We have been dripping in zucchini. Every spring I get lured into buying zucchini seeds. I think, "regardless of how the rest of my garden responds to me, at least I will have my zucchinis." I could literally chuck a zucchini seed into a pile of crappy dirt and a couple weeks later find a giant zucchini plant.
Every year, when I pick my first ripe zucchini, I feel the pride of a thousand earth mamas and get inspired to make a jillion different zucchini recipes.
Now, with at least ten zucchinis growing in the garden, seven ones waiting to be given to unsuspecting victims [friends], nine bags of grated zucchini frozen, and three zucchinis in the crisper drawer, I am a little tired of zucchini.
Here is an awesome recipe from when I was in the proud and inspired earth mama stage!
Zucchini Parmigiana [All the lovin' of Eggplant Parmigiana but designed to make a dent in my never ending store of zucchini]
Tomato Sauce
1 T olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup white wine
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 T chopped fresh basil
1 T chopped fresh oregano
Rest of It
3 large zucchini sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
4 eggs
Approximately a 1/2 cup of olive oil for pan frying
8 oz. shredded mozzarella
5 oz. grated parmesan cheese
Begin by making your tomato sauce. [Feel free to use jarred tomato sauce]. Saute onion, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes in the olive oil until the onions are translucent.
Deglaze the pan with the white wine [red would be fine or two tablespoons of balsamic and a 1/3 of a cup of water].
Add the crushed tomatoes to the pot. Add approximately a 1/2 cup of water to the tomato can and swish it around to take all of the remaining tomatoes off of the walls of the can. Pour this tomato water into the pot.
Simmer for at least 20 minutes.
Right before using the sauce, add the fresh oregano and basil [dried would work fine as well but only use a teaspoon of each] and stir to combine.
While your sauce is simmering, begin preparing your zucchini for pan frying [for a healthier option, you can omit the pan frying...I think that the flour and egg used to encrust the zucchini allows the baked dish to be more cohesive].
Here is a visual example of the thickness of my zucchini slices.
Form an assembly line with your zucchini slices, then a bowl with the four eggs, whisked well, followed by a bowl with a mixture of the flour, salt, garlic powder and oregano.
Preheat 3 to 4 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.
Quickly dip each zucchini slice into your flour mixture, making sure that a thin layer of the flour mixture coats both sides. Then quickly submerge your floured zucchini slice into the eggs then back into the flour mixture. The first dunk in the flour mixture ensures that the egg and the subsequent flour stick onto the zucchini.
Place your zucchini into the oil and fry lightly about 3 to 4 minutes a side or until your zucchini's "crust" has begun to turn golden brown.
Once golden brown, remove and place on a paper towel lined plate until ready to assemble.
You will need to fry in batches. The number of batches depends on the size of your frying pan. Make sure that you add a couple tablespoons of oil into the pan before each new batch.
Once you have fried all of your zucchini, you can begin to assemble your zucchini parmigiana.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Coat the bottom of a large casserole dish with about a half cup of your tomato sauce.
Cover the tomato sauce with a layer of fried zucchini slices.
Top the zucchini with another layer of tomato sauce [about 3/4 to a full cup] then approximately half of the mozzarella and parmesan.
Finish with another layer of zucchini slices, another cup or so of tomato sauce and the remaining cheese.
Bake, covered with aluminum foil, for approximately 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake, uncovered, for another 15 minutes or until the sides are bubbling and the cheese has begun to turn golden brown.
Last night, we had dinner with some good friends who we hadn't seen in a while. I was instructed to bring a salad. I made my salad fixins but my heart was yearning for more, something that was a little indulgent and that would make the whole house smell amazing when Sam came home from work.
I remembered that I happened to have some butter in the fridge. Unfortunately, when I buy butter, I use it as an excuse to make a baked good. This is why I try not to buy butter all that often! But, oh well, I was doomed to make a Tuesday afternoon treat!
I didn't have anything crunchy or chocolatey to throw into a cookie and didn't feel like making boring sugar cookies. I thought, "what uses a lot of the boring ingredients of a sugar cookie but tastes so much better"? Shortbread!
