If you have followed many of my blogs, you have probably noticed that there are quite a few recipes with a Mexican flair. I can't help it. My dad was from Texas, and he made sure I grew up on Old El Paso and Tex Mex-style food. Now that I'm older, I'm learning how to make many of those dishes from scratch, and there have been quite a few successes! This recipe here for bean and cheese burritos is one of the successes. I use the base recipe I received from my aunt for bean dip (I just don't add the sour cream). Then I followed this blog for Freezer Burritos for how to package and freeze the burritos I made. This recipe makes 10 burritos, and two are a very filling meal when eaten by themselves.
2 27-ounce cans of chili beans
1 small onion
2-4 cloves of garlic
variety of peppers for the amount of heat you want (you can use more peppers for flavor but reduce their heat some by scraping out many of the seeds)
1 Tbsp cumin
Dice the peppers and garlic.
Place beans in a pot large enough to hold them and allow you room to stir. Add onion, peppers, garlic and cumin.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for several hours stirring frequently until mixture thickens and the beans are soft and mushy. Use a spoon or a masher to mash beans together.
Then assemble your ingredients for the burritos - cheese, refried beans, tortillas and aluminum foil.
Warm tortillas for 30 seconds in the microwave. Take a tortilla, place on aluminum foil and scoop one to two spoonfuls of beans. Sprinkle with cheese.
Fold sides in, then begin rolling from the short side, ensuring that the seam ends up on the bottom.
Wrap burrito in aluminum foil, and then place in a freezer-safe bag.
If you want to cook some at this point, bake unwrapped burritos in 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for 7-10 minutes until burrito shell begins to turn golden brown. Ensure the seam side is down. If not, freeze burritos, and when ready to cook, place frozen burritos in 400 degree Fahrenheit oven and bake for 35 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake for 7 minutes longer until burrito begins to turn golden brown.
Several weeks ago, I tried my hand at creating a cookie recipe and Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Raisin Cookies was the result. You know what? It turned out really well! So, I decided to try my hand at creating a cake. For all of the creative side of my personality, I also have a very mathematical, analytical side as well, and that kicked into high gear as I prepared for this recipe. I wanted to do something like a carrot cake, but based loosely on my pumpkin bread recipe. I did research on what exactly it was that made something a "cake" versus being a "bread," and I found several good blogs to help explain the difference. Then I broke out Excel, and listed the ingredients for my carrot cake recipe, pumpkin bread recipe and a recipe for carrot bread that I found. Then with the knowledge I learned from the blogs, I compared the recipes and decided roughly on the following - I did tweak it just a little bit more as I was preparing it. I have to admit that I was a little scared to tell my coworkers that I had brought Pumpkin Zucchini Cake for Monday treat. Doesn't really sound like much of a treat does it? Let me tell you though, it went over very well. I received lots of compliments on it. Even my daughter said it was delicious, and she had NO idea that there was even zucchini in it! Maybe it was just the cream cheese icing, but the spices in the cake really shine and it was really, really tasty. Want to sneak just a little more vegetables into your recipes, then this one should go over very well.
3 cups all-purpose
1 tsp baking soda
2.5 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsps nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 can pumpkin puree
1-2 whole zucchini, peeled and shredded
1 cup chopped/diced walnuts
(By the way, please ignore the vanilla in the photo - it actually shouldn't have been there, but I didn't take a second picture without out it. Oops.)
Sift together dry ingredients, and then set aside.
Combine oil and sugar in large bowl or stand-mixer bowl.
Add eggs and pumpkin. Mix until combined.
Add flour mixture in two rounds. Mix until combined.
Add zucchini and nuts. Mix until combined.
Pour into greased and flour cake pan (9X13, two 8" or 9" rounds, or bundt pan).
Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 40-55 minutes or until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool for 10-15 minutes in pan, and then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely. While cake cools, prepare cream cheese icing.
1 lb powdered sugar
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
Cream together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
Slowly mix in powdered sugar until it is all incorporated; add vanilla, and then continue to blend until smooth. Spread icing onto cake, and enjoy!
