Saturday, July 14, 2007

Make and freeze burritos

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My other half and the 16 year old boy love burritos and now and then we buy them on sale at the grocery but though the price may be good, the nutritional content isn't. So today we made a batch of burritos for the freezer. I haven't done this in a long while and recruited my man person for opinions and tasting but the burritos are in the freezer now and my men folk are happy.

We like more meat than beans in the burritos but understand that beans do lend something to economy and nutrition. Unfortunately, they also lend quite a bit to the carbohydrate count and since two of us have Type II diabetes that's an issue to consider. In the end, here's what we did:

Browned 2.5 lbs of ground beef with some onion. When it was browned I drained the fat, put the meat into a colander, and rinsed it well under running hot water, breaking the meat into very small pieces as I rinsed it. Once it was rinsed and drained again I put it back in the wok on a very low flame and added two cans of Ranch Style Beans which had been well drained and mashed with a fork and a can of Ro-tel, drained. I mixed it all up and added crushed red pepper, garlic powder, a little salt, some black pepper and some chili powder. Then I ran it all through the blender, using the 'chop' function to mix it and mash the beans a little more. My other half tasted and added until it was to his liking so I don't have quantities of those spices. Just do it til it tastes right and you should have a gloppy mess that looks something like this.

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Once the filling was right, I spooned some (two to three large serving spoons full) onto the edge of a low carb flour tortilla, added some shredded Monterey Jack cheese, and rolled it up.

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Then I just placed it on a cookie sheet seam side down.

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I also made some with regular tortillas and the 16 year old will eat those. Each full cookie sheet went to the freezer and once the burritos are frozen they'll be individually packaged in freezer paper, labeled, bagged and put back in the freezer.

So there you have it, my basic burrito making method. It's easily adapted to whatever you have on hand or are in the mood for.

By the way, the burritos made with the low carb tortillas have a carb count of approximately 6 grams per burrito and the cost of each burrito is approximately $.50 with all the ingredients purchased on sale. I get 13 to 15 burritos per batch.

I really need to make a batch of these once a week for quick and easy snacks.

The 16 year old just had one and told me it was very good but not hot enough. Okay, more crushed red pepper in his and perhaps a little jalapeno.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

mmmm these look good denise! I make and freeze breakfast burritos all the time and the kids love them! We haven't done that many "lunch" burritos and im going to have to make some up soon!

thanks for sharing

CookinsForMe said...

Tamara, you're welcome! I don't eat them often at all but the kids sure love them and can go through a lot in one sitting! Even though .50 a piece isn't as cheap as they are on sale at Brookshire's, they're sure healthier and better for them! :)

Anonymous said...

Do these do ok being reheated in the microwave? Do they have to thaw before they can be cooked? I'm somewhat of a newbie to freezer cooking, but these look like a very tasty start.

CookinsForMe said...

Nicole, they do very well in the microwave. That's the only way the horde reheats them here. And nope, they go from freezer to microwave to the mouth! ;) I think you'll find them easy to make and tasty but change the spices any way you like! Make 'em yours. :)

flarin_erin said...

those look tasty... you can keep them together better if you fold each end up before rolling. they freeze pretty good that way as well.

AdelissaSkye said...

I have a question about this...what do you think about condiments like guacamole...do you think it would freeze well on a burrito? I suppose one could always top the burrito with sour cream/guacamole, etc and eat with a fork...

CookinsForMe said...

Wendy, I'm not sure about guacamole. I buy Wholly Guacamole now and then and freeze it and it thaws out fine so its probably doable. You might try it with one or two and see what happens.