I wanted to spice up my life a little bit so I pulled out a box of English Breakfast tea. I was just about to dump a couple tablespoons of tea leaves into my shortbread, when I eyed 3 cast aside limes sitting in my produce bowl! Done and done.
Since I still haven't bought white sugar since I ran out of it [see my last post when I made brown sugar creme brulee], I thought that the lime would pair nicely with the caramelly flavors of the brown sugar mixed with butter!
Brown Sugar and Lime Shortbread Cookies
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. corn starch [you can use all flour if you want, the corn starch just contributes to a smooth mouth feel]
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c. brown sugar [light or dark]
2 T lime zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup of cold butter, cut into large pieces
You can opt to make this by hand, I happened to use a food processor to speed up the process.
Place all of your dry ingredients, including your lime zest, into your food processor and pulse for approximately 5 seconds to combine.
Put the butter chunks and vanilla extract into the food processor and pulse the entire dough until it just starts to form a large ball.
Place your dough onto a piece of plastic wrap or waxed paper. Shape the dough into log. Roll the log in the plastic wrap or paper, like a giant Tootsie Roll. Place in the freezer for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Remove your log from the freezer and slice your log into slices approximately a 1/2 inch in width.
Place your cookie slices onto a nongreased cookie sheet.
Bake for approximately 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies have begun to turn a little golden brown on top.
These are great as is, or served for tea time or used in ice cream sandwiches. Think how awesome these caramelly lime cookies would taste with some gingery or peach ice cream in between!
Last week our friend Scott stayed with us for a few days before moving into his new apartment. We decided to make a kick butt meal together to celebrate the end of the summer. Yes, my husband and his poor teacher friend, returned to school this morning!
The meal was delicious and inspired by our trip to the giant Asian market. [Recipes soon to come].
We wanted a delicious dessert that was fairly simple since we were putting a lot of effort into dinner. We decided on a basic creme brulee [mostly because I already had all of the ingredients]. My favorite decadent dessert this past year has been creme brulee. I think that I have served it for all of Sam and my fancy at-home dinner dates [the type of date you would have on Valentine's Day when you don't feel like braving the crowds or finding a babysitter and instead make a post-baby bedtime meal together].
I fiddled around with several creme brulee recipes that I found online and developed this basic creme brulee recipe. Most recipes called for a mix of milk and heavy cream. I didn't have heavy cream and my milk was reserved for the little one but I did have a quart of half and half on hand for coffee. I didn't have any white sugar on hand so I substituted dark brown sugar in the custard and sugar in the raw on top. I was a little nervous that the brown sugar substitution would affect the consistency of the custard. The custard was a little soft but SO creamy and gained a caramelly taste from the brown sugar.
This is a
basic creme brulee recipe that you can play with in many ways. Feel
free to serve with berries on top. You can throw a little coconut
extract and coconut flakes into the custard, or lime juice and lime
zest, or cocoa powder and a little Grand Marnier. We were going to toss
some fresh peaches in a little sugar and balsamic vinegar to serve
alongside but were too anxious to dive into the creme brulee, so we had it plain!
Creme Brulee*Yielded approximately 4, five ounce servings2 cups of half and half1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract4 egg yolks1 egg1/2 cup brown sugar1/8 tsp saltTopping4 tsps sugar [I used sugar in the raw because that is what I had on hand]Preheat your oven to 315 degrees.
Assemble your ramekins in a baking dish. Feel free to use whatever oven safe dishes you like. I used Pyrex glass bowls that probably hold 5-6 oz. each. If you are using shallower dishes, such as actual creme brulee dishes, you can shorten the baking time. Whisk together the half and half, vanilla, eggs, brown sugar and salt until the eggs are fully incorporated.
Pour the mixture into your dishes leaving a little space at the top of each dish to account for the “walking the pan to the oven” jiggles.
Pour hot top water into the baking dish until the water level reaches about half way up each ramekin. This will help the heat circulate gently and give you a perfectly smooth custard in each delicious creme brulee.Bake your creme brulees for approximately 45 minutes or until they are set. You can tell that you have reached this point because if you shake the pan they creme brulee will no longer jiggle in the middle.
