Bean and Cheese Burritos

Why break up the filled tortillas trend in posts when I can introduce these babies:

 Ummm, yes, I did in fact take two bites before I remembered to take a picture. Couldn't help myself. So I apologize for the misshapen blob my two bites caused. Still worth it.

This all started when my friend Nicole Instagrammed a picture of her son eating a bean and cheese burrito. She said she freezes them and then pulls them out for quick lunches. The light bulb came on and I asked myself why I haven't thought of that in the 14 months I've lived here! It was only a matter of a few days before I just had to try them out for myself. 

I looked up a few recipes for homemade refried beans on Pinterest. Of course they all call for pinto beans, which of course don't exist here, but Nicole said she just uses the plain "red rajma" beans...I don't know what those are called in America. If you're in America, get pinto beans. In fact, get canned ones and save yourself the trouble of cooking them from dry beans. My recipe, however, includes the dry beans :)

After my first batch, I was slightly obsessively hooked. I've already made them 2 more times since then, and even already promised my mom to make her homemade refried beans when I'm home because they're so much tastier than canned! Hope you find these as delicious as I did...you may never need Taco Bell again.

Bean and Cheese Burritos

(this recipe makes enough beans for 6-7 burritos, depending on size of tortillas)

1 cup dry red rajma beans

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4-6 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tsps cumin powder

1-2 tsps chili powder

1 tsp paprika

Dash of salt and pepper

1 TBS butter

Splash of milk

Soak the beans overnight, and then cook them in the pressure cooker, if you have one. I find these beans take a long time to get soft, so I let them go in the pressure cooker for 20-30 minutes. If you don't have a pressure cooker, you'll either want to simmer the beans on the stove or in a slow cooker for several hours.

After the beans are cooked, melt the butter in a sauce pan, and add the onions. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes. Add the beans, along with a little bit of the liquid they've been cooking in. Add all the spices and stir together. Allow this mixture to cook for 10 minutes or so, stirring frequently and adding splashes of milk if it starts getting too dry.

Now it's time to mash the beans. You can use a fork or potato masher, or if you're like me and like really smooth refried beans, use an immersion hand blender or an actual blender/food processor. I like mine best in the blender because it makes them more like a puree. You'll probably need to add a couple more splashes of milk if they're seeming too dry. Just play around with it till it's the consistency you like in refried beans.

Now spoon a blob of beans onto a tortilla and sprinkle with cheese!

Fold the two sides in first, and then roll up carefully to keep all the insides on the inside. 

You can eat immediately, or if you're going to freeze, allow the burrito to sit open for a couple of minutes to cool a little bit. Then roll carefully, wrap well with plastic wrap, and store in a freezer Ziplock bag. 

To thaw, cover the burrito with a wet paper towel, and microwave for a minute on one side. Turn the burrito over and microwave for another 30-60 seconds.

The beans also taste great with some cheese mixed in eaten with tortilla chips!

Breakfast Burritos - to Eat or Freeze

So since dealing with pregnancy "morning" sickness (aka anytime of day nausea), eating in the mornings is a process for me. I have to eat something immediately when I wake up, or it's a quick downward spiral to feeling terrible. But I usually can't eat very much, because I'm already feeling a little borderline nauseous. So I eat a little, and then an hour or so later, eat a little more. Slowly my stomach wakes up, and by about 10:00 in the morning my stomach is ready to actually eat something substantial. The kids are always super active by this point though, so pausing to make eggs or pancakes or whatever isn't always feasible. 

So I decided to give frozen breakfast burritos a try in order to have something readily available in just a few minutes. I have yet to actually try thawing these out yet, so here's hoping it goes well (a website I read suggested wrapping it in a wet paper towel and microwaving for 2-3 minutes on 50% power).

