Craving Sustenance: Fiesta Burrito Bake

All of my recipes can now be easily found via my Recipes page. You can still find past posts by looking through the archives, but hopefully now it will be easier to find the specific recipe you were looking for without having to remember when it was posted. I organized the recipes into simple meal-type categories, but if you want a different way of organizing them, let me know.

Also, many of you have asked for print-friendly versions of my recipes. Fortunately that feature is now available, starting with this post. I plan to go back to my previous posts and create print-friendly versions, but that might take a while. However, from now on, you'll be able to print my recipes simply and clearly. Yay! :)

It's been cold in Minnesota lately. Really cold. Even for Minnesotans. When it gets this cold, all I want is comfort food. The other day I satisfied my comfort food craving by making Golden Peanut Miso Velvet, a deceptively nutritious version of gravy. I roasted some root vegetables, boiled up some barley and suddenly I had comfort food and healthy food all in one. It was perfect.

Fiesta Burrito Bake is another one of my go-to comfort food recipes. It's fast, simple, and delicious. If you want to increase the nutritional profile of the recipe, use whole wheat flour tortillas. I found some the other day made by a local baker that were just as tender and moist as white flour tortillas. Their extra nutty flavor actually enhanced the recipe instead of detracting from it!

To make this recipe, all you have to do is stir together some refried beans, sour cream, and spices. Spread this mixture over tortillas and roll them up. Arrange them in a baking pan, top with tomato and cheese and bake for 25 minutes. Done.

I love the recipe because I can easily have everything on hand for a fast weeknight meal. As a bonus, this recipe works great for entertaining since it dirties few dishes, is mostly hands-off, and looks impressive!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
In a small bowl, combine the beans, sour cream, water, and pepper. Stir well.
Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the bean mixture onto a tortilla. Use the back of the spoon to spread it around the tortilla. I like to cover most of the tortilla with the beans. Roll the tortilla and place in the prepared baking pan. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and bean mixture. I've found it works best to arrange the tortillas so that their ends can touch the shorter width of the baking pan. That way, the tortillas are all facing the same way and look like a ladder in the baking pan.
Top the tortillas with tomato and shredded cheese.
Cover the pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for 10 more minutes. When finished, the cheese will be melted and the tortillas will be heated through.
To serve, top the tortillas with lettuce, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and/or jalapenos.

Adapted from Favorite Brand Name Vegetarian Cooking.