Today is Thursday. That means I’m doubling up the dinner recipe and putting half in the freezer! I plan to do this every Thursday until baby boy #3 arrives. I chose Thursday because its my “lightest” day and I can spend some extra time in the kitchen.
This recipe from Carrie at Carrie’s Cooking called for a ground beef, green peppers and onions mix…so I decided that I’d kill 2 birds with 1 stone and brown up some extra ground beef mix and freeze it for an easy spaghettti sauce or a skillet dinner post-baby…or even pre-baby!!! And what’s even more perfect…green peppers were on sale (their lowest price around here!) for $.50 each this week!
So tonight I was able to get an extra meal, plus 6 portions of ready-made ground beef mix into the freezer!
The recipe below is the “single” dinner recipe for 4. I noted the freezer directions below as well.
Beef and Bean Chimichangas
Yield – 4 servings
Preparation Time – 15 minutes
Cooking Time – 55 minutes (+time to cook beans)
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef ($1.39)
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped ($.15)
- 1 green bell pepper, diced ($.50)
- 1 cup frozen corn, thawed ($.33) On sale for $1/16 oz bag this week!
- 1 15 oz can tomato sauce ($.59)
- 2 teaspoons chili powder ($.05)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder ($.05)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin ($.05)
- Salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup dried black beans ($.10) Bought on sale with coupon and store promotion!
- 8 burrito size flour tortillas ($.69) Bought on sale with coupon and store promotion!
- 2 cups of shredded Mexican cheese blend (Omit if dairy free!) ($.85) Bought on sale with Kroger store coupon!
- 1 tablespoon butter or dairy free margarine, melted ($.10)
- Shredded lettuce ($.20)
- 1 tomato, diced (From the garden)
**Note: CVS brand spices are on sale this week!
**Variation: Substitute tomato sauce and spices for a 10 oz. can of Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies
Directions
- Soak beans overnight or for at least 2 hours in HOT water. Drain, rinse and then add to saucepan and cover with 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 1.5 – 2 hours, or until beans are soft. Drain juices. Substitute 1 15 oz. can of black beans if prefer.
- Brown the ground beef with green pepper, onion and corn. Drain.
- Stir in the tomato sauce and chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook for 4-5 minutes, allowing flavors time to mingle. Add cooked black beans.
- Lay the tortillas flat and spread the meat and bean mixture onto each of the tortillas. Top with shredded cheese.
- Roll up the tortillas, and place them seam-side down onto a baking sheet. Brush the tortillas with melted butter.
- Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes, or until tortillas turn golden brown.
- Serve Beef and Bean Chimichangas with Lettuce and Tomato Salad.
For the Freezer: After rolling up the tortillas place in freezer safe container and place in freezer. When ready to cook defrost in refrigerator overnight, then brush with melted butter and bake as directed above.
Cost $5.05
That looks REALLY GOOD!!!
This dish looks good and I would like to cook it .. thanks!
These would be family pleasers for sure!
Looks delicious! Great idea about freezing the browned ground beef. It’s also useful in the slow cooker–for chili, spaghetti sauce, etc.
This recipe sounds almost the same as the “Mexican Rice casserole” we just tried for a freezer meal for when we add a baby in 17 weeks. Its pretty much the beef and bean stuff mixed in with cooked rice and baked, but cheese goes on top. I have heard brown rice holds up better to the freezing process. But it sounds genius to just cook up the rest if the mix then sever on rice, or in tortillas, or whatever and it takes less space! Thanks for the great idea! I am going to make notes and follow suit.
That looks absolutely delicious! Thanks for the inspiration, I’ll have to give this recipe a try.
That does look like a delicious recipe, I’m going to make it this week! I just discovered your site and am having a blast planning meals for the whole month! I, too, did what you did, stocked up the freezer when I was pregnant w/ baby #4, made the dinners so much easier after the baby arrived!! Thanks again for this site! 🙂
I made this on Wednesday (although I substituted refried beans for the black beans and used 2 cups of taco sauce instead of tomato sauce). We loved it! Great recipe, we’re adding it to our ‘rotation!’ Thank you!
OMG…I just came along this website…And might just help me become a smarter person…I’ve been wanting to learn how to cook ( yes cook, I’m 29 and no one ever taught me) and freeze meals…This recipe will be made sometime in the next week…And I will be subscribing to your site!!! Yummy!!!
Sorry if I missed it, but what tempurature do have your oven set at for this recipe. I can’t wait to try this recipe.
I didn’t know what to make for dinner tonight using ground sirloin so I came to this site. I will be making this tonight though I don’t know if I have any beans so might have to make this without-I am sure it will be tasty! Thanks for the great inspiration once again!
Fabulous! I have all of these ingredients! Thank you! I know what’s for dinner tomorrow night!
$1.39 for a pound of lean ground beef!! That is insanely cheap! I have never in my life seen a pound of beef ever that cheap here in Canada (I’ve also never seen a coupon for beef).
I’m making this meal tonight and I figured it is costing me about $16 and that is with my trying my best to bargain shop.
This ended up making about 10 Chimichangas which is definitely 2 meals for us. So $8 isn’t so bad! Plus my 2 year old loved them!
It cost me about $6 to make this recipe tonight. Like Suzanne, I made ten. I loved the idea of getting the crispy shell by baking instead of frying them. It was a nice change from burritos.