This recipe is totally a copycat of a Pioneer Woman episode I watched, minus the sausage/bacon/ham whatever meat it was she put in them, since that's difficult to get good quality here. My burritos included eggs, cheese, and a great breakfast potato mix. Here's the lineup:

Breakfast Burritos

6 eggs

Splash of milk

4-5 small potatoes

1/3 of a red pepper, finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

Tortillas

Shredded cheese

1-2 TBS olive oil

Salt & pepper

1. Bake the potatoes. Prick with a fork, and bake for 45-60 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius (400 F).

2. Meanwhile, chop the onion and red pepper.

3. Remove the potatoes from the oven and coarsely chop.

4. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium/high heat, and sautee the onions and red peppers for 2-3 minutes or until they start to soften. Even if they start getting a little browned/crispy, don't freak out, they'll taste great. 

5. Add the potatoes to the skillet and give them a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper, Give them a stir around to mix with the onions/peppers, and then use a spatula to press them down and flatten them in the pan. Leave them alone and let them do their browning thing for 4-5 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, milk, and some salt and pepper together. Spray a separate skillet with cooking spray, and add the eggs.

7. Return to your potatoes, and flip all of them over. The side that was facing down should be nice and brown and crispy by now. If not, turn your heat up just a little bit. Press the potatoes down again so the second side can get all crispy.

8. Back to the eggs. Scramble them to your desired doneness. In the last minute sprinkle in some cheese so they get all cheesy melty.

9. Time to assemble. Turn off your burners so you don't burn anything. Put a tortilla on a plate, then add a scoop of eggs, and a scoop of potatoes. Sprinkle with a little extra cheese for good measure.

After taking this picture, I realized there was too much filling to wrap this tortilla up, so I had to take a bite. Oh darn.

10. Fold both sides in, and then roll the burrito over, trying to keep all the filling inside.

After I got done filling 6 tortillas, I was out of eggs, but still had a big spoonful of potatoes leftover. So I had to eat those. Oh darn again.

Instructions to freeze:

Line all your rolled burritos on a baking sheet, seam side down.

Put the tray in the freezer for about an hour (which was not easy in my tiny, already packed freezer, let me tell ya).

Then take the burritos out, and wrap each one individually with plastic wrap. Place in a Ziplock bag and back into the freezer they go!

Crispy Black Bean Quesadillas

For some reason I'm on this big tortilla/burrito/quesadilla quick the past few days. Yesterday I made bean and cheese burritos, today I made some breakfast burritos to freeze, and then made these black bean quesadillas for dinner.

These are really simple to make, and they are even Landon approved, which is saying a lot, people.

When I used to make these in America I made them using pepperjack cheese, and they were so.so.good. If you're in America, please go buy some pepperjack cheese for these. Alas, here in India, we had to settle for the processed cheddar cheese (sigh) and although they were still good, there's no lying saying they were AS good. 

But still. They're great. You should eat them.

I'm including directions below to make the black beans from dry beans, but if you have canned black beans you can just drain and rinse those.

I definitely recommend you include the step of putting a little olive oil on the skillet to crisp up the quesadillas. That crispiness just adds a whole new level of goodness to these.

Crispy Black Bean Quesadillas

1 Cup dry black beans (called jammu rajma in India)

1 small onion, finely chopped

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

1-2 tsps cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp salt

pepper

1 TBS butter

6ish tortillas

Shredded cheddar cheese

Olive oil

1. Cook the black beans if you're using dry. Soak your black beans in water for several hours. If you don't have a pressure cooker, soak them overnight, and then simmer them or cook them in a crock pot for several hours. If you have a pressure cooker (ABSOLUTELY the way to go cooking beans!!!), drain and rinse the beans from the water they soaked in, and then put in the pressure cooker with enough water to cover them by about an inch. Cook in the pressure cooker for 5-7 whistles.

2. Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add the minced onions and sautee for 2-3 minutes, then add the garlic and continue cooking for another 1-2 minutes. 

3. Add the black beans into the pan, and also add all the spices. Let cook for 5-10 minutes just to get all the flavors together.