Once baked, remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature. After reaching room temperature, refrigerate until ready to brulee and serve.After letting mine come to room temperature, I let them sit in the refrigerator for about an hour and a half before serving. They were still a little loose, but good.For optimum texture, I would let your creme brulee refrigerate for at least 3 hours. When ready to serve, top each creme brulee with a teaspoon of sugar. Swirl the creme brulee around a bit until the sugar has equally coated the top of each creme brulee. I then used my husband’s giant torch he has for jewelry making. The first time, I put the flame way too close and scorched the top of one [I was rushing and let the blue part of the flame burn the sugar]. On the second creme brulee, I kept the tip of the flame slightly separated from the sugar and moved the flame on to a new patch of sugar as soon as I saw the sugar bubble and brown. This picture is crappy because I was trying to brulee with one hand and photograph with the other but at least you get the picture!
If you don’t have a blow torch, you can try your hand at broiling the creme brulees. Get them close to the flame and watch closely. Pull out of the oven as soon as the sugar begins to bubble and brown.
*Quick
Tip: If you don’t plan on eating all of your creme brulee pots in one
sitting, refrain from bruleeing the pots that you want to keep for
later. The bruleed sugar will melt with the liquid from the custard. Here is my morning after creme brulee. I left it uncovered in the fridge overnight and bruleed for breakfast. You can tell how creamy the custard is! So good!
This one is an ultimate pantry bust! I am getting more comfortable pantry busting in unusual ways and with different flavor profiles.
The other day, I was on Pinterest and saw several posts for variations on Thai Curry Soup. As soon as I saw the pictures, my mouth began to water and I knew that I needed to make something for dinner that had those amazing Thai flavors of coconut, acidity, savory fishiness and awesome spiciness.
I turned to fridge and pantry, intent on finding ingredients that could contribute to this profile. I found a can of coconut milk and some frozen shrimp that someone who was moving and purging their freezer had given us. I always have on hand chicken bouillon. I happened to discover yellow curry paste a few months ago and had that sitting in the back of the fridge. Yellow curry paste is unbelievable. It keeps for a while in a fridge and a tablespoon is all you need to have an awesome curry dish. Rather than fussing with adding cool spices to my curry powder, I can dollop a spoon of paste into my dish and call it a day. The paste includes lemongrass, garlic, shallot, salt, galangal, dried red chili, coriander seed, kaffir lime peel, cumin, cinnamon, mace, turmeric and cardamom and no weird added stuff. Ughhh...so good. This is the brand that I use. I found it at an Asian supermarket.
I always have a cilantro bunch and a couple limes. Sidenote, limes and cilantro are staples that I always keep on hand. Their bright flavors go into a lot of the dishes that I make, whether it is an Asian or Latin inspired dish.
I knew that I could make a great soup with the chicken broth, coconut milk, shrimp, curry paste, lime and cilantro but then I spied a lonely carton of Butternut Squash soup. It had been sitting in the pantry for a while. I knew that its sweet and creamy qualities would be awesome in the soup!
Coconut Curry Butternut Squash and Shrimp Soup
1 small onion, chopped
1/3 cup of chopped cilantro stems
1 T olive oil
2 T yellow curry paste
1 t minced ginger
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 cups of chicken broth
1 can of coconut milk
4 cups of butternut squash soup
Zest of 2 limes
Approximately 20 defrosted EZ peel shrimp, peeled
Peels from the shrimp
Juice of 1 lime
1/3 c. fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
Preheat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Saute the onion and cilantro stems in the olive oil until onions are translucent, approximately 5 minutes.
Add the yellow curry paste, ginger and garlic. Stir to combine.
Deglaze the pan with the chicken broth.
Add the coconut milk, squash soup and lime zest to the pan. *If you don't have butternut squash soup on hand or would prefer to jazz up your soup, feel free to peel and chop a butternut squash, toss in some olive oil, roast until soft, puree with a little milk or chicken broth and then add that to the soup. I would imagine that chunks of roasted squash would also be unbelievable in this soup.
Add the shrimp to the pot. I left them whole but feel free to chop them.
Place the shrimp peels inside a piece of cheese cloth. Tie the cheese cloth to contain the peels. I grabbed a large mulling ball from my pantry. It contained all of my peels and kept them from getting lost in the soup. Whatever you use, submerge your contained shrimp peels in the soup.
