground beef, seasoning to taste as you are cooking it. Mix in the can of Ranch Style Beans, heat thoroughly. When completely heated, add the onions and mix well. You don't want them to get soft and disappear, you still want a little crunch to them.

Heat a skillet of oil on the stove top to 350 degrees. There should be ebough oil to come halfway up the side of the chimichanga, about 3/4" to an inch. Warm the tortillas in the microwave so they are soft and pliable. Put a nice layer of cheese sideways across the tortilla.
Next, cover the cheese with the meat and bean mixture. For a quick tutorial on folding chimichangas and burritos so they don't leak, see my blog post, "Folding Food - Burritos and Chimichangas". Once all the chimis are made up, it's time to get frying.

This won't take too long, 1-2 minutes per side. Do the toothpick side first, so that it willl stay closed. then when that side is fried to a nice golden brown, turn it over using tongs so as not to splash the hot oil. Fry the second side, remove from oil and drain. Repeat for remaining chimichangas.

Serve hot with choice of toppings & garnish. In this picture, I used sour cream, minced cilantro and sprinkled ground cayenne pepper.