Friday, February 26, 2010

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos

Since I've started posting our meal plans I have gotten question on how to make the sweet potato burritos we often have. So I thought I would let everyone know how they can cook them. But first a cookbook review.

If you have never heard of Simply in Season, you must check it out. It is by far one of my most used cookbooks. It is put together so nicely that I can easily look up recipes by ingredient and season. And often there are variations to the recipes, using other vegetables or fruit common in other seasons. And example is in the Summer section there is a wonderful recipe for crustless zucchini quiche. At the bottom it suggests using broccoli or kale rather than zucchini and tomatoes in the fall. In addition to the great recipes, there are menu idea for putting together the recipes to make a complete meal. This is a great help to me. I sometimes get excited about a certain dish but than have no idea what to serve with it. Finally there are great tips on gardening and eating seasonally.

Ok now that I have praised Simply in Season, on to the recipe. We had these burritos last night. As you can probably figure out by checking our menus, we love them. And they have become a staple around here the last couple of winters. Hope you enjoy as well.

Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos

Saute in oil 3 cups diced sweet potato and 1/2 an med onion

Add 2 cups cooked black beans (or one 15 oz can), 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt. Cook until heated through.

Spoon into 6-8 tortillas, sprinkle with cheese and roll up. Bake at 350F in 9x13 baking dish covered with foil for about 20-25 minutes.

I get impatient with sauting the sweet potatoes. And with little kids I need to ensure my potatoes are very very soft. So I have cooked the two different ways. One is to diced them up and then steam them like I would if I was going to mash them. The second (which I first tried last night) is to bake them in the oven first. I diced them, tossed them in oil and then placed them in a square baking dish at 400F. I think it took about 45 mins to cook till they were as soft as desired. But they tasted so good this way. If cooking the sweet potatoes in either manner, I add the spices to the black potatoes and then toss the cooked potatoes into that mixture before spooning into the tortillas. If I'm using canned beans I don't even bother heating. They get heated in the oven. I also like to sprinkle cheese on top of the rolled up tortillas.

Sorry I don't have any pictures. When I was making them last night I didn't think about taking any. I sure hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

1 comment:

Allison said...

We really need to try these. They sound awesome. I love sweet potatoes, but our local Kroger can't tell the difference between sweet potatoes and yams, and I can't ever remember which is which, or which I like better. I have bought different kinds and they're all good but some are sweeter and more orange. Last time I went to the grocery store, they had just put them all together under one sign that said "Sweet potatoes and yams, $1.99/lb" or something. Seriously?! I count on the produce section to label the produce accurately!