For lunch today I cooked up some Chimichangas. My children love to eat Mexican Food, and this is everyones favorite!
For the filling I used a quart size bottle of Beans that I cooked in the crock pot last week. Here is the recipe for the beans. They were yummy!

One large Organic Beef Soup Bone
5 C Dry Pinto Beans
1 C Amaranth
1 TSB Sea Salt
10 Whole Coriander Seeds
2 Onions
1 tsp Cumin
1 TBS Flax Seed
1 TBS Fennel Seed
1 TBS Psyllium Seed
1 TBS Brown Mustard Seed
1 TBS Golden Mustard Seed
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 Quarts of Water
Mix the Seeds and Spices togther in an Electric Seed Grinder. Add all ingredients to the crock pot and turn the heat up high for the first day. For the next two days cook the beans on the lowest setting. Bottle The Beans and keep in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.
Here are some pictures:

Spices after grinding

To Make the filling for the Chimichangas:
Brown one pound of ground sirloin beef (Sirloin has the highest protein content). Pour one quart of the bean and amaranth mix into the skillet. Add in one box of Frozen Organic Spinach, 1/2 of a quart of Sams Club Salsa (the white corn and black bean is our favorite)

This Salsa is so inexpensive! A whole quart costs less than two dollars and is so tasty! It is chock full of beans and corn and everyone at our house loves it. I use it both in the filling for the Chimmys and also as a garnish.

Fill a white flour tortilla with 1/2 Cup of the filling and place a slice of cheddar cheese on top. Then fold it in thirds and thirds again to make a square shape. I fry them in Olive Oil for about ten minutes. Five minutes on each side at a medium heat. Then serve with salsa, sour cream, rice, and any side dish you like. The picture at the top shows the Chimichanga with rice and a side of Chicken Livers.

Here is a picture of them frying, you can see the white basmati rice cooking in the pan on the back of the stove.

Why add Amaranth to beans?
Amaranth significantly ups the nutritional quality of any vegetarian foods. Even though I cooked the beans with a beef bone, which significantly improves the flavor of the beans, the protein content in the beans is significantly less when cooked without the grain.
Adding Amaranth to the beans completes the protein and gives a wonderful full bodied flavor to everything cooked with the beans like chile, tacos, chimmys, and bean dip.
The spices I added in also give a wonderful taste to the beans, and make them much more digestible.
I often get asked how I can stand to be around my family when I feed them so much gassy food. Beans, Whole Grains, etc…are known for causing excessive gas. We really don’t have that problem, and I believe it is because the seeds, herbs, and spices I cook with help all of us to digest the foods much better than if we did not eat them. When my kids eat excessive amounts of sugar and chemicals they tend to get nasty gas. But the beans and grains don’t bother them. Perhaps it is because I have always eaten these foods while pregnant and nursing and so they are used to digesting them.
The nutritional value of your food skyrockets when fresh whole spices are ground into them as you cook. The fennel especially does amazing things to any food it is put in. Flax and psyllium have been used to cleanse the bowell for generations and used in this recipe do not overpower the flavor of the food as they sometimes do in other recipes.

Sometimes I like to eat a big bowl of beans and grains. It is a great high energy food that keeps me going for hours.
Jenny Hatch