Quick Burritos

Recently when my brother asked me what I had been up to, I had to admit that I had been spending a fair bit of time on food lately. Between going to the farmers' market, picking up our CSA, reading food blogs, cooking and eating, food was taking up a good part of my week. In contrast, he shared that he tries to spend as little time on food as possible. He has his regular rotation of quick meals in which burritos feature prominently. When he mentioned burritos - a light bulb went off - I could put greens in burritos. So in our continued effort to eat up all of our greens, we made burritos with greens for dinner tonight.

I grew up eating lots of Mexican food. When I lived in upstate NY, I joked that the best Mexican food in the county came from my kitchen. At that point, I would spend whole days making mole sauce from scratch, making my own tortillas and all sorts of salsas, and the list went on. This dinner was not in the same category, but it was delicious and a great healthy option for a fast weeknight dinner. We had dinner on the table within 30 minutes of walking in the door.


Quick Burritos
2 bunches of greens (we used turnip and radish greens)
2 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 16 oz can of beans (pinto or black beans work well)
grated cheddar cheese
tortillas
salsa

Slice the greens into 1 inch wide strips and steam until tender. While the greens are cooking, lightly coat a saute pan with olive oil. Add the onions and cook until soft. Add the beans and heat through. Soften the tortillas by placing them right over the flame on a gas stove or in a dry frying pan. Do one tortilla at a time for a few seconds on each side. After the tortillas are warm, layer the beans, greens, salsa and cheese. Enjoy!

Tip: Our first burritos were really watery. We decided to split one more burrito, and the second time around we squeezed the moisture out of the greens and drained some of the liquid off the salsa. It made a big difference! We didn't have juice running down our arm any more.



Salsa Fresca
2 tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
1 jalapenos, with seeds and membrane removed
1/2 onion, chopped
handful of cilantro
1/2 lime, juiced
pinch of salt

Chop all of the ingredients and combine. Cover and let sit for 1 hour to let the flavors mingle.

For a smoother texture: Use a food processor to combine the ingredients. This was the route we chose this evening.

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