Bean & Cheese Burritoes

I decided I was going to blog our dinner tonight . . . no matter how unglamourous it ended up being. So here you go.

This is actually one of our favorites. The kids absolutely love these things. Whole wheat tortillas boost the fiber count sky high. (I used white ones, though. They're stinking cheap at Costco) And they consume the vegetables involved greedily. Tonight they were reviewing their knowledge of the food pyramid--seeing how the meal fit into it. They determined it covered all the categories fairly well. Cute.

Anyhow, on with the food.

First you take the onions


and you cook em, you cook em, you cook em.


Then you unload all of the refried bean goodness from the can. Cook till warm.


You put it in the tortilla, top with cheese and bake for 10 minutes.


Top with desired toppings. We had green onions, lettuce, tomato, sour cream and salsa.


The finished product.


Simple. Delicious.

And gone.

Recipe:

1 large onion, chopped
1 T cooking oil
1 large can refried beans
grated cheddar cheese
8 flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook the onion in hot oil until tender. Add the beans. Warm through. Spoon about a 1/2 cup of bean mixture down middle of tortilla. Sprinkle desired amount of cheese on top of beans. Fold up. Cook on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Serve with desired toppings.

(from Better Homes and Garden Cookbook)

Black Bean Enchiladas

Okay, sorry I don't have cool step by step pictures this time (which I LOVE looking at, Kristin) but I just wanted to add a post today. I made these a few days ago, and just pulled them out of the freezer (see directions to freeze and reheat). But they are good. I compiled a few recipes that I found to make them. I really wanted to develop my own red enchilada sauce (instead of buying a can) with the ingredients I already have in my pantry. Here's what I came up with:

Red Enchilada Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup onions
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
4 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
3 dashes Tabasco Sauce
6 ounces tomato paste
2 cups water
2 cups beef broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon sugar

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic and onion and cook until soft. Add the flour and cook for a minute or so. Add the spices and tomato paste and combine thoroughly. Slowly add the water and beef broth whisking until combined. Season with salt and sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for an hour or so until reduced by about one third. (I think I ended up with about 3 cups at this point)


Black Bean Enchiladas

1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
10 corn tortillas
12 ounces Monterey Jack-Colby cheese or cheddar cheese
Red Enchilada Sauce
Cilantro

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion, and sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Stir in cumin, oregano, chili powder, garlic, and beans, and cook 2 minutes, stirring mixture frequently.

Stir in 3/4 cup of the red enchilada sauce, and 1 T. of chopped fresh cilantro (to taste), and half of the cheese, and cook 1 minute.

Warm tortillas according to package directions. Spread 1/3 cup enchilada sauce in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spoon about 1/3 cup black bean mixture down center of each tortilla, and roll up. Arrange enchiladas, seam sides down, crosswise in dish. Pour remaining enchilada sauce evenly over enchiladas, and sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheddar. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Notes:
1. To Freeze: After rolling enchiladas, place directly on a sheet of aluminum foil sprayed lightly with cooking oil. When they are all assembled, wrap the enchiladas in several layers of aluminum foil. Place cooled enchilada sauce in a ziploc bag. Place shredded cheese in another ziploc bag. Lay the sauce and cheese bags flat on top of the wrapped enchiladas, and wrap one more time in foil. To heat, remove the sauce bag and thaw under cold running water in sink. Place half of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Place the enchiladas on top of the sauce. Top with the remaining sauce and the cheese. Bake at 350°F until the cheese is melted, about one hour.

2. I served with Jasmine rice with a little fresh cilantro added in.

bacon, lettuce, tomato

The main ingredients . . .






Some yummy sides. . . .


(we also had french fries--the kids were excited--the Freys had french fries on Friday-that was all them, I promise)

With a bit of light Miracle Whip and some low-calorie, high fiber bread, these are seriously low in calories (or points as the case may be) and so delicious.