3-16-13

Checkerboard cake!

3-15-13

Baked layers for the checkerboard cake.

(not)refried bean burritos

Yesterday I posted the (not)refried beans and today I am posting to show what I made with them! 

I made little freezer packs to take to class with me for lunch.  The tortillas I used are quite small so I put 4 into a package. 

Ingredients, I didn't take pictures of the package of beans full, sorry.  There are also other ingredients in the recipe which I linked back to yesterday too!  They are DELICIOUS!

Then I set up a little assembly line and put 1/4 cup of beans into each burrito

I added a dash of cheese (less than 1/4 of a cup, just a sprinkle really), and 1/4 cup of beans was a LOT in this size tortilla.  I might go up a size next time but I like the idea of eating a lot at lunch (4) and feeling like I splurged instead of eating one big burrito LOL.

Then I rolled them up and put them into Ziploc bags.  I labelled each bag with the contents, date, and nutrition info I like to keep track of.  Each pack of 4 burritos is 350 calories and 20g of protein (for ALL 4 combined!!)

I only had one package of tortillas, and I made a double batch of beans so I had leftovers.  I took them and put them into ziploc bags, wrote the date, the size of the package (2 cups) and nutrition info for 1/2 cup of beans (60 calories):

I lay them nice and flat (helps to keep the air out too) and then freeze them like that.  After they are frozen you can stand them up if you need to in the door of the freezer.  I did have another cup and a half left over but I put them in a bowl in the fridge for lunch tomorrow ;) I couldn't resist! 

These beans are super tasty and WAAAAAY better than anything you're going to eat canned, and better for you.  Total time I put in today to portion and package everything up was about half an hour.  I'm not going to say my calorie counts are perfect but they should be close, and everyone's recipes will vary depending on exactly what you put into your beans and what burritos you use.  So make sure you figure it out if you need to be counting calories. 

I will definitely be making these beans and the burritos again!  Thank you so much to Budget Bytes for paving the way for these recipes!!

Food I made!

I got all crafty (can you be crafty with food?) this week.  I've found some recipes I just must try this week before I go back to class next week.  So today I made (Not)Refried Beans.  They turned out marvelous!  They are tasty, I had to taste test to make sure, and look delicious too. 

Tomorrow they are going to go into some tortilla shells with a little cheese and then get frozen in two packs for my lunches for at school where I can pop them in the microwave.  I actually got the idea from another post by Budget Bytes where she made freezer burritos with store bought ingredients, so I figured I'd do it with homemade beans (which are SOO much yummier!) and next time I might even make the tortillas myself from one of her recipes too.

Freezer Burritos  and the Low Fat Flour Tortillas for next time.  So tomorrow I'll make my burritos and have tasty healthy lunches.  The tortillas I'm using are only 80 calories for 2 of them and they are whole wheat.  I'll add a little sprinkle of Mexican Style Cheese and be good to go for only about 300 calories for two of them. 

This week I'm also going to make my own English Muffins for breakfast sandwiches too.  I need to be prepared with foods for the weeks ahead when I'm going to be busy, lazy, frazzled and unable to think ahead well enough to make healthy tasty meals! 

I admit I go in spurts with trying new foods and recipes but since I'm on an upswing I figure I better take advantage of it and make as many things as I can to stuff in the freezer!  If you have any great recipes or blogs about food shoot them my way and I'll see what I can do.  I've already sampled Skinny Taste and she's fabulous, OBB is another one that I've tried a few but not many from, so spam me!