Thursday, July 7, 2016

I think I’ve collected a zillion cookbooks, but I still remember the first one I bought on my own 24 years ago.  A representative from Great American Cookbooks stopped by my workplace with a new edition to sell – a Collector’s Edition! 🙂  My Mom had tons of cookbooks, so the thought of having a cookbook of my own was pretty exciting and… a Collector’s Edition at that!  It’s a Great American Favorite Brand Name Cookbook.  It has 575 pages of recipes and I made one recipe from it.  No, really – just one.  I referred back to that one recipe so many times, the book is warped, and that makes it even more awesome.  I love cookbooks and won’t stop at a zillion, but there will be none like my very first cookbook and that one recipe – Burrito Bread.  It was cooking in my kitchen today.  I have adapted the recipe over the years according to my family’s likes and dislikes and it’s always a hit around here.  I hope you’ll try it; I think you’ll be glad you did!  I mean, bread that tastes like a burrito, who can resist that!?!? 🙂  I hope your day is awesome!

Burrito Bread

Ingredients:

1 loaf of frozen bread, thawed

1 pound ground beef, cooked, drained

1 package taco seasoning

1 cup of water

1/4 cup of chunky salsa

Enough crushed wheat chex to equal 3/4 cup

Shredded cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon butter, melted

Chili powder

Wax paper

Cooking spray

Thaw bread dough – about 2 hours.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  A long cookie sheet works best for baking this bread.  Pull a sheet of wax paper that is quite a bit longer than the cookie sheet you will be using.  Lay sheet of wax paper on counter and spray with cooking spray.

Cook and drain ground beef and return to pan.  Add taco seasoning, water and chunky salsa.  Let simmer.

(Leave excess paper at each end of your sheet of wax paper.)  About 8 inches from top of wax paper, lay bread dough on paper and roll to about 15 inches long and 6-8 inches wide.  I use my hands to pull and shape bread dough.

Add wheat chex to ground beef mixture and stir until mixed well.  Remove from heat.

Spoon half the ground beef mixture lengthwise down the center of bread dough.  Top with cheese.  Repeat with remaining ground beef mixture and top with cheese.  Bring sides of dough up and over filling and seal well.  Seal ends.  At this point, I shape bread into a little curve (see picture).  Place seam side down on ungreased cookie sheet (see picture for technique that works for me).  Brush top with melted butter and sprinkle a light layer of chili powder on top.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Sealed and curved…

Try this technique for placing seam side down on cookie sheet…

Lay top of cookie sheet over seam of bread.  The excess paper on each end comes in handy here.  Pull excess paper over each end of cookie sheet.  Now, get a good grip on each end of the cookie sheet and, holding the wax paper in place, throw caution to the wind and give it a good, strong flip.

Thank goodness!

The end result is worth it!  I promise!  Enjoy!

♥Tawnya