Burritos

I regret to inform you that I am unwilling to pause in shoveling the remains of the very last burrito into my mouth for long enough to take a picture of it. I don't think they were that photogenic anyways, but they were delicious. And not in a "this ain't bad for something that is aggressively preventing cancer with every bite" kind of way. In a "if I ordered this in a restaurant I would be happy to pay twelve dollars for it, but they better put guacamole on the side" kind of way. So I will tell you about the tastiest thing I have made in awhile (correction: the tastiest thing I would allow you to feed your young children; the peanut butter cookies were perhaps tastier. But not much.).

The secret ingredient? Yams. Don't question me. I know what tastes good. Cinnamon rolls taste good. Cheesecake tastes good. And so do yam burritos. If you'd like to find out for yourself here's the 'recipe' (if you can call it that...I was pretty much winging it):

Take about four or five large yams and either wrap them in foil and bake them forever until they are mashable or cut them up into cubes and boil them until they are mashable. If you have a husband who likes to get frisky with yams and is demonstrating great eagerness to roast them, you may allow him to do so, and you should encourage him to use garlic, olive oil and salt. It will cost you time, but you will be paid with flavor.

When the yams are done and mashed, or at least partially mashed, add one bunch of chopped cilantro, one bunch of chopped green onions, a can of green chilis, a couple cups of black beans (I cooked my own out of parsimony, but the canned ones are admittedly more user-friendly). If the mixture is not yet sticking together enough that you could make a snowball out of it, add some green taco sauce. I used La Victoria and it was good.

When the mixture is nice and smashy, roll it up into whole wheat tortillas. I used twelve soft taco sized tortillas, filled them quite full, and there was almost none leftover. (*A word of caution about the tortillas: even the types promising to be "heart healthy" likely contain trans fat, which is a truly dangerous substance and would render this recipe unfit for your young children. Please read the ingredient list carefully and do not settle for tortillas containing any hydrogenated anything. If you do, don't come crying to me when you have a heart attack at age fifty three.) Place each burrito seam-side down into an oiled 9x13 pyrex baking dish. Each dish should fit six.

I had some leftover green taco sauce, which I poured over the burritos, so they were sort of enchilada-style. I liked the effect, but I like my food saucy. If you like it saucy, I recommend it, but I don't think it was necessary.

I baked them, covered, for like forty minutes, and served them slathered with good salsa. They were great. You should make and eat them. They don't need cheese, in fact, I doubt cheese would improve them at all. Try them!

P.S. Jami, I miss you. Come back from Morocco and feed your littles yam-rritos!