Spicy Bean Burritos

These aren't your typical bean and cheese burritos. These have a kick.

Ingredients:
Vegetable oil
Garlic
Chili powder
1 Chile from a can in adobo sauce
Ground cumin
Cayenne pepper
Pinto or black beans
Brown rice (cooked)
Salsa
Tortillas (burrito sized)
Cheese
Lettuce
Green onion
Sour cream

One of these days I want to try cooking my own beans, rather than getting them from cans every time, and will probably start with this recipe, since it's so flavorful. It would be very easy to make spicy beans from scratch.

Chop a few cloves of garlic and one of the peppers from the can of chiles in adobo sauce and put them in a hot pan with a tablespoon of vegetable oil, a teaspoon of chili powder, a spoonful of adobo sauce, a teaspoon of cumin, and a few shakes of cayenne pepper. Depending on how hot you want it you can add more or less of those spices. Cook all that for about a minute to let it all simmer together.

Add the beans! If you're making a ton, use two cans (should feed 6 people). The recipe we used said to use a can of pinto and a can of black beans, but it was just the two of us so we used the one can, which gave us 3 medium sized burritos each. With all those spices it sure comes out hot. 

Add 1/3 cup of water with the beans and mix everything together real well. Make sure all the spices and adobo sauce covers the beans and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Once it's a little bubbly lower the heat to medium low and mash the beans a little bit with a spoon. Continue cooking for 8-10 minutes, stirring and mashing as you go.

Ricey, beany, spicey.

Mix in about a cup of cooked brown rice and about a 1/4 cup of fresh salsa. Stir everything together real well so the rice is coated in the bean spices and the salsa. 

A little bundle of everything yummy. 

Assemble the burritos! We got a package of medium sized tortillas, and they really could have been bigger. Two of the medium sized equals one of the normal, large burrito sized tortillas, so we each had to have two to feel nice and fed. 

The trick to rolling a good burrito: don't overstuff it. Put what looks like a very small amount of the bean mixture in a line in the middle of the tortilla and add the toppings. After you put the cheese, onions, lettuce, sour cream and avocado on it (and maybe a dab of extra salsa) your burrito will be quite full. If you've ever been to Chipotle and watched them roll the burritos, try to copy that method. They take one side of the tortilla, fold it over quickly and use the tortilla to pull back all of the ingredients into a nice little package. Then, fold one end side inwards like you're wrapping a present and continue rolling the burrito over the end fold. If it's too stuffed it'll split down the middle, spilling bean goodness everywhere.

Add sriracha!

Total Cost: ~$15 (feeds 4-6, assuming you already have the spices... if not it's time to invest)

Total Time: ~30 minutes (including chopping, excluding time to cook rice)

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Sriracha Brussel Sprouts Over Quinoa

This recipe came about when I was craving avocado and happened to have some Brussels sprouts that really needed cooking. When I saw the sriracha I knew Rich would love it. And as weird as Brussels sprouts, quinoa and avocado covered in sriracha sauce sounds it's actually super delicious.

Ingredients:

Quinoa

Broth

Brussels sprouts (15-20)

Sriracha sauce

Avocado

Cheese

Garlic

Shallot

Olive oil

Lime

Salt and pepper

Cook quinoa like you cook rice, except use broth instead of water. (Exchanging broth for water when cooking rice makes it sooo tasty.) Use two cups of broth for every one cup of quinoa. Stir the quinoa real good because the grains will gather at the surface of the broth.

Like so.

Bring it to a rolling boil, then put the heat on low and cover. Cook for about 15 minutes or until the broth has been absorbed, and in the last minute or so squeeze in some lime juice. The recipe I used called for lime zest, which might actually make the lime stand out more, but I have no idea how to zest.

While the quinoa is cooking, get the sprouts ready. Chop a few cloves of garlic and a shallot and mix with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper, and a bit of lime juice. Douse the whole thing in 2 tablespoons of sriracha sauce and mix it all together really well. 

Clean and stem the Brussels sprouts, removing any loose outer leaves. Then douse the suckers in the garlicy, shalloty, srirachay mixture.

Line a baking sheet with tin foil and spread out the Brussels sprouts. Cover them with any of the sriracha mixture left in the bowl. If a little more olive oil is needed brush it over the tops.

Shiny, delicious sprouts.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes and then turn. Cook again for another 15-20 minutes, adding a tad more olive oil if necessary. Don't make them drenched in oil, just don't let them dry out.

Once they're good and crisped, sprinkle a small bit of cheese over the tops of the sprouts and return to the oven for another minute or two.

Remove them from the oven, add a diced avocado, and spoon the whole thing over a pile of quinoa. Add as much sriracha as you wish- the lime and avocado counteracts the spiciness, so you can add a lot more than you can usually handle. Or at least that's how it was for me... certain others like to pile on the rooster sauce.

And eat! This is also fantastic as leftovers. Just add fresh avocado and more sriracha.

Total Cost: ~$10 (feeds 4 easily)
Total Time: 45 minutes

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