Burritos

Stephanie made burritos for our bus trip and for my plane ride back to Canada. She wrapped them in foil when they were hot and they stayed warm for a few hours. Burritos are rolled flour tortillas with a warm filling. They can be served for a meal, packed for a lunch, or frozen and quickly reheated in the future. We had them for supper tonight with a salad, guacamole and salsa.

2 cups cooked brown rice
3 cups cooked black beans
2 roasted poblano chilies finely chopped
2 roasted red peppers finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 clove crushed garlic
salt to taste

Grated cheese (optional)
Strips of cooked chicken or beef (optional)

12- 8 inch whole wheat tortillas (I buy this size at Costco. You can use 6 or 10 inch tortillas)

Method:

Mix first 9 ingredients together
Warm tortillas in microwave or on a skillet
Place 1/3-1/2 cup filling in tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese and lay meat on top if using
Roll tortilla up into a cylinder and place in an oven proof dish, seam side down

Continue until all tortillas are filled.
Cover dish and heat burritos in a 350 F oven for 30 minutes. (or warm individually in microwave)
Serve hot with garnishes as desired (salsa, sour cream, guacamole)

Burritos can be wrapped individually for bag lunches.

Variations:
The internet is full of burrito recipes for meat lovers and vegetarians. Breakfast burritos with eggs are also filling and easy to make.
I also cook onion, sweet and jalapeno peppers, mushrooms, spinach and seasoning until soft in a skillet. Add 2 ounces of cream cheese to the vegetables, heating until the mixture is creamy. Put a thin layer of refried beans on a tortilla, then a layer of vegetables and grated cheese if desired. Roll and heat as above.

Guacamole

We had a wonderful meal at a vegetarian buffet in downtown Tepic and the guacamole was the best I have ever tasted. I wanted a bowl of it, not just a condiment portion! I made some tonight to go with our burritos and it tasted almost a good as what I had in Mexico.

Mash together

2 large ripe avocados (or 3 small)
Juice of one fresh lime
1 clove garlic, crushed
A dash of cayenne pepper
2 tbsp hot red chunky salsa
3 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro
salt to taste

Rosca de Reyes

Ingredients

4 cups flour
1-11 g package of dry active yeast
150 g sugar (3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp)
6 g salt (1 rounded teaspoon)
3 eggs
120 g melted butter (1-1/3 bars with one bar equivalent to 1/2 cup)
125 g warm milk or water (1/2 cup)
Flavouring to taste i.e. vanilla, orange peel or extract
Decorations as desired such as citron, cherries, dried fruit, slivered almonds

Filling (relleno)

3/4 cup chopped nuts such as almonds and pecans
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
Flavourings as desired
Plastic infants

Method

1. Dissolve the yeast and 1 tbsp sugar in warm milk or water and let it rest for 10 minutes.
2. Put flour in a bowl, make a well and add yeast, eggs and all other ingredients. Stir until well blended and smooth.
3. Knead on floured board until dough is a good consistency
4. Place dough in bowl, cover with a towel and allow it to rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes until doubled in size
5. Roll dough into a 70 x 25 rectangle

6. Spread filling over dough, place the desired number of plastic infants on the surface and roll it up from the long edge.
7. Make a ring and place it in baking pan covering it and letting it rise again in a warm place until doubled in size.

Place decorations on dough before it rises the second time or you can glaze and decorate it after baking.

Bake at 375 F for 10 minutes and then at 325 F until done (approx 35 minutes)

Note- This recipe was taken from an insert in the package of yeast
Tradi-pan La levadura casera

Tortilla Spinach Lasagna

Stale corn tortillas are used instead of lasagna noodles in this tasty layered casserole. Tortillas can also be used with a tomato based sauce.

Ingredients

1-1/2 -2 cups milk of choice
2-3 tbsp flour
Dash of salt and pepper

Add milk slowly to flour to make a smooth paste. Add rest of milk and seasoning and heat on stove or microwave stirring often to make a white sauce.

Heat a frying pan and cook until softened...

8 ounces of spinach
1/2 cup mushroom
one diced jalapeño or poblano pepper
one clove of crushed garlic
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Add vegetables to white sauce. (Feel free to alter vegetable mixture)

Using 12 stale tortillas in a greased 9 x 9 pan...

Put 4 tortillas on bottom of pan. Add a layer of vegetables and repeat layers finishing with a sauce layer. Cover the top with a layer of crumbled or grated mild cheese. You can add cheese to the layers if desired. You can also add mashed beans as a layer. I like the texture of white kidney beans in this recipe.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes at 350F until bubbly or heat in microwave for 5-10 minutes.

Serves 4-6

Agua de Frutas

I am not a fan of sweet drinks, but the fruit drinks and teas served in Mexico are very refreshing and the sweetness is easily controlled.

Fresh fruit drinks

Blend a mixture of fruit such as strawberries, melon, mango, pineapple, orange, etc in the blender with a little water until you have a thick puree. Sweeten to taste. This is your concentrate. To serve, add some fruit to a glass or pitcher and add water a little at a time until desired consistency is reached. The drinks are thick enough that they are difficult to get through a straw. Garnish with lime if desired.

Jamaica

Add boiling water to dried hibiscus flowers and let it steep until it is a deep red color. Strain and cool and add sweetener to taste. Dilute concentrate as described above. I make hot hibiscus tea regularly and use 1 teaspoon dried flowers per cup of boiling water. For the cold concentrate I would start with 2-3 teaspoons per cup of water.

Nut Pinwheel Cookies

Make a basic sugar cookie dough (like this or this)

Combine
3/4 cup pecans
3/4 cup almonds
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
in a food processor and process until you have a coarse paste. Add a little milk or water to bind ingredients if necessary.

Roll dough into a rectangle that is about 3/8" thick. Spread nut mixture within 1/2 inch of edges. Roll from long edge into a roll refrigerate or freeze log. Slice cookies and bake at 375F for 6-8 minutes or until set and lightly browned.