Wednesday, January 12, 2011

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!  :)  

7 comments:

  1. Moe's'? How do you pluralize that?

    "Moses?" LOL

    ¡Me gustan mucho los burritos! And yours look muy bueno! But I am a total spaz at rolling them, plus I tend to overfill them. So they ooze out the end and come all apart, to the dismay of my Texan husband. So I let him do it. :-) Maybe thanks to your illustrated tutorial, I can surprise him next time with a display of competent burrito rolling skills!

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  2. P.S. Poor Astra! But really, with a unique name like Astra, do you need a nickname?

    I think "Jo-Ja" is cute! Another thing we have in common: I've had tons of nicknames my whole life too, and no one in my family has ever called me by my real name unless they were mad at me. :-) And it sounds weird when BW calls me Laurie instead of La or Laloo.

    So what do you prefer to be called by your blog readers?

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  3. I have to confess I was a terrible burrito roller as well, and usually just folded them and then had stuff dripping out the bottom. I studied the people at Moe's & Chipotle, and this is the first time I tried it, and it worked! And my tortilla wasn't as pliable as I hoped. So basically this is my long-winded way of saying, this fool is telling you this is a foolproof way to roll a burrito up.

    I guess we were just nickname people in my family :) We also all have fairly unique names (Georgia, Terra, and Astra -- obviously Astra wins the prize) so I think that makes us creative nicknamers. We call my mom Moo and Mimi and Mama, depending on the mood we are in. My other sister is Terra, and we call her T, Teeter, Turtle, and sometimes Turd, if she is being one. My sisters are twins and my mom also used to call them Rofey (Astra) and Reefy (Terra), and I have no idea where that came from. Like I said, we are creative, and also very verbal people.

    I am happy to be called Georgia I think, or I probably wouldn't have put my name in my blog, since if you search vegan and Georgia, my blog will come after about 4 million pages about veggie restaurants in Atlanta :) I used to hate my name--I tried to get rid of it by using variations on my middle name, which is Nichole--but after growing up and growing into it, I can't really imagine being anyone else!

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  4. I think your parents picked really great names for you guys! And as a former English teacher, I don't even know how to pluralize Moe's. :) Way to fold that very stuffed, yummy looking burrito!

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  5. roasted red peppers? where did you find those?
    i always wanted nicknames:) then my friend started calling me beefy and butch...i stopped complaining.

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  6. I actually used just red bell peppers, but roasted red peppers would be good too. I usually buy the jarred ones they have in the grocery store, although I have made my own under the broiler in the stove.

    Beefy and Butch are pretty bad, I think I would have stopped complaining too! :)

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  7. Good to know that this method is foolproof - I'll need that! :-) I haven't had a chance to try it yet.

    I agree with Jenny that your folks chose great names for all of you! And all your various nicknames were definitely creative ~ especially Rofey and Reefy. I'd love to know what the muse who whispered those in your mom's ear was thinking! :-)

    Beefy and Butch?! Oh geez, DD - be careful what you wish for! LOL

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