From December 4th through 12th, Lena is gone visiting Branson with her siblings, thus leaving me to fend for myself here at home. 🙂 To preserve my sanity amongst final papers, final tests, and any other final things that happen at this time of the semester, I am going to tell you my lovely blog-readers and anyone else who might wish to know just exactly what I’m up to while Lena is gone! Perhaps you might find that my life is mundane and the littlest things amuse me, but that is just fine with me. I do hope you will enjoy a little something different from me on this blog while Lena is gone.
For starters, normally Lena cooks all of our meals (or we go out to eat). Of course, being a good farm-girl, raised in the Midwest and attaining the ranks of 10 years in 4-H, I am not without knowledge in the kitchen. I am a bit inexperienced and out of practice, but I was determined to skip the easy route of frozen dinners (no offense to anyone who eats these time-saving wonders)and cook for myself this week! Please take note of exhibit 1.
My meal of choice last night was Baked Chicken Chimichangas, a little Mexican delight I made completely from scratch (except I guess for the prepared salsa). I even cooked the chicken breasts, leading to the only minor snafu of the evening when the pot boiled over slightly. But, no worries, everything cleaned up just fine and the chicken was not harmed in the least! To complete my meal I dined on Southwestern rice, and added a little lettuce and sour cream to take a little off of the chili powder-induced kick to the chimichangas. In case you would like to enjoy these as I did, I am including the recipe.
Baked Chicken Chimichangas
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. olive oil
1/3 cup chili powder
16 oz. jar salsa
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 lb. cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts, shredded
6 10-inch flour tortillas
1 cup refried beans
Olive oil
Sour cream
Guacamole
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a 15 x 10-in. baking pan. In a large saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in chili powder, 2/3 jar salsa, water, cumin, and cinnamon. Pour the mixture into a blender; process until smooth. Pour back into the saucepan; stir in chicken. Add salt to taste. Working with one tortilla at a time, spoon a heaping Tablespoon of refried beans down the center of the tortilla. Top with about 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture. Place in a greased baking pan, seam-side down. Brush all sides with oil. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown and crisp, turning every 5 minutes. Serve with remaining salsa, sour cream and guacamole.
Yield: 6 servings (if you are a bachelorette such as myself this recipe is quite easy to cut in half)
And there you have it! A little Mexican meal to tantalize your taste buds.
What else might be occupying my time other than working marvels in the kitchen? I alluded to it at the beginning of this post: paperwriting! I am in full force mode, blasting my way to the finish line of papers for this semester. I will turn in one this evening, and then if procrastination does not get the best of me, I will finish up my last paper to turn in during class on Tuesday night. Perhaps this will give a little picture of what my paper-writing looks like: books piled high, papers strewn about, and a cup of joe to keep me going.
So, here ends my first installment in this series. Please stay tuned for further cooking/studying/whatever-else-I-can-come-up-with adventures!
A Heart Like His 
That is so great sister! Your meal does look fabulous, and thanks for including the recipe. 🙂 I hope you have fun this week! Love you!
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