Well, when we get on a tight budget, burritos are the way to go.

Often, I will dice up some potatoes, cook them up until softish, throw some ground beef in, throw in some mcCormicks montreal steak seasoning, some bell pepper or onion until the meat it cooked.

Heat a tortilla on the stove top. Throw the mash on top. Throw on a couple sprinkles of cheese and maybe some spicy katsup or taco sauce and we're good to go.

Tonight I revisited an old friend, the beef & black bean burrito. However, I recreated the recipe with my new penchant for lightening the fat content of my meals.

First off the black beans were cooked without the benefit of chicken broth. I went a little heavier on the granulated garlic and cumin, and the result was very tasty. Second, the meat was a 50/50 mixture of ground beef and ground turkey. Not only do I like the resulting flavor, but turkey represents a significant reduction in fat.

Ground turkey breast can be 98% fat free, as opposed to the typical 80% fat free ground chuck. What I buy is ground dark meat, so the fat content is better than chuck but probably in the range of 10-15% fat. At $2.99/lb it's the same price as the cheapest ground beef but better for you. These days I won't make meatloaf or meatballs without at least a little turkey because I find the flavor brighter and more complex. My normal meatloaf mix now is 1/2 turkey, 1/4 beef, and 1/4 pork.

The black beans were cooked sans onions or peppers per Steff's request, but I added a healthy amount of granulated garlic, powdered onion, cumin, thyme, smoked paprika, pepper, and salt. I mashed them up pretty thoroughly because I wanted a thick sauce rather than individual beans. When I cooked the meat, I started with the ground chuck and only added the turkey when the beef started to brown. All of the same spices went into the meat mixture. Even the higher fat content turkey can dry out if you cook it too long, though obviously there's less danger of that then with breast meat.

For each burrito I spooned about 1/2 cup beans and 1/3 cup meat over a low-carb flour tortilla and added a bit of shredded cheddar cheese. I rolled it closed, placed it seam side down in a 13x9 baking dish, and drizzled the remaining beans over the top. Sprinkle on some more cheddar, toss in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until the cheese melts.

<b>Nutrition info per serving:</b>
<a href="Mission" title="caloriecount.about.com/calori...Mission">caloriecount.about.com/calori...Mission Carb Balance tortilla</a>
110 calories
18g carbs - 11g fiber = 7 net carbs
5g protein

<a href="Ground" title="caloriecount.about.com/calori...>Ground">caloriecount.about.com/calori...>Ground beef</a> (approx 1/4 cup)
154 calories
15.25g protein
9.8g fat

<a href="Ground" title="caloriecount.about.com/calori...>Ground">caloriecount.about.com/calori...>Ground turkey</a> (approx 1/4 cup)
96.5 calories
11.2g protein
5.4g fat

<a href="Publix" title="www.thedailyplate.com/nutriti...">Publix">www.thedailyplate.com/nutriti...">Publix shredded cheddar cheese</a> (approx 1/3 cup)
146.7 calories
9.33g protein
12g fat

<a href="Bush" title="caloriecount.about.com/calori...7">Bush">caloriecount.about.com/calori...7">Bush Brothers black beans</a> (1/2 cup)
100 calories
20g carbs - 7g fiber = 13 net carbs
7g protein
0.5g fat

Total:
607.2 calories
20 net carbs
47.7g protein
27.7g fat (marginally lower because I drained the meat)

This is just an idea... and certainly I am NOT anti-420.... but, if you can't feed yourself, what the hell are you doing buying dope??? Are you buying smokes for $7 bucks a pack too??? Not much empathy here...

Don't be a "dope"... feed yourself first and get your head out of the haze and your life will improve.

When I was in college (and I should take this up again!) I used to get a few friends together. We'd each bring a few ingredients to save $$ and just share. I'd have my steamer out to keep the tortillas moist and pliable and then we'd roll as many as we could. I'd come out with at least a dozen individually wrapped burritos. Ingredients we usually had: "taco seasoned" meat mix, olives, salsa, hot sauce, beans, cheese, and rice.

I love breakfast burritos. We usually make them with fresh tomatoes, eggs, cheese, and potatoes. So simple and so delicious!

How about some Asian inspired burritos?

brown some chicken or turkey. Drain. Add soy to taste. Mix with broccoli slaw some raspberry salad dressing and sliced almonds. Wrap in whole wheat tortillas.

Whenever we do burritos for dinner, I make extras with all the same ingredients plus some scrambled egg in them and roll and freeze them for quick work breakfasts in the next couple of weeks.

Favorite combos are - mixed sauteed summer squash or zucchini, poblano chili, and onions. WIth or without shredded or ground cooked meat. Salsa. Fresh tomato. Cheese. Black, refried or red beans.

we recently went on a week long camping trip and made these breakfast burritos the first day. it was fabulous to still have a couple in the freezer at the end of the week and they were excellent tasting.

high fiber sun dried tomato wrap
a box of frozen spinach
a carton of egg whites
salsa and hot sauce
shredded cheese
mashed black beans
and any kind of reasonably healthy meat... at the store we could only find turkey kielbasa but at home we've made them with ground buffalo sausage, could do with spicy turkey sausage or even diced candian bacon.

they really were awesome and now i want them in the freezer at home at all times!