Bean Burritos

My husband made bean burritos for me early in our marriage, and for many years, we made them the same way: we warmed a can of refried beans, made plain white rice, chopped up lettuce and tomatoes. We heated tortillas over the stove, and filled them with beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa and sour cream. It was an inexpensive, quick meal, and it led to my very first food storage purchase of hundreds of cans of refried beans. They were on sale for .33 a can, and I went to the store manager and ordered several hundred cans, and then picked them up to keep in our pantry and to use for the next several years.

When we started to live on our food storage, we had some cans of refried beans in our storage, but it wasn't long before we had eaten them. I learned to cook the pinto beans that I had stored, and we simply mashed them and cooked them with a little water in a frying pan to make them into simple "refried" beans. My children weren't fans of burritos, though, and so we didn't have the meal very often (plus, we didn't usually have most of the ingredients to make them).

One day I decided to make them again for dinner. I had no lettuce or tomatoes, but I did have some sour cream. I didn't want to take the time to mash up the beans, so I didn't. The children LOVED them! They said they much preferred having the beans whole. I've been making them that way ever since.

As we are often living on our food storage, we make these with whatever we have on hand. That means that if we don't have lettuce and tomatoes, sour cream or salsa--we leave those things off. Lettuce and tomatoes don't usually grow at the same time in our garden, since lettuce grows when it's cool and tomatoes when it's warm. In the picture above, I had both, which sometimes happens for us in November/December. I used yogurt in place of sour cream.

Since we often didn't have tomatoes or salsa, I switched the rice that I was using to make these burritos to give them more flavor. Instead of using plain rice, I use leftover Spanish Rice, if I have it, or I make rice with a simple tomato bullion just for having burritos.

To cut my time in making these, I make 5-10 cups of pinto beans at a time. I freeze the leftover beans in freezer bags, and pull them out when we are having burritos. Having bought the pinto beans in bulk keeps the cost down, making this a very inexpensive meal. I can then make a batch of tomato rice while getting the rest of the meal ready, and I can have this meal on the table in 30 minutes.

Amounts will vary, depending on the size of your family, and if you want to have leftovers or not. I love having leftovers so that I can quickly pull them out for lunch or dinner the next day. This makes a 10 minute meal the second time, giving me more time to do other things.

Serves 8 with some leftovers

Ingredients:

12 - 16 flour tortillas

4 cups cooked pinto beans, or 4 cups cooked black beans

2 cups rice

4-6 cups water (depending on how you like your rice; we like ours a little soft so we use more water)

5 tsp Knorr tomato bullion powder

Optional toppings:

chopped lettuce

diced tomatoes (We have used canned, drained diced tomatoes on occasion as well)

limes

sour cream or yogurt

salsa

Cook rice with water and tomato bullion powder until cooked through.

Heat beans until warm. I usually just dump them into a bowl and warm them in the microwave. You can add salt if you want, but plain is fine, too.

Warm tortillas. We have a gas stove, so I just a pair of tongs and warm them directly on the grate over the flame. You can also warm them in a skillet instead, flipping them a few times each until they are puffed up and have browned a little.

Fill burritos with rice, beans, and any other desired toppings. Serve warm.

Notes:  I buy pinto beans and rice in bulk. Both can be found at Sam's Club (which is where I get my rice). I bought bulk pinto beans from Walton Feed years ago and I am still using those. I have made homemade tortillas before, but as they are quite time consuming, I buy tortillas in bulk from Sam's Club when I am able to do so.

I buy the Knorr tomato bullion powder in a 2.2 pound container from Walmart.

I occassionally put lime juice on my burritos. I love them this way. I get the limes 12 for $1 a the dollar store, and any limes that I can't use before they go bad are juiced. I freeze the juice in a tiny ice cube try to pull out for when I need it.

Quiche

To make the dough:

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut butter into dough with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles course meal with small pea-sized pieces of butter.

Slowly add the water and stir until just combined. The dough should just hold together in the bowl, but should not be sticky.

Form the dough into a ball and cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour before using.

After dough is chilled, turn it out onto a well-floured surface. Roll the pastry out to fit the shape of your tart pan. Place in a 10 inch tart pan. Lightly prick the dough with a fork all over.

Put this pan in the freezer for 10 minutes to let the dough set. This will keep the dough from falling when you cook it.

Preheat the oven to 350º.

When the oven is warm and the dough is chilled, cook the quiche shell for 20 minutes.

While the shell is cooking, make the filling:

Steam the spinach until lightly steamed.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs.

Add butter to a large skillet. Melt over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until soft (about 4 minutes). Blend in the flour, salt, and pepper. Add the cream, whisking constantly, until smooth and thickened. Let cool slightly.

Whisk a small amount of the cream mixture into the eggs to temper. Gradually add the remaining cream mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly. Stir in the bacon, spinach, and cheese.

Pour egg mixture into the prepared crust. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until filling is set. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes: You can substitute beet greens, turnip greens, or swiss chard for the spinach if that is what you have. This is an ideal spring meal because I have spinach in my garden. Around Easter, eggs are really inexpensive. If you're able to, buy 10 dozen or so and enjoy lots of eggs!

Cranberry Almond Granola

Store bought granola is expensive. Making your own granola is much less expensive, especially if you buy your ingredients in bulk. If you have lots of add-ins, the price of your granola will go up. This is a simple granola that statisifies while keeping the cost low.

3 cups old-fashioned oats*

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup chopped almonds

1/3 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350º.

Mix all ingredients, except cranberries, together in a mixing bowl.

Spread mixture on a silicone baking mat on a cookie sheet.

Bake mixture for 15 minutes, stirring once in the middle of cooking.

Remove granola from the oven, and stir. Let cool for 2-3 minutes. Add fruit in and stir to combine. When granola is cool, move to an airtight container. Will keep for 2-3 weeks (at my house, it doesn't last 2 days!) Serve over homemade yogurt, or on top of oatmeal.

Notes:

To make this for less, I buy all of the ingredients in bulk. I get the almonds, cranberries, salt, and vanilla in bulk from Sam's Club. I get the oil in a 1-gallon container from Walmart. I buy the oats in bulk from the LDS cannery; you can see my Bulk page for resources for bulk suppliers of oats. Honey can be purchased in 25 pound amounts from different distributors in group purchases.

If you want granola with big chunks, don't stir it when it's warm. Let it cool completely, and then stir it.

You can substitute any dried fruit for the cranberries.

If you use 1/3 cup oil, you will have a dryer granola, with a bit less fat, and you'll have spent a  little less, too. If you use 1/2 cup oil, it will be more moist. I vary between making it with either 1/3 cup or 1/2 cup, depending on my mood.

*Granola is usually made with old-fashioned (rolled) oats. However, I have made this recipe succcessfully with quick oats. Use what you have.

Apple Tart

To make the pastry:

In a bowl, blend the flour, salt, and butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the water and stir the mixture until it forms a dough. Let chill, wrapped in plastic, for 30 minutes.

To make the filling:

Halve, core, and thinly slice apples. (Do not peel them).

In a bowl, combine apples with half the sugar (1/4 cup) and the apple juice.

Let macerate 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into an 1/8-inch-thick round and fit it into a 10-inch tart pan. Prick the dough with a fork (not all the way through or it will stick to the pan) and top with the sliced apples. Bake for 30 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, remaining sugar, ground nuts, and cream. Pour over the apples and bake 15 minutes longer. Serve warm. (It's good cold, too).

Yield: 6 to 8 servings