Burritos are also kid friendly and easy to eat. In many cases, they freeze well and can be reheated fairly quickly with a microwave to save time.  Overall, a good choice for busy people.

So what is a burrito really? Nothing more than a tortilla warped around a filling.

The history of the burrito is quite a long one. Here’s a snippet: In the sixteenth century the Aztec people of Mexico used tortillas made of more than just corn, but also squash and amaranth to wrap around food such as mushrooms, avocados and tomatoes In the 1840s southwest America, northwest Mexico gold miners used tortillas to wrap spiced meats.

These days the burrito is pretty much the same thing. Tortilla wrapped around a filling. The only difference is we have more variety of tortillas and fillings to choose from, so what kind of tortilla and what kind of filling is entirely up to you. Meat is probably the most popular American filling. But let’s not stop there. There are many cheap, healthy fillings that you probably never would have thought of. You won’t like them all.  But maybe you will stumble onto a new favorite or an old classic combination that’s just taken on new life in burrito form.

Here are some filling ideas…. And remember, your burrito doesn’t have to be hot. You can heat the tortilla for easier for folding, then chill after its filled and folded.

Chicken salad
Bean salad
Salad salad (I really like this with raspberry vinegrette)
Peanut butter and jam (roll it up instead of folding it)
Apple pie filling for a dessert burrito
Pasta salad
Leftover stirfry (rice, veggies and whatever was in it)
Stirfry veggies (mushrooms, peppers, onions, ect.)
Rice and beans (the obvious)
Chicken and salsa
Scrambled eggs with veggies (breakfast burritos have become pretty popular)
Turkey and cranberry sauce (leftovers from Thanksgiving)
Lunch meat with cheese and lettuce tomato, onion or whatever you put on a sandwich
BLT
Mashed sweet potatoes with a little sugar and cinnamon and crushed walnuts (sweet)
Sweet potato and black bean filling
Corn, tomato and avocado salad
Egg salad
Hummus with veggies
Black beans, corn and avocado
‘Sloppy Joe’ mix
Sprouts, lettuce, onion, cucumber, dressing
Potatoes and cheese
Bbq (chicken or beef or whatever)
Spinach mushroom and cheese

Remember to mix it up a bit. Try different beans and brown rice, or better yet, a different type of grain than you are used to. Barley and black beans, for instance, may seem strange but might be really good. (I haven’t tried it.) Tastes vary so what you like will different than what I like and these are just a few of the many, many combination out there. Some will be healthier than others, and some you will like better than others. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

How to fold a burrito

Artichoke Breakfast Burrito Recipe
Makes 4 to 8 Servings

1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage,crumbled
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 large tomato, diced
2 cups trimmed, cooked and diced artichoke hearts
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 large eggs
8 medium flour tortillas
2 cups grated Monterey Jack and/or cheddar cheese

In a skillet over medium heat, cook sausage until done; drain grease. Add
olive oil to sausage. Add onion, garlic and jalapeno; cook until onion is
soft. Add tomatoes and artichokes; cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4
minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add eggs and cook, stirring, until
eggs are done.

Heat tortillas (on a griddle, if possible). Fill middle of each tortilla
with artichoke mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Fold in ends, then roll up
tortilla.

Cherry Dessert Burritos
*A little more complicated

6 (6-inch) flour tortillas
1 (4 serving) pkg. sugar free vanilla cook and serve pudding mix
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups cherries, no sugar added, (frozen, fresh or canned)
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tb. confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium saucepan combine pudding
mix, water and cherries. Cook over medium heat until thick. Add red food
coloring and almond extract. Mix well to combine. Remove from heat. Spray a
large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with butter-flavored cooking spray.
Evenly divide cherry filling and place in center of each tortilla. Fold one edge
over filling; roll tightly to opposite side. Place seam side down
on cookie sheet. Spray top of each with butter-flavored cooking spray.
Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake 10-12 minutes. Quickly respray with butter
flavored cooking spray after baking 5 minutes. Remove from oven and
dust with confectioners sugar. Good served hot or cold. Serves 6

Burrito recipes

More burrito recipes

****PLEASE NOTE: I never make anything this fancy myself, I’m all about the simple and you can be too. Just use these as guide and cut them down to their most simple ingridients. Or come up with your own based on what you like and find in other recipes.****

That’s right, twice a week I donate my plasma. Not the most pleasant of ways to make $65 a week, but better than others.

  In 1914 the term ‘plasmaepheresis’ was coined by John Jacob Able. Greek for plasma meaning something molded and aphaeresis meaning taken away.

  In 1937 the first blood banks were established. In 1964 plasmaepheresis was introduced as a means of collecting plasma for fractionation, the separation process that allows you to isolate three or more components at a time.

  In 1966 the first European plasmaepheresis center opened.

  In 1972 aphaeresis was used to extract one cellular component and return the rest back to the donor.

  What can you expect should you venture into the world of plasma donation? First you must be cleared for donation. Identity and residence verification can be expected. Then you give an extensive medical history to the Medical Support staff. A short physical and pee in a cup and you are ready to go. This will also happen once a year, as time goes by.

  Once you are screened and cleared to donate you will be screened each time you come to the clinic. You will verify your name and donor number, be checked for cross donation at other centers and then screened for the day. That includes checking your hermitic rate (percentage of red blood cells), protein levels, blood pressure, temperature and then answer some standard questions about exposure to some diseases.

  After that you go to the donation floor and wait to be given a bed and hooked up. The donation floor might look a bit scary with many people all hooked up to machines and tubes and most watching a movie on one of the many flat screens that are suspended from the ceiling. Very Sci-Fi-ish. Last week I watched Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl.

