Rice and Bean Burritos Take 2

I made a bunch of burritos a while ago and stuffed them in the freezer and I ran out last week! So I needed to make some more. Since I have time to cook this week, I figured I should make those so that I have more back-ups lunch and/or dinner plans for the upcoming weeks where I will be busy, busy, busy! The easiest lunch I could prepare. Just take one out of the freezer the night before and throw it in my backpack in the morning. I decided to mix up the ingredients to make these different from the last ones; hence the "Take 2" in the name. I took out the third can of beans and replaced it with corn. I also thought the paprika alone was too bland, so I found a new mix of spices to flavor the filling. The amount I have is too little compared to the filling, so I would try to double it next time. I would also like to try red beans instead of black and yellow rice instead of plain white rice. Make these with ingredients that you love to make them your favorite burritos.

Remember, watch this video to learn how to roll your burritos. It's been "eye-opening" for me, at least!



Rice and Bean Burritos [Makes 9 burritos]
From Macheesmo

- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 green pepper, diced [didn't have it so I used celery]
- 2 to 3 jalapenos, de-seeded and diced
- 1 1/2 cups long grain rice, uncooked
- 1 15-oz can black beans, drained
- 1 15-oz can pinto beans, drained
- 2 cups corn
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 3/4 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp chili powder
- Large pinch of salt and pepper
- 9 large tortillas

1. Heat oil in a large pan with lid. Add onions and peppers and saute for a few minutes.
2. Add the rice and stir for another minute. Once the rice is hot, add the necessary amount of water (or chicken broth) listed in the instructions of rice package to cook the rice.
3. Add the beans, paprika, salt, and pepper. Cover and let simmer on low for 20 minutes or until the rice is done (with a little bite but still soft).
4. Pull the pan off the heat and let it cool for about an hour. It needs to be room temperature before you start filling your burritos.

Curry Apple Fried Rice

Our university gives us a week off in February probably because of Washington's birthday, so this week all I have is student-teaching from 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. I am so glad to have this break because I have the evenings free! Now I seriously have time to cook as much as I want. I might have stuff to work on such as memorizing my lines for two plays (though one is significantly shorter time-wise) and making lesson plans. I will be teaching full-time in the classroom soon enough and I feel like I should prepare now and go over my notes with my cooperating teacher to make sure it'll work. But I don't have commitments to be somewhere other than my own home, so this week will be relaxing.

I've been wanting curry or anything with curry powder this week. This fried rice seemed interesting, especially with the apple. I think because I used a Golden Delicious apple, it wasn't such a prominent taste, but I liked that. I used chicken stock and it definitely is better than using water when you cook the rice. Still, season the dish with salt before serving because bland rice mixed with apple isn't great. I had a bunch of celery in the fridge so that and onions were the only vegetables I added into this dish, but next time, I'd like to add more color. Maybe I'll use a red apple.



Curry Apple Fried Rice
From Meatless Monday

- 1 cup rice
- 2 1/4 cups of vegetable stock
- 2 eggs, scrambled
- 1 cup frozen vegetables
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 apple, chopped with the skin on
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin

1. Cook rice according to package directions, using vegetable broth instead of water.
2. Preheat a wok over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the wok.
3. Add onions and frozen vegetables and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add apples and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until garlic begins to color.
5. Add rice, eggs, curry powder and cumin. Cook for 2 minutes more, serve and enjoy!

Rice and Bean Burritos

Mexican food is a favorite cuisine of mine. Nachos, tacos, chili, you name it! Burritos are also really great as a grab-and-go lunch. You can basically put anything you'd like into it, roll it up, and you're done. Exactly what I need for my lunches. While I like my Lentil Burritos, I was really craving something new. The co-op at my university has some great vegetarian options, one of which is a rice and bean burrito. This recipe is definitely a great start to re-creating the co-op's burrito. Next time, I might consider using a mix of cumin and chili powder or a packet of taco seasoning. I'd like to put more color into this also, so I might take out a can of beans and replace it with corn. Still, a filling meal. I've wrapped all 9 of the burritos in foil and placed them in the freezer so I can just thaw one and head out the door!

By the way, you should watch this video to learn how to fold burritos. Seriously, my burritos look professional, if that's possible. Even though this filling isn't runny, none of it fell out of the burrito as I was eating it.



Rice and Bean Burritos [Makes 9 burritos]
From Macheesmo

- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 green pepper, diced [didn't have it so I used celery]
- 2 to 3 jalapenos, de-seeded and diced
- 1 1/2 cups long grain rice, uncooked
- 1 15-oz can black beans, drained
- 1 15-oz can pinto beans, drained
- 1 15-oz can kidney beans, drained
- 2 tsp paprika
- Cayenne pepper [optional]
- Large pinch of salt and pepper
- 9 large tortillas

1. Heat oil in a large pan with lid. Add onions and peppers and saute for a few minutes.
2. Add the rice and stir for another minute. Once the rice is hot, add the necessary amount of water (or chicken broth) listed in the instructions of rice package to cook the rice.
3. Add the beans, paprika, salt, and pepper. Cover and let simmer on low for 20 minutes or until the rice is done (with a little bite but still soft).
4. Pull the pan off the heat and let it cool for about an hour. It needs to be room temperature before you start filling your burritos.

Chickpea, Brown Rice & Spinach Pilaf

Here's another easy recipe that I made for lunch. It took an hour to cook, but that's only because I decided not to use quick brown rice. I used 2 cups of brown rice in place of the one pound of microwavable brown rice. Next time, I will definitely use a bigger pot! There wasn't even room for the spinach, so I had to split between two pots. Oy.

This recipe appealed to me at first because of the way it looked and then when I read the ingredients, I fell in love with it even more. It's quite a colorful dish as there's the light brown from the rice, the bright green from the spinach, and the deep, dark color from the raisins. The textures are quite amazing, too, and I especially love the sweet bites from the raisins.



Chickpea, Brown Rice & Spinach Pilaf
From nettsu

- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 x 250g packets microwave brown rice [I went for 2 cups brown rice]
- 15 oz chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
- 120g baby spinach leaves
- 1/2 cup raisins

1. Heat the oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or until the onion is softened.
2. Add the rice, chickpeas and stock, bring to the boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium, cover & simmer for 5 minutes or until the rice is cooked through.
3. Remove the pan from heat, stir in spinach and raisins. Cover, stand for 5 minutes to wilt spinach slightly, then serve.