Let the soup simmer on medium low for at least 30 minutes before serving to ensure that the shrimp cooks and the peels impart great flavor into the soup.
*I chose to use shrimp because I had them on hand. I didn't have any fish sauce on hand which is the key to imparting a slight salty, fishy quality to any good Thai dish. I hoped that the shrimp would bring a little of the fish sauce quality to the dish. If you don't have shrimp but do have fish sauce, feel free to substitute the shrimp for 1 tbsp of the fish sauce.
Before serving, stir in the lime juice and chopped cilantro leaves.
This is great by itself but would also be great served with rice noodles or brown rice. We served ours with a side of frozen vegetable gyoza that we pan-fried.
P.S. Please excuse the poor quality pictures, I was so excited to slurp this soup for dinner that I rushed through the picture-taking!
In a normal week, for the sake of our budget, I make a lot of veggie meals and occasionally incorporate chicken from a "family pack". We have always been attracted to the idea of visiting a local butcher and getting our custom meat cuts for the week [a la Ina Garten wandering down into the Hamptons and visiting her local butcher before visiting her florist best friend before popping in on Gwyneth Paltrow] but it was never in our budget. This week we found a coupon for a cool local butcher shop, Oliver's Meat Market [www.oliversmeatmarketllc.com] and, conveniently, didn't need to buy a lot of grocery staples and were able to put that money towards a meaty splurge!
We drooled over cuts of pork butt, prosciutto and roast but settled on some awesome beef brisket. Sam had wanted to try smoking a brisket, the type of smoking where you tend coals all day and work with indirect heat. He followed an online recipe for Oklahoma Joe's brisket [http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bbq-with-bobby-flay/oklahoma-joes-smoked-brisket-flat-recipe/index.html].
The night before the BBQ he slathered the brisket in mustard and a spice rub. While our coals started to burn, he soaked hickory chips.
He poured out the coals and spread to either side of the grill, placed the brisket on a rack in between, spritzed every so often with apple juice and let it turn into this:
We invited some friends over. I supplied a few sides and we had an awesome BBQ!
For sides, I sauteed fresh corn on the cob that was incredibly in-season. It was so sweet that Emmett kept begging for raw kernels!
I also made cheddar biscuits and a simple lime cumin cole slaw. The biscuits were TDF and the cole slaw was simple with the perfect mix of salt, acidity and sweetness.
Cheddar Biscuits
*Yields approximately 8 biscuits
6 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese
3 cups of flour
2 T brown sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 c. butter, cut into large cubes
1 large egg
3/4 cup of buttermilk or 1/2 cup milk + 1/4 cup plain yogurt
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
In a food processor, pulse the cheese for 10 to 15 seconds to finely chop it. [If not using a food processor, simply grate your cheese].
Add the dry ingredients to the food processor and pulse for 5 seconds to sift, mix and combine with the cheese.
Add the butter cubes to the food processor and pulse for 5 to 10 seconds until the mixture resembles a course meal.
Again, you can do this with your hands, a fork or a pastry cutter instead.
Whisk the egg into the buttermilk or pseudo-buttermilk mixture [that is what I used]. With the food processor running, pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture until it starts to come together, approximately 10-15 seconds. In a food processor, the liquid will tend to bind on the bottom first, so stop processing when the top of the mixture still looks crumbly.
Pour the mixture, crumbles and all, onto a floured counter top and give it a few kneads until the mixture comes together.
Form the mixture into a ball and then roll the ball out until it forms a disc that has a depth of approximately 1 inch.
Get a circle cookie cutter or a glass [what I used] that matches the size that you would like your biscuits to be [I have used shot glasses in the past to make bite sized biscuits]. Place the rim of your glass or cookie cutter in a little flour and get to cutting out your biscuits.
Place your biscuits on a baking sheet [I threw a silpat on mine for good measure] and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until slightly browned.
I used the globules and discarded edges from my biscuit cooking to make a "mega-biscuit" for Sam and I to sample! Whoops!
What was the perfect pair to our salty, smoky, spicy brisket and cheesy, buttery biscuits? My simple and tangy cole slaw!!
