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Bison and Black Bean Burritos with Beet Salad, and Bread Pudding for dessert

We eat burritos all the time, both at home and as fast-food. A can of beans, some tomatoes, ground meat of some kind (or not, if we're feeling slightly vegetable-aryan), and a blend of spices that is a little heavy on the cumin. And peppers, of course. Fresh ones. I mean, a fresh jalapeno or red chile pepper is dirt cheap at the grocery store, and adds so much to a dish like this. You just can't go without it. Wrap it up in a mircowaved flour tortilla shell, and voila! Oh, and sour cream. I'm lactose intolerant, but I love sour cream. That's why they made Lactaid.

Mary also tends to add baby spinach leaves to hers, and I've done that at some point too. Not this evening. I was already trying hard to taste the bison through the spices without some leafy green getting in the way. I would have liked some cilantro, however, but we didn't have any at the time.

Here's the recipe :

• 1 pound ground bison
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 2 teaspoons each garlic powder, ground cumin, ground chipotle peppers
• 1 chili pepper, diced (seeds removed if you don't want it to spicy)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• approximately 1/4 cup water
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• tortilla shells
• Baby spinach, shredded cheese, sour cream, etc
  

Brown the meat and drain off the fat.  Add the olive oil to the pan to warm and then add the oregano, spices, and chili pepper.  Heat for 1 to 2 minutes and then add the can of tomatoes.  If it seems to dry add the water.  Then add the black beans and simmer uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes.
 
Place tortillas on a plate covered with wet paper towels and warm in the microwave for about 30 seconds.  Spoon on your meat mixture and fixings and wrap up.


Beets are a new favorite at our household. It started two thanksgivings ago, when my younger sis-in-law went to the trouble to roast, peel, and slice garden-fresh beets. Soak 'em in basalmic vinegar and a touch of oil, add crumbled feta and chopped, toasted pecans. Boom. Instant hit. And they keep very well for leftovers.

But I digress. We tried a different recipe this time. Instead of basalmic, we used malt vinegar. Instead of feta, we had ghee (the recipe calls for butter). And instead of pecans, we had onions. And instead of a cold salad, this one was boiled up in it's own juice. We ate it warm, sort of like a german potato salad. It's good stuff, but the ghee immediately floated to the top and congeal as soon as it started to cool. The leftovers look unappetizing, but taste just fine.


The bread pudding was a two-stage process. I got a bottle of "beer bread" mix from my in-law's parents for Christmas, and Mary baked it up on Friday. We ate a couple of slices, and it was a dark, heavy bread. Pretty decent, really. Then Mary chopped up the rest of the loaf on Saturday, and soaked it in what I think was heavy cream (more lactaid needed). Dried cranberries were also added to the bowl. It sat there for most of the day, and then got mashed down into a square brownie pan and baked for a while. Mary whipped up a hard sauce with the dregs of a bottle of Cap'n Morgan's, some powdered sugar, and ghee. Not a bad dessert at all.  Here's the full recipe from Mary:

Beer Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce 
adapted from Bread Pudding with Cognac Sauce The Good Cook Classic Desserts Time-Life Books

4 cups cubed day-old beer bread (made with a Milk Stout)
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons ghee
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup dark rum
8 tablespoons ghee
2 cups confectioner's sugar

Preheat to 350.  Scald the milk.  Melt the butter in the milk and stir in the sugar.  Pour the mixture over the bread and cranberries.  Let them stand for 15 minutes.  Add the beaten eggs, salt, nutmeg, and vanilla.  Bake in a well-greased 1 1/2 quart dish for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the top is browned and a knife inserted into the center of the pudding comes out clean.

Make the rum sauce by creaming the ghee and sugar, than gradually adding the rum.


All in all, a diverse meal, easy, and yummy. Just the way we like 'em.