Necessito Burrito!

Do you remember the commercials with the Taco Bell dog?  I love chihuahuas, so I liked them, even though they did get old.  I do not, however, love Taco Bell, and never really did.  Mexican food is great, but I don't know if Taco Bell really qualifies, and with menu items like "Beefy Cheesy Burritos," I would rather stay as far away as possible, even if they are one of the only fast food places you can get something vegan (special ordered of course).  We travel a good bit, so for us, a much better option for food on the go (when we run out of what we packed) is the new places like Chipotle, Boloco, and Moe's that have been popping up a lot lately.  We have a couple of Moe's (Moe's'?  How do you pluralize that?) around here, and it's also a nice option when we want to go out with our non-vegan friends (and I'm talking about you, Wayne & Loraine).  We generally go for the big burritos, with rice, beans, grilled veggies, salsa & guac.  So I decided to try my hand at making these at home.  I was looking to get the same type of taste, but with a little bit of a better nutrition quotient.  Here is what I came up with:

"Jo's" Burritos


(makes about 3 giant burritos)


3 large tortillas (like 12"+)
1/2 cup non-dairy cheddar cheese
2 cups brown rice, cooked
2 cups spicy black beans, cooked (see note)
2 cups sauteed veggies (such as onions, red peppers, mushrooms, olives)
Guacamole
Salsa


Note:  For my beans, I used a couple of cups of cooked beans (canned would also be fine), simmered until warm with chile powder, salt, pepper, and roasted red pepper flakes to taste.

1.  Grab a GINORMOUS tortilla.

2.  Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese on each tortilla.

3.  Spoon on 1/3 of rice and 1/3 of beans.

4.  Spoon on 1/3 of veggie mixture.

 5.  Top with guacamole (your own, or store bought, if you are lazy and/or can't find good avocados, like me).

6.  And add some salsa.

7.  Roll up as illustrated below:

8.  Enjoy your huge burrito!  

Feel free to add tofu sour cream and fresh tomatoes and lettuce, if you like as well.  I don't know if that would have fit in ours.  They were about to pop!  But the tortillas were very sturdy, which prevented it from being knife & fork food.

I call them Jo's, because that was one of my nicknames growing up (among others like Gee and Georgie).  Between my mom, my sisters and me, we would come up with all kinds of names to call each other besides our actual names (nice ones, I mean, for the most part anyway!).  Somehow, I was called Jo-ja and then Jojo, and then Jo, which I was happy about because I wanted to be a writer like Jo in Little Women.  I got off really easy with Jo, based on the first syllable of my name, compared to my sister Astra.  I think you can see where I'm going with that!  :)