Big and Easy Burritos Using Holiday Leftovers
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There’s a small Mexican restaurant in my neighborhood that sits on the corner of a very busy street. The restaurant is tiny and has a drive-through, and the parking lot has room for only two cars.
It’s open 24-hours a day, but the best time to go is around 4 a.m. You can purchase the best breakfast burritos for miles, and they are hot and fresh. They are so good, that you will rip open the wrapper and chow down on the way to work. Packed with beans, rice, meat, and cheese, it is one of the best breakfasts anyone could wish for. And for $4 per burrito, it’s still a good deal. As a burrito, it is so filling that you may even save money and skip lunch.
Just a few miles from my home is another Mexican restaurant that boasts an 8-pound burrito for $15. I had seen the manager roll a burrito in front of a news camera and claim that he was going to eat it himself. Rumor has it that they have a regular customer who consumes a burrito each day. I have never seen one of these burritos up close and personal, but on camera, it could pass for someone’s thigh.
After the holidays, if you play host or hostess, you will throw all your visitors out of your home and see what’s left when it comes to leftovers. This Christmas, I was delighted to find more ham and turkey to freeze than I did at Thanksgiving. For quick breakfasts for home or to pack for my husband’s lunch, I chose to make my easy version of big burritos that would rival any nearby fast food establishment. Burritos are easy and inexpensive to make, but people tend to forget that they can make their own in minutes.
I had a high school chum who used to invite me over for what she called Taco Beans. They were really a pot of beans on the stove that simmered on very low heat over the week. Using corn or flour tortillas, we made our burritos before returning to class.
Burritos, when made properly, are a treat as well as an easy meal to prepare. Here’s how I make my Big and Easy Burritos using leftovers and ingredients I usually can find in my refrigerator:
Big and Easy Burritos Using Holiday Leftovers
Ingredients
2 cups leftover meat or a mixture of different meat (steak, turkey, ham, chicken, etc.), chopped into small pieces
2 cups mashed potatoes or baked potatoes, chopped into small pieces
4-5 eggs, beaten or whisked
3 or 4 tablespoons enchilada sauce (optional)
1 cup shredded cheese (any kind)
3-4 wraps (plain or any flavor)
Oil
Directions
1) Pour approximately 1 teaspoon oil into a skillet and heat.
2) Add meat and potatoes. Heat.
3) Beat eggs and whisk. Add to mixture and stir occasionally until eggs are cooked
4) Add 3-4 tablespoons of enchilada sauce and stir into mixture.
5) Place mixture near the bottom of the wrap. Roll tightly from the bottom. Fold edge over on the left, and then fold edge over the right. Roll burrito upward.
6) Cut burrito in half before serving if desired.
7) Serve immediately or roll in aluminum foil and refrigerate for later.
I didn't have any shredded cheese in the house, but no one seemed to notice that I left it out. The idea is to make do with what you have because unless you go grocery shopping right away, most of us are cleaned out right after the holidays.
Make Your Own Version of Big and Easy Burritos
Wow, what a burrito! My husband and I both love a good burrito. I would never have thought to add the enchilada sauce, great idea! Thanks again for sharing another great hub @Arlene V. Poma. I can't wait to give it a try.
Victoria Lynn, gone are the days of the plain bean burrito. Thanks for reminding me. I have to edit this piece because I remember breakfast burritos having rice and beans added to the mix, too. Gee, what else? I think I went to Chipolte's once for their burritos, but I was only watching the rolling. What are those? $5? Those are huge monsters, too, but I thought they were quite plain. Also, most people tell me that flour tortillas are for dummies. I don't care. I like those handmade and soaked in sauce. My brother was raving about pork carnitas burritos at this place in San Francisco. I tried the burrito and found it filled with (get this) copper pellets. Yeecch! I guess someone shot my burrito before handing it to me. Thanks for the vote up, and I hope you give the recipe a try. I like "kitchen sink" recipes. Anything goes. I don't care to leave my house and HubPages if I don't have to, so what I find in the fridge is fine with me.
Copper pellets??? yikes! I"m with you...I like to throw in anything I have in leftovers. Burritos and enchiladas are good for that. All kinds of different combos are wonderful! You make homemade tortillas? Are they very hard to make? That sounds like another hub. You really have wonderful hubs! You are so real, and your style is so fun to read!
Hi there, instantlyfamily! I do love your monkeys in your profile photo. It is soooooo cute and creative. My sewing skills don't exist, but I would like to make one. Anywhoooo, please try making a Big and Easy Burrito. Or even a smaller version. It is quick and painless! I love enchilada sauce. Hubby and me frequent this restaurant that makes their own flour tortillas. And I will eat anything that's swimming in their special enchilada sauce. When I figure out their secret recipe for the sauce, I will stay home and make my own enchiladas and other dishes. I can also try making my own flour tortillas, but I'm really way too lazy. I am afraid to step on that horrible bathroom scale because I have been enjoying all kinds of food during the holidays. But you know what? I don't regret it! Snorty, snort, snort!
Arlene,
I will have to try this. Usually my leftovers go into a ham and grits casserole, or I cover everything with mashed potatoes and bake them.
For some reason Chipolte burritos are too heavy for my taste. I usually order the bowl.
Tamales seem to be more popular here in Dallas.
Looks yummy and way better than the usual turkey sandwich. Love the idea of a burrito breakfast.
