Bean and Cheese Burritos

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.