Chimmy Chimmy Chimichangas

I LOVE Mexican Food. My sister LOVE Mexican food. When we lived together we would go to La Fuentes for Margaritas and to gorge ourselves on greasy tasty Mexican deliciousness. So when I decided to make this life style change I wanted to find Mexican Dishes that we could still eat but were a little bit better for us and kinder to our bodies. So when I found this recipe in my Weight watchers cook book I was like SCORE!!!!

Easy Chimichangas

PF 1/2 pound of lean ground beef (5% fat or less)

PF  1 Onion, finely chopped

       1 garlic cloved, minced

       2 teaspoons chill powder

       1 teaspoon dried oregano

PF  1 (8-ounce) can no-salt added tomato sauce

       1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat pepper Jack cheese

       4 (8-inch) whole wheat flour tortillas, warmed

(PF stands for Power Food)

Now, I replaced the pepper Jack cheese with Weight Watchers Four Cheese blend because I don't like pepper jack cheese. I also added sour cream and sprinkled some cheese on top when they were done. You can do that if you want, I also was sad that I didn't have any salsa to eat with them because that would have been pretty dope too. 

1. Light spray nonstick baking sheet with nonstick spray and set aside. (This will be important come step 3)

2. a To make the filling, spray medium nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and set over medium-high heat. Then added the beef, onion, garlic, chilli powder, and oregano, cook, breaking beef apart with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 6 minutes.

So I forgot to take a picture of all the ingredients before I started cooking them, and I would like to blame that on Tyra not being here. But what I did to prepare was just get everything on my cutting board after i chopped up the onions and rant them threw my food processor to get them finely chopped. I also cheated and used already minced garlic. Once it was all ready I threw it in the pan with the ground beef and spices and it looked like this

2b. Stir in tomato sauce and bring to a boil. reduce heat and simmer until flavors are blended and mixture is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remover skillet from heat and stir in cheese. 

So. I really need to learn to do better with taking pictures. Cause I am missing the pictures where it looks thick and when I stirred in the cheese AND what they look like before you roll them up. But here is a example of what I did after they filling thickened up.

3. Spoon about 1/2 cup of filling down center of each tortilla. Fold in sides and roll up to enclose filing. Place the chimichangas, seams side down, on prepared baking sheet. Light spray tops with nonstick spray, Bake until crips and golden, about 20 minutes @350 degrees.

This is how they looked when the went into the oven. This what they looked like when they were done.

So i paired it with some corn because I know my sister likes corn. If I were to do it again I would make some mexican rice and maybe some refried beans. So the best part of this is that this meal with the corn was only 9 points. 7 for the chimichanga and 2 for 2/3 of corn. Adding the fat free sour cream and extra cheese made it a grand total of 11 points for the whole meal. Not bad for a filling dinner :)

I think the best thing about cooking and trying new things is that I get ideas on how to make other meal, such as tacos taste just the same without having to use a lot of salt (because we all know how much sodium is in taco seasoning) and introducing my stomach to new and exciting flavors.

Next time join me for Santa Fe Chicken, which my friend Carolyn suggested I make. I am very excited about my very first crock pot entry :)

Sliders.

I miss bar food. Little mini hamburgers and the chicken wings. ALL the little finger food you get at your local pub. I am always in search of something that is healthy and quick that will satisfy my craving for those things that I crave that I probably should not eat. Although I do love those East Points Pub wings. (CAN'T give those up)

Any whoo so on this installment of Deevah's Dish we are going to make some AWESOME Sliders that is a variance on the Philly Cheese Steak that are only 7 points.

Hungry Girl’s Philly Cheesesteak Sliders-The Wheat Version.