Victoria Lynn, I learned how to make flour tortillas from a family friend when I was just a youngster, but she did it all by hand. They do have presses for sale at the specialty stores and anywhere with a kitchen department. I even saw presses at the dollar store and Kohl's. But if you did all that, it's quite an easy mix of water, flour, and lard. Ick! Who uses lard??? And who has the time? So we buy the 12, 30, 70-count stuff in the supermarket, then look forward to the homemade flour ones at the restaurants. You can tell when they're homemade (or I should say homestyle), anyway. Nice and thick, and not uniform in size. About HubPages: I love HubPages because it's like an upbeat Facebook without my goofy "Facebook friends" that I will be "permanently deleting" at the end of the week when my account dies. HubPages is more like a daily diary to me because I can crank out one or two Hubs each day and post them. There's always something I'm thinking about, so I write. It's the way I think and write, and I didn't think about this process as the way I really do roll. But I didn't find this out until the first 30/30. I don't have the skills people have for online writing--the knowledge about stats, keywords, Google, SEO, etc. I always struggle with tech stuff. I don't even know how to post polls or questionnaires. This is not how I learned to write. I doubt very much if I'm going to change. I just enjoy writing. I received a freelance assignment out of the blue yesterday. It will take this month to complete, but I'm still doing HubPages in the evenings. I don't think like most people, and everything is all or nothing for me. Or maybe I fell down the rabbit hole six months ago. I can tell you right now I'm not doing anything to get out. I do enjoy it here.
Leroy, my tamale vendor flaked out on me and owes me 12 more tamales. She left all her fixins out, so she had to toss them. I am slightly pissed off because I only have one of her chicken tamales left. I have fallen in love with them and wish to have them for breakfast until I run out. Well, I am looking for another tamale vendor for next year. Hmmmph! I doubt if I will be getting my missing 12. The one thing I haven't gotten acquainted with are grits. I do need to work with that. Most of what I like and want to try don't go with what my family and friends will eat. As far as I know, they are all culinary duds who don't want to try different dishes. Well, they don't know what they are missing.
truthfornow, you will have to try a Big and Easy Burrito or at least a smaller version. I got tired of making the smaller burritos because I always used too much filling. It looked awful. Filling popping out. So I was watching the news while a couple of the reporters were learning how to make the big burritos at Chipolte's. With these big wraps available, how can you lose? Except when you get on the scale after constantly eating these for breakfast. Let me tell you. I am afraid of getting on that bathroom scale. Too many breakfast burritos in my past!
Good luck with the tamales. It's kind of hard for me to find someone who makes them right. Do you prefer tamales with corn husks or banana leaves?
I grew up eating grits; but, not everyone likes them. In my opinion, the best grits are usually found in diners serving southern food. There is a trick to making grits that I have not mastered.
I have not tried tamales with banana leaves, but there are a lot of Filipino dishes and desserts using banana leaves. Close but no cigars? I've heard there's a way to make grits. But I'm a beginner in the grits department. It would help if I knew someone who appreciated grits, but no luck so far. I am on my own, here in Northern California. Jeez.
I love burritos, and we make them fairly often--and yes, big gut-buster size. LOL What goes into them? Whatever's on hand.
Grits are easy--you can get them in a box, easy to prepare--sort of like cooking rice, but faster. Some people like them with gravy; I am non-traditional and like them for breakfast with maple syrup.!! ;-)
As I understand it, tamales with banana leaves are from South America or Carribean Islands. I think it is a good bet there is a Filipino version. The corn husks are usually found in Mexico and the US. I had a Salvadorean version and that was one huge tamale. I didn't notice much difference in the taste.
MsLizzy, as of the New Year, I will turn into a BIG BURRITO from eating burritos all year. Ahhhh, but it was worth it! Uh, for a Filipino, I will need to work on cooking grits because I can't cook rice worth beans. I even mess up using a rice cooker. I am always made fun of during family gatherings for my skills with cooking rice. Or should I say, lack of? I did have grits at a restaurant once, but as I was eating, a woman stopped by my table on her way out and told me to knock it off and go somewhere else for grits. Do you think she was trying to tell me something??? I finished my grits, anyway. I mean, I paid for them. Which is the same reason why I don't walk out of movie theaters just because I can't get into the movie.
Leroy, you are absolutely right! My neighbors were from Peru, and they made their tamales using banana leaves as wrappers. Those were good, too, but the masa was very light and more like cream of wheat. And the pork filling was in big chunks. I remember the olives most of all because they were soaked in liquor. When I was a kid, I enjoyed Christmas in the Philippines because all the desserts were in banana leaves or stuffed in bamboo. I loved the bamboo ones.
Interesting. I will have to find some Philippine cooks around here. Homemade tamales are always better aren't they.
Homemade tamales are always better. Unfortunately, tamale vendors are hard to find because tamales are usually an annual thing. I was thinking of perfecting my tamale making skills so I don't have to go searching for someone who makes tamales at Christmas. Filipinos use a lot of pork in their dishes. My doctor said he would bet his medical license that most Filipinos suffer from gout, but will eat pork, anyway. I'm one of them, but there are very few pork dishes I will eat. Gout is very painful, so if you're going to eat pork, you'd better make it worth your while.
This looks like a great way to get rid of leftovers. Leftovers are hard to sell, so this looks like a neat way to entice fussy eaters. I have quite couple of those in my family. Thanks for sharing and rated up.
Happy New Year to you and yours, angin! You have reminded me to fix a burrito for myself since I missed dinner and didn't do any shopping. Thanks for the vote up! Looking forward to reading more of your work in 2012.
Very good looking burrito there Arlene. Yes a burrito is a prime resource for loading in leftovers or meal in a tortilla. Yum.
Thank you, jenubouka! Coming from you, I consider that a HUGE compliment! Love those burritos. Cooking a pot of ham and beans for New Year's today. That ought to do it in the burrito department for about a week. Or until I burn out.
Victoria Lynn 4 months ago
Wow, Arlene, I didn't know eggs were used in burritos. But I guess breakfast burritos, yeah... Looks great. Will bookmark! I love enchilada sauce. Would probably try with or without....Great hub. See vote above! And up!