Tofu Taco Filling(vegan); JB's Burritos(non-vegan)

Another rainy day in Georgia, and again, I'm delighted and hope it will rain some more tonight and/or tomorrow. It never bothers me when it rains on my days off, because, and I'm pretty sure I've said this before, I love rainy days, and always have.

Ok, I have to make a public confession and apology here, altho it's not about anything too awfully serious. Last week I said that my number of cigarettes not smoked was 900+, but I was wayyyyyyy wrong, lol. The number for that day last week was only 222, which really sounds more logical, right? The figures for this week, as of yesterday evening, are: not smoked, 386; lifetime saved, 2 days, 22 hours; money saved, $73.71. By 9:30 this evening, I will be smoke-free for a full two weeks. Yesterday at work, I came awfully close to relapsing, but didn't, managed to white-knuckle it thru the whole day, but it was really hard. Never realized how much anger could influence the urge to smoke, but it does. I honestly don't remember ever being that angry for that long, at work, ever before, because of my boss and a female co-worker. It's too long a story to go into here, even tho I'd really love to vent...again...but if I did, I'd just get angry all over again, so, guess I'll just talk about cooking, lol. About making my homemade burritos...not the tortillas, please understand, but the filling and rolling and heating. The Tofu Taco Filling recipe is from someone named Wendy O, who sent it in to recipezaar.com. Recipezaar has a pretty good vegetarian section, if you didn't already know, and is worth checking out sometime for new recipes.

TOFU TACO FILLING

16oz. firm tofu, frozen and then thawed.
1Tbs. EACH soy sauce and Mrs. Dash Original Blend
2Tbs chili powder
1tsp. oregano, 1/2tsp. garlic powder, 1/8 tsp black pepper
1C canned corn
2C salsa

Directions:
1. Wring out and crumble the thawed tofu.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet and brown the tofu[Either she didn't give the amount of oil to use or I didn't copy it down, take your pick, but I used about 1Tbs. olive oil and 1Tbs. of margarine with good results. Vegans just use the oil.]
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook to heat thru and combine flavors.

That's it, easy peasy, and pretty darned good, too. Now, I only used one tablespoonful of chili powder, and it was plenty for me, almost too much, in fact. So, use your own discretion here, ok? I didn't have any of the Mrs. Dash, and have never used it at all, so I don't know how that would affect the recipe. And on top of that, I literally forgot the soy sauce, lol. Even without those two ingredients, tho, it was good. So, what did I do for the rest of the burrito fillings?

First thing I did was rinse and drain a can of pinto beans. While they were draining, I diced up a small onion, and started sauteing(did I spell that right?)it in my usual combination of olive oil and margarine, about two tablespoonsful. When the beans were drained enough to suit me, I dumped them right in on top of the onions...I had let the onions saute for about five minutes, I guess...and started mashing them with my potato masher. After it was mostly mashed, I let it brown a little on the bottom before turning it and letting the other side brown a little bit, too. While the beans were browing, I spread a tortilla with some chevre goat cheese, and put some of the tofu filling on top of the cheese. Then I put two slices of smoked provolone vegetarian "cheese" on top of the tofu, and spooned some of the now-refried beans on top of that. A few pieces of diced tomato, and I rolled it all up, and put it on a hot griddle to heat, took about four minutes to get it warm and slightly brown all over. Oh, man, it was super, it really was. I ate it with some Tofutti "Sour Supreme" sour cream, which just set it off to perfection, lol.

There was enough of the beans and the tofu filling for me to have two burritos, and enough tofu leftover to freeze about a good cupful, I think. My plans for it are to let it thaw, see if I can't refry it and crisp it up some, and then add it to homemade vegetarian chili...I'm getting the urge for chili again.

Until next time, Happy Eating!!!