Today's recipe is a mashup of different ideas, and really isn't a recipe as such, more of a formula. For us, anything with a Mexican taste is comfort food. Tacos, burritos, and nachos are all foods that bring a smile to my family's face. Sometimes though, that comfort food has to come from stuff I already have in the cupboard, the food pantry box, or a quick trip to a dollar store.
Burritos are an easy fix here. A lot of times we eat homemade microwave burritos made with refried beans, cheese and a little hot sauce. But I really like to make what we call 4 layer burritos when I'm feeling fancy. The four layers are refried beans, cooked rice, cream cheese and salsa. I mix all these together with some taco seasoning, heat, and then let everyone fill their tortillas. If we have it, we add sour cream or lettuce or shredded cheese.
What is nice about this meal idea is that it is hard to mess up! You can substitute any layer for whatever you have on hand. I have added leftover taco meat mixture or chicken to use up small amounts that won't make another meal. You could also use the canned varieties of these meats. I have also made this mix with canned cheese soup or cheese whiz instead of the cream cheese. Any cheesy kind of thing adds the creamy taste that is the basis of comfort food for us, you could even substitute cream soup! For the salsa layer you can substitute canned tomatoes, it will change the flavor but will still be good. You can also add to the flavors, like olives or corn in your Mexican style dishes, add them! No refried beans, smash some black beans! Add taco seasoning! Really the sky is the limit as long as you think in terms of the final product- something with lots of flavor that you can put into a tortilla. You could even skip the tortilla and instead of mixing the rice in, serve the mixture over rice! It's not pretty,haha, but it will taste good, I promise.
There is not a lot of vegetable action going on in this meal, so I usually serve it with a side of corn (for some reason none of us like corn in the dish, but don't mind it on the side) or some other vegetable or fruit to up the nutrition factor. Sometimes the side doesn't necessarily match the idea of Mexican haha, but you know, whatever we need to do in the name of healthy meals!
How are you getting along with these crazy price hikes? Hopefully well. Feel free to share in the comments, I would love to hear from you!
Have a great week!
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