Most Awesome Freezer Burritos

Freezer burritos
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These are my notes from when I made the most awesome freezer burritos. They're super practical because you can make a huge batch and eat them any time. (Basically 1-2 month's worth of quick lunches or dinners).

To heat them up, you'll want to wrap them in a wet paper towel and microwave on a low setting for probably 5+ minutes.

These took me a whole weekend to make, because I wanted to do lazy prep work the first day, and assembly the second day. So if I were you, I'd suggest being fairly lazy too, and tossing the meat in the crockpot to cook the first day, while you make the refried beans, and rice. Then do the rest on the second day.

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Components
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* 20 tortillas
* 3 chicken breasts + 3 thighs (because thigh meat is cheap! But use whatever you want here)
* 1 pot of Magic Burrito Gravy (recipe included here)
* 1/3 bunch of cilantro
* 1 small onion, finely chopped
* plenty of shredded cheddar (use as much as you want. I think I went through 2 cups for this)
* 1 batch of homemade refried beans
    [http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/refried_beans/]
* 1 batch of homemade spanish rice
    [http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/spanish_rice/]
* 1 whole bunch kale, for extra nutrients (not really something you notice in the burrito)

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Component: Magic Burrito Gravy
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This is probably the most important component of a tasty burrito, since delicious sauce can mask anything you happen to mess up in the cooking process, and gives everything more flavor. The idea here is basically "1 part enchilada sauce, 1 part beef gravy". That's it.

First, start off by making a homemade enchilada sauce. Alternatively, use the canned stuff.

Enchilada sauce
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* 1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
* 1 1/2 tbsp chili powder
* 1/4 cup onion
* 1 clove garlic

Toss all the enchilada sauce ingredients into a blender, and blend until smooth. Then place it in a saucepan to simmer. (I always tweak this to taste, so if you think it needs more chili powder, go for it. If you like more onions, that's good too.)

Easy Beef Gravy
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* 1 1/2 beef bullion cubes
* 1 1/2 cups water
* 2 tbsp butter
* 2 tbsp flour

So the idea with this one is, make a strong broth, and combine it with a roux. So make the broth a bit stronger than your bullion package says to. Then melt the butter in the pan by itself, and add flour to it until it forms a paste (called a 'roux'). Add the broth to the roux, slowly at first, while whisking. Add some pepper. And BAM! Gravy. Try your gravy. It should be tasty.

Create Magic Burrito Gravy
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Combine the enchilada sauce with the gravy. It should be delicious.

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Component: slow-cooker chicken
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Really, you can make this any way you like. I used a crockpot because it's easy. I took a can of "Chipotle chilis in Adobo sauce", choppped them up, then threw them in with the whole pieces of chicken, onions, a small can of tomato sauce. I didn't particularly love the taste of the chicken, so maybe do whatever sounds good here. Plain old shredded chicken probably works fine, so this is entirely optional. Here's the recipe I kinda-sorta used, leaving out the chorizo:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-chicken-tinga/
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Component: homemade refried beans
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* 1 pound dried pinto beans, (picked through, so you don't have any rocks), and thoroughly washed.
* 1 small onion
* 1/2-3/4 cup of *real bacon* bits, because I didn't have bacon around.
* 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
* 2 tbsp olive oil

This is a good recipe to follow, but I always end up doing my own thing:
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/refried_beans/

Hence the lazy bacon bits. Basically, toss beans into a big pot of water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover for about 2 hours. It's hard to overcook these, so you can totally leave and play video games while this is cooking. They'll be done when they're soft and good to eat!

When the beans are pretty soft, start sauteing the onions until soft and translucent. Add the bacon bits, (or bacon, or cook them in bacon fat if you have it. Any amount of bacon flavor adds to it).

Turn off the heat, then strain the beans and add them to the bacon/onion mixture in the pan. Mash with a potato masher. Add cheese and salt to taste.

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Component: spanish rice
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* 1 onion
* 1 clove garlic
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* 2 cups brown rice
* 3 3/4 cups chicken broth (I either use bullion cubes, or make my own stock, because buying it is expensive)
* 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
* a pinch of oregano

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/spanish_rice/

I more or less follow this recipe, but I like to use brown rice because of its nutritional value. I'm also lazy, so I cook it in my rice cooker.

Place oil and rice in hot pan, and brown it, stirring pretty frequently. Add onions when it's looking toasty. Add garlic after the onions are softened, and cook for about a minute. Scoop the rice/onions into your rice-cooker, add broth, tomatoes, pinch of oregano, give it a stir. Then cook on the "brown rice" setting until it's done.

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Component: kale
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This is not a particularly exciting component, but it adds a lot of nutrients, and is probably the cheapest vegetable you can get.

Wash your kale leaves. Tear the good leafy bits into pieces, leaving out the stems, and steam it just until it's bright green. Maybe let it steam 1-2 minutes after it turns that color. Then place the leaf-bits on to a cutting board and chop them finely. Sit aside for later.
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Final burrito assembly
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Create a burrito-making station by sitting all the components out in bowls or pans around you. (Like this! https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mvEidZYXo6M/UfV51zfqM6I/AAAAAAAAFpo/x4Hnh2KHxIE/w681-h385-no/IMAG0318.jpg)

You'll have beans, rice, chicken, onions, cilantro, kale, cheese, and of course, Magic Burrito Gravy to tie it all together.

You can make "everything" burritos, "chicken and rice" burritos, "bean and cheese" burritos. The combinations aren't limitless, but you get the idea.

Wrap the burritos in aluminum foil, then place into freezer bags. You'll thank yourself later for all this hard work, as you enjoy burritos for the next two months!