PER SERVING (entire recipe, 3 sliders): 295 calories, 8.5g fat, 653mg sodium, 21g carbs, 3g fiber, 3.5g sugars, 33g protein -- PointsPlus® value 7*

One of the easiest ways to make three perfect slider buns? Cut up a hot dog bun! This version is beefy, cheesy, and Philly-licious!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 tsp. chopped garlic
4 oz. thinly sliced raw lean filet beefsteak (see HG Tip!)
Dash each salt and black pepper
1 light hot dog bun (I used a whole wheat bun)
1 slice fat-free American cheese

Directions:
Bring a skillet sprayed with nonstick spray to medium heat on the stove. Add onion, mushrooms, and garlic. Stirring often, cook until slightly browned, 3 - 4 minutes. Remove from the skillet and set aside.

Remove skillet from heat, re-spray with nonstick spray, and bring to medium-high heat. Add beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 1 minute per side, flipping gently, until fully cooked. Remove beef from the skillet and set aside.

Split open the hot dog bun without separating the halves. Pile veggies onto one side and top with the beef. Tear cheese into 2 strips, and evenly place over the beef. Gently close the sandwich to keep filling from escaping.

Remove skillet from heat, re-spray with nonstick spray, and return to medium-high heat. Carefully place sandwich in the skillet with one of the bun's flat sides down. Cook until cheese has melted and bun is lightly browned, about 1 minute per side, flipping carefully and pressing down with a spatula to seal.

Using a serrated knife, evenly slice into 3 pieces. Eat up!

MAKES 1 SERVING

HG Tip! Slightly freeze the beef before slicing it -- this will make thinly slicing it easier!

HG Alternative: Can't locate any 80-calorie light hot dog buns? No worries. Just get the lowest-calorie buns you can find and adjust the calorie count of this recipe accordingly!

Now, you can pretty much do anything you want this. I used lean stir fry strips in stead of what the recipe called for. I used portabella mushrooms because that was what I had. We also didn't feel like cutting up a onion, so we used some frozen onion. But you prepare everything below. 

So I basically just pulled apart the stirfry meat and seasoned it with some Mrs. Dash Original, garlic salt and pepper. I cut up my mushrooms my self and there you see the froze onion. (STOP JUDGING ME) :) 

Next we cooked up the veggies in a pan with some Pam Cooking Spray, the olive oil verson until it was brown. 

Now, at this point Tyra thought we should have put in more mushrooms, so you can't see her off to the side chopping more mushrooms. But when we were doing sautee-ing, this is what it looked like. 

 See the steam rising off the meat. Just a SN: make sure you beat the meat up before you cook it, using the stirfry meat. It was a little tough. But now you are ready to start making them.

First make sure you spray the pan with some cooking spray. I use Pam Olive Oil Stray. Then get your hotdog buns and put them in the pant to fill. DON"T TURN ON THE ISLE WHILE DOING THIS. You are going to put the oinon nushroom garlic mix on one said. And the meat mixture on the other.. Cut a slice of cheese on the meat side and close her up.

 So you are almost done. You just need to close them up and brown them in a pan. The cheese is going to fuse them together into the slider. I would say depending on how soft you want your bun is how long you cook them.

 Thing once you do that, you will be all finished and they will look like this. WE had Tator tots with our. 9 of the tots is 4 points.

 

Pretty tasty huh?

So what did I learn this week. I think I have been missing out on life. I really do love to cook and now that I know I am putting good things into my body. I don't need to go out and get Fast Food as much. Although I am craving some custard right now :) I think we nust need to really start being responsible for what we put in our bodies. Not to say I won't EVER go to another Fast Food Resturant again, but we do need to start holding those places accountable for what they are feeding us. If we demand better quality of food they would have to supply it. (Just my two cents)

I do have 2 more slider recipes that i will be doing in the upcoming weeks as a adendum to this, but I would imagine that you could change the meat out for anthing you want as long as it's lean. :) 

 Thanks Tyra for your help this week :)

What's next.

So I haven't written since the first blog. My plan is to make something new once a week. Hopefully this paycheck I can plan better to be able to complete two recipes. I still have the low fat chicken corn chowder that I am going to make, hopefully this weekend. I am also going to make Chicken and Mushroom Pizza and Some sliders. So be on the look out for these delicious and nutrition and do forget weight watcher friendly meals I will be preparing :)