Kristi's Go-To Slaw
4 T sour cream or greek yogurt
4 T light mayo
Juice of 1/2 a lime
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp sugar [agave nectar or honey would be awesome, I just didn't have any]
1/4 of an onion, finely sliced
1 bag of cole slaw mix
*I recommend making the cole slaw at least 2 hours before eating it so that it has time to come together and "percolate."
In the bottom of a bowl, whisk the sour cream, mayo, lime juice, salt, pepper, cumin and sugar until combined. *Hint: If you make this in a large tupperware or a bowl with a lid, it makes the mixing and storing a lot easier.
Add the onion slices to the dressing and stir to combine.
Add the bag of cole slaw to the mix and toss to combine. If you made the slaw in a container with a lid, simply put the lid on and shake until combined.
Refrigerate until ready to serve and enjoy!
I am a sucker for freebies. Meaning that when my friend gives me a bag of 40+ little peaches from the peach trees in her yard, I am going to use them. This morning I peeled these dang tiny peaches and cut approximately a tablespoon or two worth of peach flesh off of each dang tiny peach.
But, in the end, I got to spend my son's nap time relaxing and wafting in the smell of Ginger Peach Crisp baking in the oven.
Normally, I way prefer cooking to baking. I am too impatient to perfectly measure ingredients and am a little too clumsy for a lot of the fine motor skills required for pastry work.
But then there are crisps! It is hard to mess up a crisp. Start with great fruit, add enough butter to your crumble topping, bake until golden on top and bubbling at the sides and you got yourself a good time!
Today I decided to spice up my life a bit by adding powdered ginger to both the fruit mixture and the crumb. Ginger and peach is a phenomenal combo and the ginger sends the cobbler flying out of the one dimensional world of sweet on sweet.
Another trick that I use in all of my crisps, is to add a healthy pinch of salt to the crumb. It makes all the flavors pop and is a delight to my salty sweet cravings!
Ginger Peach Crisp
Fruit Filling:
5-6 pounds of peeled and sliced peaches [Don't worry about being homogenous in your slices...I had some small chunks and they just cooked down quicker than the bigger chunks and contributed to a great sauce]
3 T flour
3/4 cup brown sugar [I had dark on hand but light or white sugar would work great]
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. ground ginger
*If peaches are not very ripe, feel free to add in a 1/2 cup of apple or orange juice
Crumb:
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 cup of oats [I used quick cooking but any variety is fine]
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 t salt
1 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 stick of butter
Optional but awesome: 4 oz. of chopped pecans, walnuts or almonds
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Hopefully, by this point, you have not exhausted yourself by peeling and cutting a jillion tiny peaches but have chosen to use ripe, normal sized peaches.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together all of the fruit filling ingredients until the flour, sugar and natural liquids have formed a nice gloss over the peaches.
*Sidenote, the flour is essential to make a everything hold together in the filling. An equal amount of corn starch would work just fine in place of the flour. When I have not used a binder in my crisp making, I still had a great tasting crisp but had a bunch of fruit juice and loose fruit slices on the bottom rather than having a more cohesive pie filling.
After you have assembled your fruit filling, place all of your dry crumb ingredients into a mixing bowl. Stir ingredients together to combine. It will look something like this:
Then add your stick of butter. It makes things a little better if you cut your stick down into a few squares before attempting to mix it in.
Using your hands, crumble the butter into the dry mixture until the mixture resembles a course meal.
Butter a baking dish. For this crisp, I chose an oval casserole dish that was small enough to allow my fruit mixture to come right up to top of the dish. Pour your fruit mixture into the buttered dish and cover with the crumb topping. Pile that crumb topping high! Don't worry...the fruit shrinks down as it cooks, and who wouldn't want a lot of the crumb?
This is what my crisp looked like before going into the oven:
Bake on the lower rack of your oven for approximately an hour or until the crumb has browned nicely and, most importantly, the filling has begun to bubble up around the sides of the crumb.
You can still see some bubbling in this picture. You can also tell that the flour in the filling really did the trick of making an amazing syrup rather than peach juice.
