Sweet Potato Burritos

This sounds weird, but these are great! My sister-in-law told us about this recipe, so tonight we gave it a try. She found this recipe in an old Texas ward recipe book. It's very cheap (approx $5 for 2.5 meals) and healthy! I liked it a lot, but my husband thought there wasn't enough spice. Next time I might add a little more spice for him.

Sweet Potato Burritos
1 T Vegetable oil                                                                             
1 onion chopped                                                                           
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups canned black beans, drained and rinsed (4 cans)
3 T chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp prepared mustard
3 T soy sauce
4 C sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed (3-4 microwaved for 7+ minutes, take the skins off, and mashed)
12 (10 inch) flour tortillas, warmed (We used the smaller ones)
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese (We used mozzarella. Delicious.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat oil in medium skillet, and saute onion and garlic until soft.  Stir in beans and heat until warm.  Remove from heat and stir in chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.  Add just enough water so that sauces dissolve.
Divide bean mixture and mash sweet potatoes evenly between the warm flour tortillas.  Top with cheese. Fold up tortillas burrito style and bake or freeze.  Place on a baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes in preheated oven and serve.

Heather

Cream of Broccoli Soup

My sister-in-law made this soup for us last summer, and we loved it. Yummy! I love it with breadsticks.
Some great tips from my sister-in-law for this soup are: "We LOVE this soup and make it whenever broccoli is on sale. It's easy to half, and the proportions don't have to be exact. Often we do it without celery, and I always saute chopped up broccoli stems with the onions. And red onions are the best for this soup. The cream mixture always takes longer than you think it should, but it usually comes 'round. Here's the original link."

Cream of Broccoli SoupIngredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cups chicken broth
8 cups broccoli florets
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1.Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium sized stock pot, and saute onion and celery until tender. Add broccoli and broth, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
2.Pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot.
3.In small saucepan, over medium-heat melt 3 tablespoons butter, stir in flour and add milk. Stir until thick and bubbly, and add to soup. Season with pepper and serve.

Southwest Black Bean Burgers

Today I tried a vegetarian burger recipe. It's the first recipe in this post. It sounded like a good, cheap recipe.

Pros-

• cheap
• lots of flavor
• healthy
• makes lots! I split mine into 5 patties, but could've done 6

Cons-

• weird texture
• slight taste of beans
• I couldn't get my burgers to hold together that well

My husband and I concluded that we're going to keep this recipe, but add 1/2 lb. of hamburger meat. Then freeze half and use half. It'll stretch hamburger meat a lot farther, and you still get the flavor and healthy produce.

Southwest Black Bean Burger

1 can black beans

1/2 small red onion

1/2 medium red pepper

2-3 garlic cloves

1 large egg

3/4 cup bread crumbs

1 Tablespoon cumin

1 Tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

4 soft wheat buns

1 avocado (I didn't use an avocado, we're not fans)

2 tomatoes

4 slices colby jack cheese (I used cheddar)

1 bunch fresh cilantro

 BBQ sauce

Rinse black beans in a colander under running water until water runs clear. Put into a bowl and smash with a fork. Blend onion, pepper, garlic and egg in a food processor or blender. Add to beans. (When I mixed mine, I put the onion, pepper, garlic, egg, and beans all in the blender together. I didn't think mashing beans with a fork would mix them up enough.) Mix crumbs with spices and add to the bowl. The mixture should be a little pasty. Divide into four sections and shape into patties. Grill about 3 minutes each side or until the patties hold together well. Add one slice of cheese to each before removing from grill, so the cheese will melt. Spread BBQ sauce onto one side of the bun, top patties with sliced avocado, tomato and cilantro.