Mega Burritos

I've been trying to think of creative ways to make tasty meals that don't cost an arm and a leg.  Somehow it seems easier in the winter.  I just make soup.  With a heat index that hovered around 110F all summer, soup wasn't at the top of my meal planning list.

Then I saw the idea for Freezer friendly Bean and Rice Burrito over at Tammy's Recipes.  That looked quick and tasty and inexpensive to put together.  I had seen a similar recipe for taco seasoned rice and beans at Making Memories, so I sort of mashed those two recipes together for my burritos.  I'll write the exact recipe I used at the bottom of this post.

Meijers sells these hugemongous tortillas.They didn't have a size measurement other than "burrito" size on the package.  The burritos were so huge that I had to assemble them on my largest cutting board.  I'm guessing the tortillas were about 12 inches in diameter.

I put a heaping cup of filling in the ones I made for Mrblocko.  Mrblocko didn't think that a cup of filling was going to be enough to fill him up.  I laughed at him and made him two burritos - just in case.  When he saw them he laughed too and said, "Yea.  I think one burrito will be enough."

The ones wrapped in wax paper measure about 5x7 inches.  They aren't as massive as the ones they sell at Chipotle, but they are pretty darn close.  The tiny one on the far left is half of the small one I made for Blockette.  Even trying to make them small, Blockette could still only manage to finish half of hers.

That was just fine and dandy for me.  I ate the other half for lunch the next day.  I ate it cold right out of the fridge as I was too lazy to pop it in the microwave.  I was surprised how good it tasted cold.  I mean the cheese wasn't melty or anything, but sitting in the fridge overnight made the flavors get all friendly with each other.  Happy yum yum in my tum tum. 

The burritos came 8 to a package.  With the filling I prepared, I made 6 large ones, and 2 Blockette sized ones.  I wrapped two burritos in foil and froze them for a quick meal another day.  I also have enough leftover filling for at least 3 more massive burritos.  I froze that as well.

Here is what I did to make the filling for the burritos. Most of the ingredients I had in my freezer that needed to be used up before they fell victim to freezer burn.  This is a great way to use up leftovers.


Huge Batch of Burrito Filling
2T olive oil
3 medium onions, cut in half, then sliced in half moons
1/2 of a roasted red pepper, diced
1 pound of ground turkey
2 T taco seasoning
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 c cooked rice (this is 1 1/3 c of rice before it is cooked)
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 c of medium pace picante 
4 chopped green onions
2 cups of defrosted frozen corn
1 1/2 c cooked and shredded chicken (mine had taco seasoning already in it.)
2 large carrots, finely shredded
4 cups of shredded cheese, (I had longhorn colby and sharp cheddar)

In a very large pot or skillet, cook the onions in the olive oil until they begin to soften and caramelize.  Add the ground turkey. Brown the turkey until it is cooked all the way through.  Add the garlic and taco seasoning.  Stir to combine.  Add the rice, beans, picante, green onions, corn, chicken, and carrots.  Stir to combine so all the ingredients are distributed evenly.  At this point I let the mixture cool to room temperature and then mixed in the cheese.  Since I was making these ahead for Mrblocko, I wanted to make sure that the cheese would be evenly distributed throughout the entire mix.  I was afraid that if the cheese melted, that wouldn't happen.  There are lots of other things you could add: chipotles, jalapenos, a can of rotel, a can of chiles, refried beans, ground beef, cilantro, shredded beef, fish, chopped sausage...whatever floats your boat.

Now if you have leftovers, and you probably will, unless you are feeding a very large family, you can assemble your jumbo burritos and freeze them.   I took our leftover burritos straight from the freezer and placed them in a 375F oven for 35 minutes.  They weren't exactly warm, but they weren't frozen anymore.  Since they were getting sent to work with Mrblocko during the week, there was no need for them to be anything more than not frozen.  When asked how the leftover burritos tasted, Mrblocko replied, "Good."  So there you have it.  Leftover burritos are good.