4. Heat a skillet/griddle pan over medium/high heat. Brush with a little bit of olive oil or drizzle just a few drops. Put a tortilla on the skillet and press down with a spatula/flipper to crisp up the first side, then flip the tortilla over. Sprinkle a layer of cheese, then spoon a spoonful of the black beans, then finish with another layer of cheese. Carefully fold the tortilla over in half and press down with the spatula to get it to stick. 

5. Cook the quesadilla for 1-2 minutes on the first side till it starts getting crispy on the outside and melty on the inside, then carefully flip it over to crisp up the second side.

6. Repeat with remaining tortillas, adding a little olive oil to the griddle with each new tortilla.

These would probably be even more delicious served with salsa, but hey, Kyle's out of town, so I"m doing good to make dinner for the kids and myself and not just order pizza, right?

Chicken Parmesan

I've made spaghetti sauces in the past just using the ground chicken instead of ground beef, but it finally dawned on me that it would be an even tastier idea to make chicken parmesan in lieu of beef spaghetti. Why has it taken me this long to make this?!

I was so excited to make this, I even splurged and paid over $5 for a jar of Ragu sauce from the import section. And it was so worth it (just not too frequently, ha). Like I mentioned, I've made spaghetti sauce a few times here but I've never been very happy with it...if any of you out there have a recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce that tastes good, that does not involve peeling, cooking, and pushing fresh tomatoes through a strainer, please do send it my way. 

In my broccoli cheddar stuffed chicken recipe, I talked about my obsession with Panko bread crumbs, and that's what I used again for the chicken parmesan. If you don't have Panko though, you can just use regular bread crumbs and skip the step of frying the chicken in olive oil and put it directly into the oven.

Chicken Parmesan

3 chicken breasts

1 cup Panko (or regular) breadcrumbs

1-2 tsps Italian seasoning

1-2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese

Pinch of salt and pepper

1 egg, beaten

2 TBS olive oil

1. I like to "butterfly" my chicken, or cut them in half across the length, in order to create two thin chicken cutlets. I think this makes them get crispier with more breading (yum), and cutting them in half is way easier and less messy than pounding them out. Who really likes to pound chicken? So step one, cut the chicken breasts in half (or not if you don't want to). 

2. Beat the egg in one shallow dish.

3. In a second shallow dish, mix the bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, Parmesan cheese, salt & pepper together.

4. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.

5. Dip each piece of chicken in the egg first, then coat well with the bread crumb mixture.

6. Fry the pieces of chicken just until the bread crumbs have browned, about 2ish minutes per side (you're not cooking the chicken all the way here).

7. Transfer the chicken to a plate with a paper towel to soak up grease. Then line a baking pan with foil, spray with cooking spray, and transfer all the chicken to the pan.

8. Bake at 170 degrees C (350 F) for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. If you left the chicken breasts whole, it will probably take more like 25-30 minutes.

9. Remove from oven and serve with spaghetti (or any pasta) and pasta sauce!

Chicken and Noodles over Mashed Potatoes

Talk about comfort food.

This is just seriously yummy. My family has made homemade chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes, probably for all of my life, and my life has certainly been the better for it. Every time I've been pregnant, I crave this meal during the early feeling sick and nothing sounds good weeks, so of course a few weeks ago I was craving this. (P.S. We're pregnant! Hence the lack of posts for the past month, because I've been feeling too nauseous to cook much. We've eaten a lot of pancakes for dinner lately.)

My mom mercifully reminded me of this recipe while she was visiting back in March, and I realized that it was totally possible to make here in India. And it's so delicious, you definitely should!

The key is in the mashed potatoes. I know it seems like a lot of carbs, but I beg of you to abandon all carb consciousness and don't eat the chicken and noodles alone (although they're good enough for that). The mashed potatoes are what really make this dish so delectable. Actually, in an ideal world you'd add one extra carb and serve this with a side of homemade rolls. Yes.

I seriously had to pause in the middle of writing this to go reheat a plate of leftovers to eat. They're that yummy.

