Beans 'n Greens Burritos

     So, I've made kind of a major dietary choice in the past few weeks.  After looking over my pictures for the last few years really brought it home how much weight I have gained lately.  It can be blamed directly on my cooking for myself (and eating too much of my good cooking!) and a lack of exercise.  I figured that the exercise would come in time (since I am naturalizing a lot lately so hiking a lot), but I could directly control what I ate, now.  A lot of this comes from Food Matters a cookbook by (guess who), Mark Bittman.  I could kiss that man!  Anyways, this cookbook emphasizes a lot more vegetables, a lot less dairy and meat and the use of whole grains over white.  I've been eating like this (more or less) for a few weeks and have already noticed a difference!  I feel a lot healthier and I am losing weight.  I'm not perfect yet; I've fallen off the wagon a few times, but I really feel it is making a difference!  So, what follows is one of my favorite recipes from my new dietary regime:  Beans 'n Greens burritos

Beans ‘n Greens Burritos

Ingredients:

-4 large or 8 small whole wheat flour tortillas
-2 tbsp. olive oil
-1 onion, chopped
-1 tbsp. minced garlic (3-4 cloves)
-1 tbsp. chili powder
-salt and black pepper
-1 bunch of kale (about 1 pound), roughly chopped
-2 cups cooked or canned black beans, drained, liquid reserved
-1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco or feta cheese, optional

Procedure:

1)Preheat oven 300F. Stack tortillas and roll them up in a sheet of aluminum foil. Place them in the oven to warm while you cook the filling.
2)Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it's hot, add onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and beginning to color, 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle with chili powder and salt and pepper. Add the kale and cook, stirring occasionally, until leaves wilt and release their liquid, about 5 minutes. Stir in beans, and mash them with a fork or potato masher, adding a spoonful of the reserved liquid if the mixture seems dry.
3) To roll each burrito, lay a tortilla on a flat surface and put 1/4 of mixture (or 1/8 if using the small tortillas) on the third closest to you.  Sprinkle with some of the cheese.  Fold the tortilla over from the bottom to cover the beans and greens, then fold in the 2 sides to fully enclose them finish rolling and put the burrito seam side down on a plate.

Note: These freeze well.  Just wrap them individually in foil or wax paper and freeze in a tightly sealed container.  Reheat in the microwave or oven.

     The first time I made these, I made homemade whole wheat tortillas to go along with them.  Between the homemade tortillas and the feta cheese, they were amazing!  I kept going back for more!  Normally, I don't like kale (unless it is in the form of kale chips), but this was a really good combination.  I've made it quite a few times since then and have found that this mixture is good for all kinds of things: burritos, sandwiches, on rice, etc.

Homemade whole wheat tortillas

Kale and black bean mixture

Deliciousness!