Cooking . . . It's a Family Thing!

We had ourselves a Mexican Feast tonight. The Burritos were some I made a while back & froze (there were 3 of them). Katie made the Quesadillas from stuff we had in the fridge. Some were chicken & cheese from leftover rotisserie chicken others were made using red bell pepper & onion that she sauteed. I also made a big bowl of Pico de Gallo. It was really, really good!

1 lb Ground Beef

1 can (15.5 oz) Mexican or Pinto Beans

1 can (4.5 oz) chopped Green Chillis

1 can (15.5 oz) Enchilada Sauce, Red

1 package Taco Seasoning Mix

8 oz Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded

8 oz Cheddar Cheese, shredded

8 Flour Tortillas, med-large (burrito size)

Brown the ground beef. Before you drain the fat, stir in the dry taco seasoning mix. Simmer 5 min. then drain. Combine beans, chillis, beef, 1/2 the can of enchilada sauce, 3/4 of the Monterey Jack & Cheddar cheeses in a large pan. Cook over low heat until cheeses are melted and mixture is thick. Microwave tortillas until slightly softened. Fill the middle of the tortillas with mixture and place in a baking dish and fold. (Note: I just folded mine in half but you could fold each side in and then roll up like a traditional burrito.) Spread remaining enchilada sauce over top & sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Cover with foil. At this point you could either freeze or bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Depending on the size of your family you could cook 4 and freeze 4 or double the recipe and freeze one entire batch. When you're ready to eat the frozen burritos, remove from freezer to fridge the night before and bake as directed above. If you forget to take them out of the freezer just bake for about an hour from frozen state (that's what I did).

Just use whatever ingredients you have on hand plus some cheese. Katie layered the bottom tortilla with the ingredients and topped with another tortilla and cooked in a non-stick pan on top of the stove on medium heat. Once the bottom browns flip the tortilla over and let that side brown slightly. You just want to make sure everything has heated up and the cheese has melted. She used a pizza cutter and cut into fourths! Of course, it goes without saying to serve this up with sour cream and salsa or some of the pico!

I have posted this recipe before but basically you just chop up equal amounts of tomato, onion & cilantro; add 1 or 2 finely chopped jalapeno peppers that you've seeded & removed the white membrane from and mix. Squeeze 1/2 lime over this and add salt to taste.