Dinner of the Week: Burritos

These Burritos are great for a night when time is short and everyone is running out the door in a different direction.  Just prep the ingredients and let each person load it up and cook it as needed.  The prep takes about 15 minutes and each burrito cooks in less than one minute.  

The School season is upon us, which means a few nights a week I need to rush home from work, prep/cook/ and have a meal eaten in less than 30 minutes before we head back out the door to a sports practice or meeting.  Lord help us, I swear my blood pressure rises and stays high all school season long!  But there is also a little thrill each time I successfully get everyone fed and out the door on time (*ahem* "on time" being the key qualifier here).

These burritos are the perfect meal for busy nights.  I prep all of the ingredients either the night before or right when I get home, and then have them all sitting on the counter or on the top shelf of the fridge for each family member to assemble and cook as desired.  And the best part?  They're easy.  Like, "my-12-year-old-son-can-assemble-his-own-meal" easy.

Here are your ingredients:

• 1 Pound Ground Beef (or ground turkey)
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• 1 -8 oz can brown gravy
• 1 -4 oz can tomato sauce
• Burrito Size tortilla shells (we prefer flour tortillas over corn)
• OPTIONAL:
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (more or less as desired)
• 1 Yellow onion, diced
• 3 Roma Tomatoes, diced
• 1 Stalk Romaine lettuce, shredded
• 2 Avocados, mashed and mixed with garlic salt, pepper, and lime juice
• 3 Green onions, chopped
• 1 -8 oz can whole kernel sweet corn
• 2-4 cups cooked rice

First, brown up a pound of ground beef (or ground turkey, which is what we use).   When the meat is 90% done, drain the excess grease and add HALF of a packet of  taco seasoning and 1/4 cup water.  While that is simmering, chop/dice up the other veggies and shred the cheese.  Next mix the brown gravy, tomato sauce, and other half of the taco seasoning in a small sauce pan.  Stir over low heat until smooth and heated through, then remove from heat. 

Once everything is prepped, each person can pick out their favorite ingredients.  After loading the ingredients onto the tortilla, wrap the burrito up...which takes a little finesse.  The ingredients should be in a line down the middle of the tortilla.  Fold in the two ends that have the least amount of tortilla showing, then fold one side and roll the burrito over on itself.  This can be tricky to do, and (apparently) even trickier to explain.  Try it a few times, and then YouTube it if you still can't get it (no shame here, I chose to YouTube until I got it down!).

Smother that burrito in the gravy/tomato/seasoning sauce, sprinkle on some cheese, and pop it in the microwave for 45 seconds to one minute.  That's it!  

This makes a great "Eat and Run" meal because we only make one at a time in the microwave.  And all of the ingredients get heated up in the final stage anyway, so one family member can eat at 4:45 and run to practice, and another family member can eat at 6:30 when they get home from work.

Need more ideas for your weekly menu?  
Check out what we ate this week:

Monday:   Deluxe salads with grilled steak and bleu cheese crumbles, creamy fruit salad

Tuesday:  Wet Burritos, tortilla chips and guacamole dip, clementine oranges

Wednesday:  Baked Ziti casserole, salad, apple slices

Thursday:   Grilled summer veggies (squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes), Chicken feta brats, watermelon slices

Friday:  Takeout Pizza!