Super Burritos

We love Mexican food in this house, so it's not uncommon for us to crave burritos. On this day all I had was ground beef, and I almost never like my Mexican food with ground beef. I much prefer shredded beef, chicken, steak, or shredded pork. (Yes, pretty much anything else, haha). I decided to try it anyway since we both really, really wanted a burrito. I pulled out a cookbook and found a recipe for burritos using ground beef. I found an online version of it here:

Super Burritos

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ingredients

• 1
  pound lean ground beef
• 1
  cup chopped onion (1 large)
• 1/2
  cup chopped green sweet pepper (1 small)
• 1
  clove garlic, minced
• 1/4
  cup water
• 1
  tablespoon medium or hot chili powder
• 1/4
  teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4
  teaspoon salt
• 1
  cup cooked rice
• 1
  4 ounce can diced green chile peppers, drained
• 8
  10-inch flour tortillas
• 1 1/2
  cups shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese (6 ounces)
• 1
  cup chopped tomato (1 large)
• 2
  cups shredded lettuce
• frozen avocado dip (guacamole), thawed
• Bottled salsa (optional)

directions

1.For filling, in a large skillet cook ground beef, onion, sweet pepper, and garlic until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain off fat. Stir in water, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Cook about 5 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated. Remove from heat. Stir in cooked rice and chile peppers.

2.Meanwhile, wrap tortillas tightly in foil. Heat in a 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes to soften. (When ready to fill tortillas, remove only half of them at a time, keeping remaining tortillas warm in the oven.)

3.Spoon about 1/2 cup filling onto each tortilla just below the center. Top filling with cheese and tomato. Fold bottom edge of each tortilla up and over filling. Fold opposite sides in and over filling. Roll up from the bottom. Secure with wooden toothpicks.

4.Arrange burritos on a baking sheet, seam sides down. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until heated through. Remove and discard toothpicks. Serve warm burritos on lettuce with Guacamole and, if desired, salsa.

5.Makes 8 burritos

from the test kitchen

• Variation Chicken or Steak Burritos:Prepare as above, except omit the ground beef. Partially freeze 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves or 1 pound beef flank steak for easier slicing. Cut chicken into thin, bite-size strips and cut beef across the grain into thin, bite-size strips. Heat 1 tablespoon cooking oil in skillet. Cook chicken or beef, onion, sweet pepper, and garlic in hot oil until desired doneness for steak or until chicken is no longer pink and onion is tender. Stir in water, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Cook about 5 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated. Remove from heat. Stir in cooked rice and chile peppers. Continue with step 2 as above.

Okay, this recipe doesn't look like anything special, but holy cow, it was so good! I even left off the sweet pepper and chili peppers. (Darn those allergies of my husband!) For the rice, I used long grain wild rice. I also added some sour cream and olives to the burritos. There wasn't any enchilada sauce or salsa in it (although I did put in the chopped tomatoes) and I didn't serve them "enchilada style" (Cafe Rio anyone?) even though that's usually what I prefer. My husband gobbled his up so fast and was thrilled to be taking one into work the next day for lunch. He almost ate it that night!

If I liked this burrito this much with the ground beef, I'm kind of anxious to try it with other meats. Next on my list is to try it with steak.