Make Ahead Soy Free Taquitos

Here is the finished product, golden brown and a sprinkling of salt..mmmmm...I know what I'll be having for dinner tonight.

Here are the taquitos out of the oven and ready to be frozen. My kids each ate two just like this and had no complaints....I wouldn't necessarily recommend that though. My four year old has also been known to eat paint.

This recipe is really simple 3 ingredients (four if you choose to add cheese or rice cheese) and I'm giving you a vegetarian and vegan option for the taquitos. I made half with cheese for the kids, and half without for myself. I've made taquitos on this blog before, I really enjoy having taquitos in the fridge to make for lunch or a super quick dinner alongside a mashed up avocado and some diced fruit. For these I use the same process, but the ingredients are even simpler. All you need are corn tortillas, vegetarian black beans, and hot sauce. For the vegetarian option you can add cheese.

All I did was mix together refried black beans (make sure yours are vegetarian as well as soy free) and hot sauce to taste. I laid the corn tortillas on a baking sheet and made a thin line of beans down the center. I was going to take a picture of this stage, but it looked a lot like poo on a tortilla and I was feeling too nauseous and immature to take a picture of that. If you want cheese on these you need to sprinkle the cheese FIRST then add the beans. I baked this (do not roll them up yet) for about 5 minutes at 350. The tortillas should be softened and easy to roll without tearing at this point. If not stick the whole mess back in the oven for a couple more minutes. Roll from one end to the other and place flap side down on the cookie sheet. Pop them back in the oven for another 7 minutes or so. I was making these to freeze so I didn't want them cooked to a golden brown. I just cooked them long enough that the tortilla became crispy and maintained it's rolled up shape when moved about. When I'm ready to eat these I will either pan fry them, or brush them with oil and bake them until they are golden brown. I have even been known to stick a bunch into a casserole dish, cover them with enchilada sauce and call it dinner.

The kids as it turns out were very hungry as these came out of the oven, their little pleas for "kitos" were just too much to stand and I gave them some as is. They gobbled them up and asked for more. These are a favorite in our house, and a great example of how to make your own convenience foods.

As a side note...I've tried making taquitos the recommended way, by heating all the tortillas first then filling and rolling them and it has never worked for me. If you have mad tortilla making skills (I bet you do you lucky duck) do whatever works for you. This is just the way that I have found that works for me.

Do you make and freeze any foods? What's in your freezer?

P.S. Please be sure to check ALL ingredients you are using if you are on a soy free diet for allergy or intolerance reasons.

What's in your freezer?

I think that about 80% * of healthy eating is planning for healthy eating. And part of that planning is knowing what to do when your plans fall through. I've mentioned before that freezer meals have saved the day for me on a number of occasions. I would love to amp up the variety in my freezer, and that is where you come into the picture. Currently I have flautas, chili, rhubarb (thanks for the help Toni), muffins, whole wheat sourdough biscuits, black bean burgers, beans, and an assortment of frozen veggies.

What is in your freezer? What is your favorite meal to freeze?

P.S. I promise to get a recipe up for my black bean burgers soon. I just threw away the bag that the beans came in, so I have to go to the store and figure out what size it was....what can I say, I'm not always super organized. :)

*Also interesting to note, about 37.5% of statistics are made up.

Smokey Chipotle Black Bean Burger

This is a OAMC recipe. I made these sort of assembly line style and it took a good bit of time, but it was worth it for us because now i have a ton of veggie burgers in my freezer that make quick and filling dinners. It only took a little bit of effort for each part of the process, but it can look a bit daunting when you put it all together.

I soaked the beans the night before, then first thing in the morning I drained and rinsed them. Then I set them to boil while I chopped up my onions, garlic, and measured out my spices in a bowl. I added the onion and bay leaf, and then I made breakfast for the kids. Thirty minutes later, when the timer went off I just dumped the garlic and bowl of spices in. Then I got the kids dressed and thirty minutes later when the timer went off again I tasted them, removed the bay leaves, and turned off the heat. I let the beans cool a bit then I pureed them up with the rest of the ingredients to make my veggie burger "dough". That went into the fridge until I was ready to turn it into patties.

You could probably cut this recipe in half and try it out before you commit to a freezer full of bean burgers.

For the beans
One pound beans rinsed sorted and soaked overnight...then rinsed again.
2 onions diced
2 bay leaves
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and diced
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbs chili powder
1 tbs ground cumin

In a large pot combine the beans, onion and salt. Add water just to cover, and toss in the bay leaves.

Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for thirty minutes and add the spices and garlic. Set the timer for 15 minutes and check beans. Mine took about an hour total to cook.

Remove bay leaves. Let beans cool.

If there is excessive liquid skim it off...a tiny bit of liquid is ok. You don't want it pooling, or for the beans to be submerged. The more liquid you have the more breadcrumbs you will need though.


Now....to turn these babies into burgers....

The beans....hu-duh
1/2-2 chipotle chilis in adobo....start with 1/2 and you can always add more. And remember what I always say, you can never have too much spice....unless it's in your eyes, then pretty much any amount is too much.
2 baked potatoes skins removed
1/4 cup tomato sauce
Bread crumbs, the amount you need will vary depending on how much cooking liquid you had, how big your baked potatoes were...etc. I believe I may have used about 3 cups. What you are looking for is the texture of cookie dough so stop when you get there...
Salt to taste.
Liquid smoke to taste...trust me, this stuff is the bomb diggity! Get some! Use it, love it, thank me later...don't be discouraged from buying it just because I still use early nineties catch phrases like "the bomb diggity".



Process 3/4 of the beans, the potatoes, tomato sauce, and the chipotle in your food processor until smooth. Pour into a large bowl.

Stir in the rest of the beans, and the breadcrumbs until your mixture is very thick and holds it's shape well. Add salt, pepper and liquid smoke to taste, cover and refrigerate.

When you are ready to grill, just shape the dough into patties and grill, bake or fry them up. I served them on homemade bread with mozzarella and avocado! Yum! I froze the leftover burgers. They did well reheated.



More tips on veggie burger making.

An acceptable use of flour tortillas

You may remember this post, where I mentioned that we don't buy flour tortillas with the exception of burrito and chimichanga use, or in the case of cooking for company. Well company is coming, and included in that are two beautiful (but picky) little girls, and one slightly less picky man. In the interest of planning ahead I decided to make and freeze some flautas so we will have a couple of quick meals to eat while they are here. Hopefully they will go over well, and I will lose my reputation as the aunt that makes the "weird food". So here is a recipe for not weird baked vegetarian flautas that you can make and freeze should you wish. If you like things spicy consider adding some salsa to the mix.

Totally Not Weird Flautas

1 block of cream cheese softened
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of green chilis
garlic salt, salt, cayenne and pepper to taste
Flour tortillas (ten pack)

Mix together the first 3 ingredients and add seasoning to taste.

Divide the filling evenly between the tortillas, placing it in the center of the tortilla.

Roll up tortilla and place flap side down on a baking dish. Bake at 375 for about fifteen minutes, or until tortilla becomes crispy at the edges.

If you wish to freeze these put them on a baking sheet and place them in the freezer to freeze individually first. Once frozen you can bag them and tag them. Errr that is put them in one labeled Ziploc freezer bag.

Pumpkin Toaster Pastries

I bought a jar of pumpkin butter a while back, because I love all things pumpkin, weather it be flavored or shaped. The problem is I had no idea what to do with it. I didn't want to waste it all on toast and sandwiches, so I figured when the right thing came around I would know. Well when I saw this recipe for toaster pastries it hit me, WHY has nobody come out with a pumpkin flavored toaster pastry??? So I whipped* up a batch of the crust, which is basically a pie crust recipe, and filled it with a mixture of pumpkin butter, cinnamon, and a wee bit o' brown sugar thickened with corn starch. The only changes I made to the crust were replacing half of the flour with whole wheat flour, and halving the size of the pastries. Also by the time I had finished measuring, mixing, rolling, and cutting, I was so ready to be done baking (I really hate baking), that I didn't take the thirty seconds to make them pretty around the edges with my fork....
it didn't really matter that they came out ugly as a monkey's backside, these things were good. They made the house smell fantastic, and the crust was so tender and flaky oozing with pumpkin and cinnamon goodness. I ate a half of one straight out of the oven**. You are still stuck on that reference about a monkey's backside aren't you?? Well nobody ever said selling things was my strong suit. In short, these are good. If you have the time you should try them. If you don't have the time, but can find a good organic pre-made pie crust you could use that for a quicker option.


*And by "whipped" of course I mean spent a good hour of measuring, cutting in butter, rolling, and asking the hubster to roll, in between feeding, changing, and otherwise distracting the kiddos.

** Whatever you do, RESIST the urge to eat these straight out of the oven. Because, by the time you get to the third or fourth bite, you will really be kicking yourself....delicious lava.