Throughout my childhood I can always remember my mom making burritos at home and getting to build my own masterpiece. So when I moved in with my boyfriend and began cooking for us on a regular basis, I decided we'd have burrito nights too. This makes me laugh because we have a super awesome down comforter that we refer to as the burrito (wrap yourself up in this bad boy and you won't want to leave for days), but I'm referring to actual burritos that you eat.
Initially I just started off with some of the basic necessities: ground beef, canned refried beans, processed packs of Spanish rice, packets of taco seasoning, bagged shredded lettuce, sour cream, pre-made tortillas and some of the other fixins. Don't get me wrong, that's all good and well and I could make a mean meal out of that, which I did time and time again. I also feel that no matter what, a home cooked meal like that is by far better than Taco Bell or any other fast food for that matter.
However, after learning more and more about cleaner eating and processed foods and organic veggies, I completely changed my shopping list for burrito night. I had never realized how much sodium and preservatives goes into the taco seasoning and Spanish rice mix. Or how much leaner ground turkey is to ground beef, or that the bagged shredded lettuce was treated with chemicals to keep it fresh. And then I decided to take a look at the ingredients on the tortilla package. Hydrogenated soybean oil? Preservatives? Anti fungals? Refined wood pulp? Holy crap these things are loaded with nasty stuff!
I didn't realize this until one night last week while making the taco meat, which is now ground turkey, just how much our Mexican food nights had changed. Instead of reaching for the packet of seasoning mix, I grabbed a tiny mason jar and a half a dozen bottles of spices and began mixing my own spice mix. Instead of opening the can of refried beans and microwaving them, I was rinsing black beans. Instead of opening my bag of shredded lettuce, I was washing and cutting my own romaine. Instead of opening the sour cream, I was opening the plain non fat Greek yogurt. And the craziest part was warming 5 ingredient tortilla shells on the skillet instead of opening the pack of pre-made processed tortillas. And you know what? It all tastes amazing, even better than the pre-made, processed versions.
That was actually my first time not using the pre-made tortillas, and let me tell you I'll never go back! My mom and sister had gotten me a pack of tortillas to try that were uncooked, 5 ingredients, and only had to be warmed on a skillet. These things are fantastic! They're a little smaller than what we're used to but they have so much more flavor and give a good texture to the burritos. And the best part is, since I made these changes one by one the boyfriend didn't think I was bombarding him with changes and he's none the wiser that our burrito nights are far, far better for us now than they used to be. I've eliminated a lot of chemicals and sodium and preservatives, plus added extra veggies to make up for it. My favorites for burrito night are the fresh lettuce of course, diced tomatoes, diced onion, avocado, and black olives are another major weak spot for me. Great, now I want black olives.
These new tortillas and finding out all the nasty crap that's in pre-made tortillas has gotten me wanting to make my own tortillas. Here's 2 tortilla recipes that I'll be trying next time, as well as the taco seasoning that I make:
Homemade Flour Tortillas: (Confessions of a Home Schooler)
3 1/2 Cups all purpose flour (or you can mix with whole wheat flour)
2 tsp salt
3/4 Cup Oil (or lard, which, I know it's gross but website says it makes the best. I won't be trying)
1 Cup lukewarm water
Mix dry ingredients together. Add in your oil or cut in your lard or shortening until blended. Slowly add water and mix well with your hands until just sticky. Knead on a floured surface for about 2 minutes or until the dough is no longer sticky. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rest 20 minutes, longer if you'd like. Preheat your skillet to medium, then dust your surface with flour. Shape the dough into egg size balls then press into 5" circle. Using a floured rolling pin, roll into nice round shape until desired thickness, approximately 7" circle. Transfer each tortilla one at a time to your dry, heated skillet and cook about 30 seconds on each side. You want them to just start to bubble and turn golden brown. Remove them place on a clean cloth or paper towel and loosely cover with foil to keep warm without moisture.
Whole Wheat Tortillas: (Confessions of a Home Schooler)
2 Cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 Cup oil
2/3 Cup warm water
Mix dry ingredients, then add oil and water. Knead for 2 minutes then place in covered bowl for at least 30 minutes. Roll into golf ball size balls, then process as recipe above.
Homemade Taco Seasoning:
2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
cayenne pepper to taste (optional)
Now, I'm pretty horrible about measuring things and to be completely honest I just threw all those things together and tasted it until I liked it. I also made a large batch of it that will cover 4 meals to have on hand. I added minced onion and used Himalayan pink salt instead of table salt, and I also love cumin so I used quite a bit of that. Make it your own, taste a tiny bit or sprinkle a little on the taco meat until it tastes right for you. If you love it hot, add cayenne or red pepper flakes, if you like it sweet add a little sugar. That's another glorious thing about making it yourself is that you get to make it exactly how you like it.
No comments:
Post a Comment