Food Matters Project # 17: Vegetable Burritos

Happy Memorial Day!  I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend, filled with lots of BBQ’s, sun and friends!  It’s also a Food Matter Project day, which means a new recipe inspired by Mark Bittman.

This week Jacqui, from Good Things Grow, chose the recipe from The Food Matters Cookbook.  Jacqui chose the Beans ‘n Greens Burritos, which is a perfect recipe to have endless varieties.  I can’t wait to see what others had made, check out the links under the comments here!

As I was doing our meal plan for the week, and included this recipe, I had a huge craving for eggplant.  So I went with the idea, and combined eggplant with some Mexican flavors.  We always have some kind of beans in our fridge or pantry, so this makes a quick and easy meal.  When I mentioned to Sam what we’ll be having for dinner, he wasn’t too sure about the eggplant in a burrito.  But after the first bite, he was sold!

 

Colorful Vegetable & Bean Burritos
Fifth Floor Kitchen Original

We do like spicy food, so there are red pepper flakes and jalapeños in this recipe, but feel free to omit them if you’re not in love with super spicy food.  You can also decrease the amount of chili powder (to a 1/4 or 1/8 tsp).  This burrito can  have rice mixed in, or served with salsa.  We used Cabot’s Hot Habañero Cheddar Cheese, but feel free to use regular cheddar.

1 eggplant, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 medium onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup frozen corn, defrosted
2 peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 jalapeños, chopped (optional)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
black beans (cooked or canned)
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
tortillas

Preheat oven at 400ºF.  Spread eggplant pieces onto a baking pan, drizzle with 2 tbsp of olive oil.  Then sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Using your hands, mix the ingredients together so each eggplant piece is covered with olive oil and the spices  Once the oven is preheated, roast for 30 minutes.

In a saucepan, heat up 1 tbsp olive oil.  Then add in the onion, sauté until it is translucent, about 5 minutes on medium heat.  Add in the garlic, and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Then add in the corn, pepper and jalapeños.  Add in the chili powder, cumin, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Stir well while cooking for about 5 minutes.

Once everything has cooled, mix together the eggplant, vegetable mix, black beans and cilantro in a large bowl.  Add the mixture into a tortilla wrap, sprinkle with cheese, and then fold together and serve.

Squash & Bean Burritos

So this is a different take on a burrito.  Since the weather started getting colder in Washington, I’ve been craving rich, fall dishes.  This was a great dish that was very filling, full of texture and a seasonal take on a Mexican staple.

Feel free to omit certain ingredients, or add others that you like in your burritos.  This is definitely one we can all make our own, without taking anything away from the dish.

Butternut squash is definitely one of my favorite fall ingredients.  It’s very versatile in any fall dishes- from soups to casseroles.  Personally, I think it has the best flavor once it has been roasted.

Squash & Bean Burritos
Adapted from: Oh She Glows

1 butternut squash, peeled & cubed (1 inch pieces)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 cup of rice (white or brown)
1 onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeño, chopped
1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
15 oz black beans, drained & rinsed
4 tortillas or wraps
1 avocado, chopped (optional)
4 tbsp sour cream (optional)
1 cup of lettuce
1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped (optional)
1/4 cup of cheddar cheese, grated (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.  Spray a baking dish or cooking sheet with cooking spray.  Place all of the butternut squash pieces in the dish.  Drizzle with 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and chili powder.  Toss and coat all of the ingredients on the butternut squash.  Roast it for 45 minutes, or until the squash is soft.

In a small pan, cook 1 cup of rice.  Once cooked, leave it to the side.

In a skillet heat 1 tbsp of olive oil, once warm add chopped onion.  Once the onion is translucent, add chopped garlic and jalapeño.  Then add the red pepper, black beans and cooked rice.  Sauté for about 5 minutes on low heat.

Divide the ingredients between the tortillas or wraps.  In ours, we added: roasted butternut squash, the rice-bean-onion mixture, avocado, sour cream, lettuce, cilantro and cheese.  But feel free to add extra toppings (these or others)- it all depends on your tastes.

Corn & Zucchini Burritos

I apologize for the lack of posts this weekend.  Sam and I went to Virginia Beach for a short weekend getaway.  Both of us needed a break from the city, and a little beach time!  I used to live in VA Beach, so it also gave us an opportunity to hang out with my friend P* (and her fiancé- J*, and her sister- S*).  We had a fantastic time hanging out with them at a fun new place I  never knew about.

Pacifica is not a big tourist destination, since it’s a little north of the majority of the hotels.  We had a great time, and I’ll keep this tapas restaurant in mind when we go back.  Mainly, what we did over our weekend is lay on the beach.  Both of our bodies needed some sun, and our minds needed some good reading on the beach.  To top off the weekend, traffic between DC and VA Beach wasn’t bad at all- so life is good!

But it’s back to the grind today.  Lucky for us, Independence Day weekend is right around the corner, so I’m sure this week will fly by.  We’re looking forward to trying a new place for dinner this weekend.  It’s been around for way over a year, the Logan Circle place of Birch & Barley, but we haven’t tried  it yet.  And of course, I’m looking forward to some 4th of July fireworks!

I’m not going to lie, we haven’t been doing much cooking lately.  Or rather, the stuff that we have made hasn’t necessarily been looking stellar enough for the blog, or it just didn’t have a taste that we’d want to someone else to replicate.  But we’ll get back into the groove once again, so hopefully I’ll have more frequent posts.

I am leaving you with this great burrito recipe I got from the June issue of Vegetarian Times.  The recipe recommended chayotes, but the grocery store didn’t have any, so a zucchini was the substitution.  In addition, I added a little * next to cilantro.  Please add that to the burritos, they’ll taste significantly better.

Why did I not add cilantro to ours?  Well, apparently someone from Peapod mixed up the cilantro with a parsley variety.  So we got two different kinds of parsley in the last grocery delivery, and I didn’t realize it until I was ready to chop up my “cilantro” to add to the burritos.  Ooops!  I ended up using very little parsley, but it didn’t have the same great taste that the cilantro would have given it.

Corn & Zucchini Burritos
Adapted from: Vegetarian Times  (June 2011)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 zucchini, cubed
1-2 jalapeños, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup of black beans
1 red pepper, sliced into cubes
juice of 1 lime
2/3 cup Mexican cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3-4 tortillas
*2 tbsp cilantro, chopped

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Then add the onion, zucchini, jalapeños and garlic; cook them until the onion begins to brown.  Then stir in the corn, black beans and red pepper, cook for another 5 minutes.  Finally, stir in 1/3 of the Mexican cheese, salt and pepper.  Lastly, add the lime juice to the mixture.

Divide the vegetable mixture between the 3-4 tortillas.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the mixture, before rolling the tortilla.

* Cilantro can (should be) sprinkled onto the top of this mixture to bring out the excellent flavors.