Burrito Ideas for Summer ~ Use your Garden & Farmer's Market

. . . to create beautiful food. Probably my favorite part of cooking is using the ingredients that I get from my garden and the local farmer's market in new and creative ways. Because I have been a bit busy lately and am healing from a neck injury, simplicity in cooking is important. Stella has also had a bit of a digestive virus so I wanted to make a meal that would have enough options for her to eat something.

Burritos= simplicity + options / local ingredients + traditional ingredients (avocado, lime, salsa, jalapeno)

Today I want to focus on some ideas for making your own burritos with fresh local ingredients. My kids love burritos and it gives them and me a lot of options depending on our mood.

Stella (1 1/2) ejoys a big plate of burritos

For me simplicity was looking in my pantry and using adzuki beans & sushi rice. I used my own spinach & lettuce, parsley from my garden and eggs from my chickens. Another reason I think burritos are simple is because you can start with a shell and just a few fillings and have a spectacular meal. I place "toppings" in bowls and people can add what they like.

Here are some ingredients you can mix and match to make burritos:

Tortillas: we like 100% corn tortillas. they are usually smaller than flour ones. Get a bamboo steamer for your tortillas, it makes a huge difference in the taste!!

Lime & lemon: squeeze some on top of your burrito or add to salsa

Tomatillos: can buy as in a salsa, or as a fresh fruit and cut, cook, and make into salsa or topping.

salsa: try a mango, pineapple, or green salsa, or make your own. I think it would be fin to make a rhubarb and mango salsa, and rhubarb is in season!

Plain yogurt or sour cream

Guacamole or avocados

Fresh tomatoes: sometimes if I froget salsa, I slice up a tomato and barely miss the salsa.

Rice: I like wild rice mixes, jasmine, and sushi rice

Beans: any type (black, pinto, black eyed peas, adzuki)- adzuki beans (little red beans you can buy in bulk at health food or co-op stores) are especially good as they soften into a nice refried bean type mash as they cook. All dried beans soak in water for 4-8 hours and then cook in a pan covered by several inches of water for a few hours. You may need to add more water as they cook. Beans soak up a large amount of water, especially if you do not soak them for long before hand.

Meat: chicken, beef, fish, soy alternative

Herbs: parsley, thyme, basil, oregano, cumin, fennel. Try using one or two herbs at a time, can prepare as toppings or with meat and/or beans

Onions & garlic: cook on its own as a topping or with meat and beans

Greens: spinach, lettuce. Cut small and serve as topping. If you will be reheating the burritos, choose spinach, as it will reheat beautifully

Cheese: feta, farmer, jack, jalapeno, anything you will enjoy.

Jalapenos: cook on the side or with the meat/beans. If you will be serving children, put the jalapenos on the side rather than in the meat/beans

Eggs: scramble and enjoy with beans and cheese

Beer: for the adults, serve burritos with a nice cold specialty beer, I have been enjoying Kona Wailua Wheat Beer with Passion Fruit

Anything I am forgetting that you like to add to yours? Add a comment at the bottom!!

Balsamic Spinach, Noodle, and Chicken Salad: Spring Recipe that Kids Love!

Chances are, if it has noodles, my kids will like to eat it. In an effort to incorporate healthy vegetables I combined spinach, carrots, celery, artichoke hearts and baked chicken with long spaghetti-style noodles, which you can chop into shorter pieces (makes the salad easier to toss). For vegetarians, substitute a good vegi-burger with the chicken, or marinate bite-size tofu in balsamic vinegar overnight (or for 2+ hours). I use my favorite balsamic homemade dressing with the salad. This meal satisfies all appetites as it combines a great protein source (chicken or tofu), carbs, and a great vegetable mix. I love making a salad as a dinner's main course, and this one is excellent. Even 1-year old Stella enjoyed the noodles and chicken, which we chopped small for her.

RECIPE: Balsamic Spinach, noodle, and Chicken (or Vegetarian) Salad, for a family or dinner party of 4-ish:

Pre-Preparation:
1. Use already baked chicken the equivalent of 2-4 chicken breasts, but any chicken will do, cut into bite-size pieces.
Or, for Vegetarians: marinate bite size (small squares) tofu in a pan of equal parts balsamic vinegar & olive oil, rolling the tofu in the marinate to cover all parts. I use the plain white firm tofu, for this recipe use a whole package.
2. Precook spaghetti noodles (a day or several hours ahead of time, you can even make them the day before for a different meal and use the leftovers for this recipe) . You can cut the noodles into smaller lengths if you desire, although we kept ours whole.

Vegetables:
6-8 cups of baby spinach washed and spinned in salad spinner
2 carrots, scrubbed and cut into small thin strips
2 celery, cut like the carrots
1/2 can of artichoke hearts, cut into bite size pieces

Mix the chicken, noodles, and vegetables in a nice big wooden bowl, toss with balsamic dressing, see recipe below. Start with less dressing (1-2 TBS) and add as needed. Because there is no lettuce, you can have this salad the next day and it will not be soggy. Yay!

Sweet Balsamic Dressing: this recipe makes enough for a long-term supply, for us it would last about a month. get the best quality balsamic vinegar you can afford (checkout: http://www.balsamicvinegar.com/uk/storia.asp) and mix:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
sugar to taste, I would use about 1 TBS for this amount.

Stir ingredients vigorously, or as I do it: put all ingredients in a salad dressing bottle with a sturdy lid and shake until sugar, oil and balsamic vinegar are mixed. You will need to shake or stir the dressing before you use it. It does not need to be refrigerated as vinegar keeps it fresh. If it is refrigerated the olive oil will harden, bummer.