This recipe is also so, so simple. The most complicated part is making the egg noodles (if you're in America, you can cheat the system and use Reames frozen egg noodles. If I were in America, I would definitely cheat the system). But really, the egg noodles were not hard to make. I had never made homemade noodles before and was nervous, but I found this recipe that was so easy, and actually didn't even take very much time. I'll include the directions for the egg noodles below the main recipe. 

I won't tell you a recipe for mashed potatoes, because everyone has their own mashed potato style, and hopefully you already know how to make them. I will say though, that boiling the potatoes in the pressure cooker has changed my mashed potato life. Talk about a time saver! Oh, and don't make garlic mashed potatoes for this. Yuck. In fact, I wouldn't even add sour cream or cream cheese if you're that kind of person, because the potatoes will absorb a lot of the liquid and become extra creamy already. Just keep it simple with butter, milk, salt/pepper. Ok, that was practically a recipe.

One final note: the great thing about this recipe is that it's not time sensitive. The longer the chicken and noodles simmer in the broth, the more flavor the noodles absorb. My mom said she's let them simmer as long as an hour before. So it's very forgiving on time; just let them simmer away (or not and eat immediately!)

Chicken and Noodles over Mashed Potatoes

2 large or 3 small chicken breasts

7-8 cups of water

5 chicken cubes (the size that you normally dissolve in 1 cup of water)

(if making this in the U.S. use chicken broth or stock instead of the water and chicken cubes)

3 bay leaves

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 recipe of egg noodles

Mashed potatoes

Mix up your egg noodle recipe 15-20 minutes before starting the chicken and noodles. See below.

Bring the water to a boil and add the chicken cubes. Stir to dissolve. 

Cut the chicken breasts into chunks (I cut small ones in half or big ones in thirds). Add to the pot. Bring the pot back to a boil, but then lower the temperature so it's more of a poaching simmer vs. a full on rolling boil. You'll still want to see some movement of bubbles but not a full boil. This will keep the chicken from getting as tough as when you actually boil it. Cook the chicken for about 15 minutes or until cooked through. While the chicken was cooking, I rolled out and cut my egg noodles.

Remove the chicken from the pot, bring to a boil, and add the noodles. If it seems like there's not enough liquid, you can add more water and adjust the seasoning. I prefer waiting to add any salt or pepper until this stage, so I can see what the broth tastes like after the chicken has cooked in it.

While the noodles are boiling, shred the chicken with two forks. When the noodles seem somewhat cooked, stir the chicken back in. If you're using frozen Reames noodles, they'll take longer to cook than fresh egg noodles. Add salt and pepper if needed.

Simmer for as long as you wish!  When ready, spoon over mashed potatoes and dive in headfirst.

Egg Noodles Recipe

1 Cup of flour, plus more for rolling

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

In a bowl, add 1 cup of flour and salt. Whisk together using a fork. Then push the flour to the edges of the bowl to create a "well" or dent in the middle of the flour in the bowl. Crack the eggs into the well. Using the fork, beat the eggs together. Then continue whisking with the fork and slowly incorporate the flour into the eggs until a dough forms (it will be VERY sticky). You might need to use your hands to get the last bit of flour combined.

Generously sprinkle flour on a flat surface and put the ball of dough on it. Knead the dough by hand and incorporate more and more flour until the dough is no longer sticky and is a cohesive ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Take the dough out of the fridge and divide into two sections. On a well floured surface, roll out one half of the dough thin, but not paper thin. Keep in mind that once the noodles absorb the water they will expand in both length and width, so roll extra thin if you like thin noodles. Once rolled out, use a knife or a pizza cutter to cut into noodles. Again, make these as thin or as thick as you like, but keep in mind they'll expand (in my picture above, the original noodles were probably half of the width as they turned out after cooking). Place cut noodles on a cooling rack to keep them from sticking together.

Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Also, if it's too stressful for you to time making the noodles at the same time as making the chicken, you can make the noodles ahead of time and cut them, and just leave them sitting out on the cooling rack until you're ready to use them. In fact, the first time I made this, I made the noodles the day before and let them dry overnight, then used them the next day. If you let them dry, it just takes them longer to cook.