Meals from Your Market: Super Easy Family Burritos

Jun5

Hearty Meatless Strata ~ JuneBy Kristin Blood, OKT

The end of the school year is here, which means my house is crazy.  To make things even more crazy we had a family funeral this past week.  I needed something quick, easy and cheap to make for dinner that used up my lettuce that is GROWING galore in my container.  I didn’t want to turn on the oven, but I couldn’t come home and cook so I turned to my faithful friend – the crock pot.  I have a new cookbook my aunt got me for Christmas that I wanted to try out, a few minutes of searching…  BAM I found my simple recipe!!

Easy Family Burritos
1-2 lb roast (pork or beef – we used beef)
1 jar 16oz salsa
Crock pot
Lettuce – optional to use in your burrito/tacos/or in place of a tortilla
Sour cream – optional to top your burrito/salad/taco
Cheese – optional to top your burro/salad/taco
Tortillas – optional to form your burritos/tacos

… as you can see there are many ways you can do this, lots of add on options.

roast in crock pot with salsa on it

1.  place your roast into the crock pot
2. pour salsa on top and place on low heat for 8-10 hours
3. shred meat (it says to take it out of the crock pot to do this, but I did it inside with plastic forks and it worked great and LESS dishes, always a plus)
4. continue cooking on low for another 1-2 hours
5. serve as you see fit

**adapted from Favorite Brand Name Slow Cooker Recipes – page 150

So there are a few ways you can do this… serve on tortillas, serve on lettuce as wraps, eat plain (I did this and it was good), drain and let cool and serve on top of  a salad (I also did this, but I didn’t drain mine – hence my recommendation of draining)… endless opportunities.  Make sure to set this recipe aside for your when your tomatoes, hot peppers, green peppers, etc are ready for harvest so you can make your OWN salsa and give it another go!

lettuce from my container garden

lettuce from my container garden

With it still being cooler out your lettuce might not have bolted yet.  You can extend the life of your lettuce by making sure on hot days it has some shade.  Containers is the best way to do that – they move!!  Check out some helpful tips and great heirloom lettuce varieties to think about in your future: http://suite101.com/article/heat-tolerant-lettuce-varieties-a91032

*You can also find more recipes @ Kristin’s Blog: http://mealsfromthemarket.wordpress.com/