You can eat this fresh from the oven or let it cool. If you want to serve it warm later, just place it in a 300 degree oven for 15 minutes-ish. Obviously vanilla bean ice cream would be amazing served alongside. You also wouldn't find me complaining if someone drizzled some homemade caramel sauce over it.
Ugh!! I cannot wait to eat this. We are bringing it to our peach-giving friends for dessert tonight. Thus, I didn't think it appropriate to leave a gaping hole in the side of it.
I am a New Yorker. This means that when confronted with a slice of pizza, I can NEVER say no, even if it were offered to me after a full Thanksgiving dinner. This is not my fault, it is in my New York blood. This also means that on-the-go breakfast has always meant getting either Dunkin Donuts or stopping by your local bagel place and getting an unbelievable bagel.
My little world was blown when I moved to Denver. First of all, Dunkin Donuts doesn't exist out here and no one even knows the glory of a New York bagel. In Denver, the go-to on the go breakfast food is a breakfast burrito. Just as you see bagel breakfast combo specials advertised on the side of bagel places up and down the streets in NY, Denver is loaded with restaurants advertising, "Open at 6 AM, $1.99 breakfast burritos."
And, oh man, are they phenomenal! Almost enough to make me not miss my NY bagels, almost. Another phenomenal Mexican favorite that I barely knew existed...the chili relleno.
In honor of my world being blown by the amazing Mexican food that Denver has to offer, I submit to you two easy gringa [white girl] takes on some delish Mexican dishes.
First, and easiest of all, my delicious and simple take on chili rellenos.
Gringa Chili Rellenos
6 Anaheim Peppers [feel free to use whatever type you like, Anaheim is just the right amount of heat to me...peppery tasting without blasting my face off]
8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese [again, in true pantry bustin style...use up whatever cheese you like].
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lime sliced into six slices
Optional: Tortilla chips for dippin'
Turn on your broiler. Slice one lengthwise cut in each of your chilies to create a cheese pocket. If you are nervous about heat levels, feel free to remove the seeds at this point. It will reduce the heat level.
Stuff 1/6th of your cheese into the cavity/cheese pocket of each chili, leaving a little bit of cheese coming out of the cavity.
Sprinkle the top of each chili with salt and pepper. Place onto a cookie sheet.
Broil until cheese has melted and the chilies have begun to char on top.
Serve the chilies with the lime slices or squeeze some lime juice over the top of each chili before serving. The acidity is great with the pepper and cheese!
Now that all I want to eat is gloopy, cheesy Mexican food, let me give you some quick instructions on the ultimate breakfast pantry buster...breakfast burritos.
Pantry Bustin' Breakfast Burritos
6-8 tortillas
6 eggs, scrambled
Literally empty out your fridge or pantry of anything with a Mexican flare.
Refried beans, black beans, corn [we used leftover cumin-roasted corn], cheese, chopped tomatoes, sliced onions, green onions, green chile, cilantro, sliced jalapeno, any breakfast meat you want [the breakfast burrito places often put crumbled chorizo in their's...oh my gosh!], defrosted frozen hash browns or some cooked potato chunks.
Salsa and Sour Cream to top or dunk in. *Don't put either of these in before hand because they might make the tortilla a little mushy.
Preheat the oven to 325 while scrambling eggs and preparing any of your other fillings.
Assemble your fillings around your tortilla filling station so that every thing is close at hand.
Layer your fillings in your tortilla and roll into a burrito.
Helpful hint: To get a well-rolled burrito, place your fillings in a horizontal line towards the upper part of your tortilla [I know because I rolled it oddly and lengthwise in the above picture and my burrito looked dumb]. Before rolling downward, roll up about an inch of the left and right sides of the burrito to slightly cover your filling. Then roll downward while keeping the sides folded in. This method will make sure that your fillings stay in place.
My cute Aunt Tis rolling burritos for the Big Fam in Pittsburgh.
You can eat these as soon as they are rolled BUT I found that they tasted a lot better after sitting in the oven for about 15 minutes. The cheese melted, the tortilla softened and the flavors melded together amazingly!
I placed all of my burritos in a casserole dish but you can also roll each individual burrito in aluminum foil. This helps you if you truly want them to be on-the-go!
O
