Cheesy Chicken Chimichangas

It rained this weekend.  A lot.  It rained last weekend too.  Afraid that I might actually lose my mind if I had to spend another weekend with nothing to occupy my mind while hemmed up in the house with a bunch of bored onions, I started the rainy weekend prepared with LOTS of groceries, a new book, a new family game, supplies for a craft project and a new movie.  BOOM.  Bring it, rain.

I’d like to take a minute and tell you about the craft project and why I’m pretty sure we all have cancer now.  Have you seen the one on Pinterest where you arrange plastic beads in a cake pan and melt them in the oven to make sun catchers?  Well, I thought that sounded like a super cool project for the onions.  We carefully assembled all our beads (then I tripped over the dog on the way to the oven with Brutus’ creation and totally ruined it which resulted in a whole lot of crying, another hour spent redoing it and my first beer of the day) and popped them in the oven per the instructions.  I’m no rocket scientist but I’m fairly certain the fumes coming out of my oven could not have been healthy.  Don’t worry.  I kicked the kids out onto the screened porch once my eyes started watering, my throat closed up and the cats passed out.  Don’t call the authorities.  I don't actually think the kids were harmed.  Me and the cats? Possibly.

Anywho, once I aired the house out, I decided to try a new recipe.  This is really just a spin-off of the Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas.  I thought it would be neat to make little bundles instead of the rolled enchiladas. The enchiladas can be hard to plate sometimes and if I ever wanted to make a massive batch, the little chimichangas would be easy to make fit into other size pans.

Cheesy Chicken Chimichangas
3 large or 4 small chicken breasts
Water
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 8-oz. package cream cheese
1 1-oz. package taco seasoning
1 4.5-oz. can green chilies
6 10-inch flour tortillas
2-3 cups shredded White American cheese*
2 cups whipping cream
Salsa or pico de gallo

Poach the Chicken:
Place chicken in a large pot and cover by one inch with water. Add salt. Heat on medium-low heat, covered, until water begins to boil. Reduce heat to low and let chicken simmer (do not let water reach a full rolling boil) for about 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken and set aside. Reserve cooking liquid for rice if desired.

Make the Filling:
Sauté onion in olive oil until tender. Add cream cheese, taco seasoning and green chilies (with liquid) to onions. Reduce heat to low and stir until all ingredients are combined and cream cheese is melted.

Remove skin and bones from chicken if applicable (I highly recommend using bone-in breasts with skin any time you can as they are so much more flavorful and make a richer stock). Shred chicken with two forks and add to cream cheese mixture. Stir until thoroughly combined.

Assemble Chimichangas:
Spray a 13x9 backing dish with cooking spray.  Spoon 1/6 of the mixture into the center of a tortilla.  Fold four sides of the tortilla to make a square and place, folded side down, into the baking dish. Repeat until you've assembled six chimichangas, placing all in the dish (two rows of three).

Mound shredded cheese evenly over chimichangas  Pour whipping cream over cheese (the cream and cheese will scatter a bit throughout the dish - that's OK). Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove aluminum foil and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes or until cheese has started to brown.

Serve with salsa and/or pico de gallo.

*Absolutely no substitutions! This is what they use to make queso dip at the Mexican restaurants. REALLY. You can find Land o’ Lakes White American cheese in the deli at Wal-Mart and Publix. You’ll need about 1/2 a pound for 2-3 cups of shredded cheese. And you'll prolly have to tell them not to slice it.

PRINTABLE RECIPE