Sweet Potato Burritos

It's so cold outside, the locker room at the local Y is filled with frightened turtles. This is exactly the kind of weather when it's nice to come home and pull something filling and tasty out of the fridge, already made. These sweet potato burritos fit the bill perfectly. Cook them up then freeze or refrigerate them for later. We made a mess of them last Friday and then ate them Saturday after skiing and then again on Sunday. We still have enough in the freezer for a couple more dinners when we're feeling lazy. I've been enjoying them so much, I thought I'd share the recipe.

Sweet Potato Burritos

(For you trivia buffs out there, I believe "burrito" means "Little Ito", which I'm guessing is a nickname that Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Lance Ito earned during the O.J. Simpson trial. But then again, my Spanish is a bit rusty.)

Olive or vegetable oil
3 T chili powder
2 t ground cumin (careful pronouncing that one lest you ruin the recipe)
1 pinch cayenne pepper (little less or little more depending on how hot you like it)
3 T soy sauce
4 t prepared mustard
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 15oz cans red kidney beans, drained
2 15oz cans black beans ("frijoles negros", a fun food to say), drained
1/2 to 2 cups of water
3-4 pounds sweet potatoes, mashed
16 10-inch flour tortillas
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

1) Prepare the sweet potatoes. Peeling, then dicing, then steaming for about 20 minutes, then mashing is a good way. Or if you're more ambitious and want a little more flavor, rub the skins with Crisco then bake the whole potatoes for about 50 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until soft, then peel them (ouch! hot!) and mash.

2) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F

3) Saute the onion and garlic in the oil in a large skillet or wok until soft (the onion and garlic should get soft, not the wok)

4) Fold the beans in and mash them up a bit until it's a nice lumpy paste with some beans still whole or almost whole.

5) Stir in the water until the mixture is just a little sloppy and easy to slap onto a tortilla. Continue heating it at least until it's nicely warmed, if not a little hot.

6) Pour the chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, and mustard onto the beans. Admire the color combination from putting them in in that order, then pour in the soy sauce and stir it all up.

7) Sprinkle some water on the tortillas, stack them on a plate, and nuke them for 30-40 seconds to make them warm and pliable.

8) Smear a large spoonful of the mashed potatoes on the middle of a tortilla, followed by a large spoonful of the bean mixture, then topped with some cheese. Fold it up. Repeat until you run out of the fixins or the tortillas. It may take a couple tries to get the portions right, but we find we can get about 12-14 burritos out of the recipe.

9) Stack the folded burritos in a 9x13 glass or metal baking pan and bake them for 12-15 minutes, until the tortillas have your desired amount of crispiness.

10) Eat them until you can't eat anymore. Refrigerate or freeze the rest. They warm up just fine by nuking for a little while then re-crisping in a toaster oven.

Enjoy!