Chipotle Bean Burritos

My friend, AMH, pinned this recipe and she blogged about it later.  So, here I am doing the same thing.  She warned me that this may be a little too spicy for the little mouths that gather around my table so I proceeded with caution.  As I read through the recipe I decided that I would take beans out for the girls before the mashing of some of the beans and the addition of salsa.  That seemed to work as the girls gobbled it up without blinking an eye.  However, the beans for the girls were a bit dry when I started mashing them.  I added a couple of teaspoons of water.  Next time I think I will add some stock or something with more flavor.  Also, my girls love pico de gallo so I will give them that instead of salsa (although they sometimes devour salsa, too).  The original photo and recipe can be found on the website My Recipes.

Overall, this was a pretty yummy meal.  I think that I would actually increase the chipotle pepper after I take the beans out for the kiddos.  I know my spice isn't very old and I wanted to taste it a bit more.

We generally have all these ingredients on hand (or things that are easily done without or substituted) so this makes a cheap and easy meal for us.  Even my husband who is sometimes apprehensive about our meatless meals thought this was pretty good and was up for eating it again.  YAY!!

Chipotle Bean Burritos

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 (15-ounce) can organic black beans, drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can organic kidney beans, drained
• 3 tablespoons refrigerated fresh salsa
• 6 (10-inch) reduced-fat flour tortillas (such as Mission)
• 1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded reduced-fat 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese
• 1 1/2 cups chopped plum tomato (about 3)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
• 6 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
• 6 tablespoons light sour cream

Preparation

• 1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in chile powder and salt; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in 1/3 cup water and beans; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in salsa. Partially mash bean mixture with a fork.
• 2. Warm tortillas according to package directions. Spoon about 1/3 cup bean mixture into center of each tortilla. Top each serving with about 2 1/2 tablespoons cheese, 1/4 cup tomato, 1/4 cup lettuce, 1 tablespoon onions, and 1 tablespoon sour cream; roll up.

Maureen Callahan, Cooking Light 
JANUARY 2010

Chipotle Chicken

I don't generally make up recipes and if I do they are really simple and not really noteworthy in my book.  However, my Chipotle Chicken will probably be making another appearance soon.  It's nothing fancy and really revolves all around one spice but it was pretty yummy.





Chipotle Chicken


1 T extra virgin olive oil
4 Chicken breasts (or any cut you feel like using)
Salt
Black pepper
Garlic powder
1 onion sliced
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1-2 tsp ground chipotle chile (from Spice Island for sure)

Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat.  Rub chicken with  salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Place chicken breasts in skillet.  Cook about 4 minutes on each side.  (You could also grill your chicken which would add phenomenal flavor - cook until almost done.)  Remove to cutting board and shred chicken with forks (it will be hot!).  Place onions in skillet and cook until tender.  Add chicken and tomatoes. Stir.  Add ground chipotle chile.  (I originally did about 1 1/2 tsp and it was plenty spicy.  Husband probably would have liked more but we had a little mouth at the table.  She probably would have liked just 1 tsp.)  Mix well.  Simmer for about 10 minutes just to let the flavors combine.  Drain. (I just place a colander in a bowl and dropped it in so we would avoid soggy tacos.)

You can serve this as taco filling (soft or hard) - cheese, cilantro, sour cream, etc.  Make it for a taco salad type of meal.  Add some beans.  I think the next time I make this I will add a green bell pepper in with the onions.  Husband really liked this!

I cannot remember what other recipe I had this spice for and I think it was a little pricey at first (maybe $5?) but I am going to research more meals to make with it because we like it so much!