Fast and Easy Burritos

The last standing El Taco in Tucson.

Remember the green chili burritos from El Taco? Those were so GOOD!! They were so hot that they would clear out your sinuses. And they were the best food to eat when you were recovering from a cold or the flu. I know, it doesn't sound right that you would want spicy food when you are just getting over the flu, but they really hit the spot. Unfortunately, all but one of them in Tucson closed down. The one that is still open is 12 miles from home and it is only open from 7am-5pm Mon-Fri so we don't visit it that often. That's what necessitated the creation of our faux El Taco Green Chili Burrito recipe. And, since both of us are recovering from a cold right now, we had to make it which gave me the opportunity to take pictures for our recipe blog! Don't worry, our recipe is not as spicy as El Taco's so you won't clear out your sinuses (unless you want it to be).

Ready to start chopping and cooking

Ingredients:
3 lbs. ground beef
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 container of frozen green chile (Baca's brand is best, but we just tried Authentic New Mexican from Walmart and it is just as good)
Salsa Verde to taste (that's green salsa for your gringos)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Saute diced onion, garlic, and ground beef in large frying pan until beef is browned. Add the green chile (no need to thaw before adding) and salsa verde. Heat on med-low until heated through.

Ready to serve

Wrap in your favorite flour tortilla and serve with refried beans and Tom's Favorite Guacamole (Tom buys special low-carb tortillas from Sprouts).

Tom's low-carb burrito

Or, if you want to try something different, serve it as a lettuce wrap.

Green chili with a dollop of guacamole
on a lettuce leaf ready to wrap.

All wrapped up and ready to eat.

For those of you that are adventurous and want it to be spicy enough to clear out your sinuses, use a container of frozen Hot green chiles instead of the Mild. If that's too hot for you, then just use half a container of the hot with a full container of the mild. But then you will need to increase the meat to 5 lbs. and add a second yellow onion and a few more cloves of garlic.