Bean Burritos

I never get sick of beans, I actually crave them sometimes.  Even if I over do it, after a few weeks have passed, I'm wanting beans again.  It's been a while since I made burritos, so I soaked some black beans over night, and had a tasty dinner last night.  When using dry beans, soaking over night cuts down the cooking time a lot.  I used black beans, because I had some in my pantry.  Pinto beans would also be tasty in a burrito.  You could use canned beans, but it's so easy not to, and significantly cuts down on the sodium.  Anything out of a can is loaded with salt, even if you buy the low sodium versions.  You can also make beans and ground beef or pork or chicken, or sausage, whatever you like.  I made mine just with beans and rice.

First decide how much you want to make, you can always freeze some for later.  You want to use about 3x as much water as beans, and just let that stand over night.  In the morning, add your spices.  I use s&p, cayenne pepper, garlic, onion, cumin - it adds a nice flavour.  Set your stove to low, and let it simmer for a few hours.  If you have a slow cooker, that could be very handy, and you could even skip the soak.  Just put on your slow cooker in the morning, and 8 hours later or so, your beans are ready.  make sure your heat isn't too high, because you don't want to be losing too much water too fast.  Once they are soft, you can try eating one to test, take a potato masher and mash your beans.  That's it, they're ready.

Make some rice, I use brown rice and add some spices, like paprika, hot pepper flakes, a bit of salt, or if you have a pre-blended spice which would go with a burrito, try that.  Then get your toppings ready, I usually have cheddar (old and white for me, mild and orange or marble for James).  BTW, cheddar cheese is naturally white, the orange is food colouring, nothing more.  Gross, right?  I usually have salsa, again, mild for James, sometimes I'll have that, but I like the Chipotle, some diced tomatoes, avocado or guacamole, green onions, cilantro, and sour cream or plain yogurt.  After assembling, I use my grill, and the burritos get warmed up and stick closed together.  I usually put the sour cream or yogurt on top, after it's grilled, or use it as a dip.  Super tasty and healthy.  Not every market has corn tortillas, and even the ones that do, when you read the ingredients, they list corn and what flour.  Corn flour tortillas are very brittle and messy, so my guess is that it's why they don't sell 100% corn flour tortillas here.  If you do use the corn/ wheat blend, those do break apart quicker than the wheat alone, but if you warm them up first, it prevents breakage a bit.

Very tasty, filling, good for you, and great for parties or any day of the week.  You can put left overs in the fridge for the next day or freeze and have in a few days or few weeks.  I used 2.5 cups of dry beans, we had 4 burritos last night, and there is still enough for today's dinner and probably more.  I won't be freezing my leftovers, I'll just use them as a topping for nachos and have a snack for tomorrow night, because I'm not sick of the beans yet :)