Well, it’s 5am on Monday morning and for some reason I can’t sleep so my brother gets the benefit of a “how are you all doing” email; we live in different parts of the country and I only get to see him once or twice a year (BOO), and you all get the benefit of an early morning foodie post (YAY)!  So let’s have at it.

Now that you’ve cooked that yummy lemon tarragon chicken, I’m guessing you have a bit of extra chicken left over and you’re wondering what the heck you’re going to do with it.  Well, wouldn’t you know I’ve got the answer for you. Stuffed chicken burritos!

These little babies, while they take a bit of effort, are worth every bit of time you spend creating them.  And the best part is that they taste even better the next day.  This is another one of those meals where I kind of just rummage through the fridge and pull out a little bit of this and that to add to the mix.  Don’t let the pile of food below scare you.  A lot of this can be mixed and matched to accommodate what you have and this is another recipe similar to dump that is very forgiving on the measurements.  So here we go.

What you’ll need:

Your leftover Shredded Tarragon Chicken (or other shredded chicken; 1/2 to 1pd depending on how meaty you like your burritos)
A Couple Swirls of Olive Oil for Cooking
3/4 Cup Grape Tomatoes, Halved
1 Lime, Juiced
2 Avocados, cubed
1 Can of Black Beans, Rinsed and Drained
1 Onion, Chopped
1 Cup of Cooked Rice
3 Cloves of Garlic
3 tsps (or 1 small handful) of Cilantro<
1 cup of chopped pepper (green, red, and/or yellow works)
2 Green Onions, Chopped
1/4 Cup +1/4 Cup Sour Cream
1 Cup of your Favorite Salsa
2 tsp of Cumin
2 tsp of Chili Powder
1/2 tsp of Salt
Cayenne to taste
1 Tbsp of Soy Sauce
2 Cups of Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Whew!  Now THAT’S a list of ingredients.  First off, swirl your olive oil around a large skillet once or twice and turn your heat onto medium high.  Add in your garlic, white onion, and peppers.  Cook for 3-5 minutes or until your onions are soft and translucent.

Turn your heat down to medium and add in your tomatoes, green onions, black beans, avocado, lime juice, cilantro, 1/4 cup of the sour cream, 1 tsp of the chili powder, 1 tsp of the cumin, salt, soy sauce and cayenne to taste.  Stir carefully to combine.

Finally add in your chicken and rice and once again stir to combine.

Now you’re going to whip up a quick sauce to cover these beauties with.  To a small bowl add your salsa, the other 1/4 cup of sour cream and the other tsp of both cumin and chili powder.  Stir it up and get ready for the assemblage.

For the assembly, take one of your tortillas and place a few big spoonfuls of the burrito goodness on top of it.  Sprinkle it with a generous amount of cheese and roll her up.  At this point you should be starting to get excited about your delicious dinner prospects for the evening because if that doesn’t look good to you, I don’t know what does.

Put a couple spoonfuls of your sauce on the bottom of your baking pan and spread it around.  Then place your finished burritos in the pan.  Continue to assemble until you either run out of guts or run out of tortillas (or if you plan it correctly, run out of both at the same time!).  Once you’re finished, spread the rest of your sauce over the top of the burritos and then sprinkle on your remaining cheese.

Place them in an oven warmed to 350 degrees.  Of course, given it’s 5:30 am and I’m still not fully awake, I can not for the life of me remember how long I cooked these, but I’ll take a guess and say about 20 minutes, or, until your cheese is good and melted and starting to crisp around the edges.  You’re basically just wanting them to get good and hot. And let’s just revel and what we’ve got.  Man, I see a burrito in my future; that, my friends, is what dinner should look like.

So that’s it.  Now you sit back, grab a glass of wine and plate of burrito and revel in the fact that you created this amazing masterpiece.  And while I know the picture this go round wasn’t my best, trust me when I tell you the burrito more than makes up for it.