Chimichangas: Nana Style!

Each year on April 30th, this festive holiday celebrated across Mexico and in many Latin American countries to honor and appreciate children. It’s a time for communities to come together to hold special events for children and to remember the joys of childhood. I’m excited to be part of the tasty online festivities!

Día del Niño

I grew up as a third-generation Mexican-American chica and honestly, it felt like every day was Día del Niño! Especially when we went to visit either of my Nanas – they were all about cooking whatever meal us kids wanted. Sometimes, my Nana Cano would have three or four meal selections going on just to make her grandkids happy – that is what made her happy!

But let’s talk about HERDEZ® Salsa Verde. This story relates to my Nana Jauregui. I’ve blogged a lot about her here, all our fun shopping adventures and such. Wooo, deep breath…I haven’t blogged about it yet, but my Nana Jauregui passed away after the holidays. It was so hard to let go. She was 96 and so tired of being…OLD. Her mind stayed fresh, but her body just couldn’t keep up. She finally gave in and let the inevitable happen. She had a touch of dementia in her final days and didn’t even recognize me the last time I saw her.

But I was OK with that because she gifted me a lifetime of memories. Whenever I see HERDEZ® Salsa Verde, it makes me laugh, because I think of Nana. This was her FAVORITE condiment. She spooned it on everything, so much that when I took her grocery shopping, we’d make a bee-line to the salsa aisle and she would hand off jar after jar to me to place in the shopping cart. It’s like she planned to feed a huge wedding party or she wanted to stock up for the apocalypse! I used to joke about it to my sister, thinking maybe Nana’s mind was slipping a little. Why else would she buy so many jars? It’s not like the Herdez factory was closing anytime soon!

Then one day, I learned why. And it made perfect sense. As we were checking out, the cashier scanned each jar and smiled at Nana. I know what she thought – that Nana was loca for buying all those jars of Salsa Verde.

Nana noticed the awkward moment and cleared her throat.

“I love this salsa,” Nana said. “And I don’t know when I’ll be back here to get some, I depend on my grandkids to bring me shopping and sometimes they are very busy. And I don’t want to run out of my salsa. You know how it goes when you love something.”

Did you just wipe off a face of tears? I did.

So when I saw the campaign for HERDEZ® Brand – I jumped at the chance! While they have oodles of recipes on their site, I wanted to make something special. This classic recipe is dedicated to my Nana Jauregui! She loved chimichangas and often made them for us as kids. I learned how to make them for this campaign in her honor, she would be soooo proud. And of course they are soaked in HERDEZ® Salsa Verde, just the way she liked! I’m happy to report that this was my first try making these and they were a huge success!

Before I go into my recipe – I want to mention that there is a #ThrowBackThursday photo contest on the HERDEZ® Facebook wall, and you have the chance to win 1 of 3 Día del Niños prize packs each week! Go for it – go win some prizes!

Ingredients:

– HERDEZ® Salsa Verde and Chile Verde Enchilada Sauce

– Flour tortillas

– Chicken, boil, season and shred it

– Shredded cheese

– Sliced black olives

– Chopped lettuce

– Bottle of cooking oil, preheat in deep pan

Let’s Get Cooking

1. Warm the tortillas on the stove, then fill with shredded chicken, cheese and sliced olives and anything else you want. You can even mix in some green chile sauce with the chicken if you want. This was my first try making these and I was scared the liquid from the sauce might splatter,so I held back. But next time, I’m going to add sauce in with the chicken!

2. Roll them up nice and tight, then using tongs, carefully set them in the hot oil in the deep pan. Leave them alone until they brown and look crispy.

3. Flip them over, very carefully so you don’t puncture the tortilla. Next, heat up the enchilada sauce.

4. Done! Place them on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil, then place on a plate and add the enchilada sauce, sour cream, olives, cheese and chopped lettuce.

5. Spoon on the HERDEZ® Brand Salsa Verde. Generously.

You can add pico de gallo and beans on the side.

From Herdez®:

The HERDEZ® Brand cares about authenticity in both food as well as culture and tradition. In honor of the authentic holiday, Día Del Niño, the HERDEZ® Brand will celebrate the joy that children bring to our daily lives! We’ll recognize their favorite Mexican foods, create an avenue where caregivers showcase the love they feel for the children in their lives and one that invites adults to celebrate their inner child.