  Once you are given a bed you pick your arm, right or left and then wait while they set up the machine with all new components. Then they hook you up to the machine. Its much like getting blood drawn but with a slightly bigger needle and this time the needle will be left in for about 45 minutes or so. Sit back and watch part of a movie, maybe even half.

  Now you are all done. You can proceed to the payment window where you will be paid, $30 for the first donation of the week and $35 for your second donation in a weeks time. You can donated twice a week with at least one day in between.
  Of course there are some precautions to take, as with everything.

  First : Hydrate! Water is now your bbf! The center will tell you to drink half a gallon the day before donation and half a gallon afterwards. I recommend this highly.
  Second : Eat! The center says at least four hours before donation. I have to have it within two.

  These are the two things that allow me to donate without adverse effects. Especially eating. NEVER donate on an empty stomach. You WILL get sick. I know this from experience. Very sick. Lightheaded. Dizzy. Nauseous. Unable to sit up or stand up. This lasted three hours for me.

  This may sound scary but has only happened once in the two years that donated before and then again last week when I forgot how long it had been since I ate. When I hydrate and eat first I have no reactions except maybe a little dizzy for a few seconds.

  Really the risks are very minimal. Everything is sterilized and health standards and codes are followed at all times. Its nice and clean in the center, nothing like the stereotypes.

  There are a few other risks you should be aware of. Drop in blood pressure is the most common and easily remedied. An allergic reaction to some of the solutions used may also happen, this is more severe but also more rare. And, as I recently found out, there can be a ‘citrate reaction’ causing tingling in the fingers and around the mouth and also causing cramping. The citrate anticoagulant also binds to calcium and may lower your calcium levels. You might want to supplement.

  So what is my plasma used for?

“The plasma that is collected at your BioLife center is manufactured into a wide variety of life-saving products that benefit thousands of people everyday. Plasma is used in the treatment of serious disorders such as hemophilia and immune system deficiencies, and to make products used to help treat and prevent diseases like tetanus, rabies, measles, rubella and hepatitis B.

For example, those who suffer from certain forms of hemophilia lack or are deficient in the natural clotting factors that help stop bleeding after sustaining acute or other injuries. Plasma-based products are used to treat people with this disorder so that they may lead normal, active lives.

In addition, hospitals and emergency rooms all over the world use plasma-derived albumin in the treatment of traumatic injuries such as shock and severe burns.

It is important to remember that plasma is not a substance that can be produced in a laboratory or some other artificial environment.  It can only be obtained from healthy adults.  When you donate plasma, you are helping save lives. ( http://www.plasmazentrum.at/en/plasma-learning-center/how-is-plasma.html )

  So there it is. Plasma donation. I think it needs to thought about very seriously before going for it. But my experience has been a positive one. I did need to take a two year break after two years of straight donation, but that was for an unrelated issue. I had an ovarian cyst among other things and needed surgery and time to get back on my feet. I have, on occasion, been deferred for too low hermitic rate and also for too low protein. They want everyone in optimal health at all times and will send you home if you don’t meet all the requirements for that day. This is rare for me. I’m pretty healthy and keep my hydrated and fed. All in all not a bad way to make some extra cash.

First you have to be willing to invest some time. How much will be up to you. One of the big money wasters is going to be lunch. Do you buy lunch at work every day? Or even once a week? It all adds up. Its much cheaper to bring your lunch, but that takes a little planning and possibly the investment of an insulated bag, thermos, reusable microwavable contains and everyday preparation of the food.

Some simple lunch ideas:

Peanut butter and jam sandwich (you’re never too old)

Chili in the thermos and corn chips or small containers of cheese, sour cream or whatever topping you like.

Packets of instant oatmeal, a small container of nuts and some fruit.  *you CAN make your own instant oatmeal. But the
savings over a bought lunch would more than justify the cost of buying a convenience product)*

A leftover baked potato and whatever toppings you like

Don’t forget to add some fruit to your meals, apples, pears and bananas are all easy to carry and store.

A can of soup, a microwave container and a can opener.  Probably the most simple.

Cheese and crackers and fruit.

Frozen burrito *you can make these ahead and freeze them yourself. They aren’t as pretty but can be even tastier than store bought with everything you like in them.

Last night’s leftovers.

Any hot soups in a thermos. Fill the thermos with boiling water to heat it up first, then dump that out and add your hot foods. You could even put pasta with sauce in there if you don’t have a microwave at work.

Don’t forget to bring a drink If you have access to a refrigerator that’s great, if not make use of a thermos and/or insulated lunch sacks.  There are packages of ‘shelf stable’ milk boxes, soy milk boxes and my favorite, almond milk boxes that you can take along and need no refrigeration. I cant drink them warm however, so I’d either need chocolate *and heat it up* or to chill them before hand. With things like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and baked goods you can freeze them and by lunch time they should be thawed but still chilled. The same will work for water or tea in a reusable bottle. Just don’t fill them to the top, they need room to expand.

Be sure to add some sweets, maybe even extra so you don’t need to use a vending machine later. Bakes some brownies and as soon as they cool cut them up and wrap them and store them to take with you. *I say as soon as they are done because otherwise, if they are just sitting out I will eat them rather than save them, and I suspect I am not alone in this.* Do the same with cookies, though they don‘t need to be frozen. Freezing just helps me keep from eating them too quick and keep them from drying out too quickly.  Frozen fudge is nice, and will melt in your mouth, but will thaw as well. I don’t know how this works for pie. Even bags of animal crackers can be a nice healthier alternative for snacking at work.

This is only a small list of possibilities. What you can take for lunch and snacking at work is only limited by your tastes and imagination. Try new tastes, new dishes, new combos in old favorites. Don’t be afraid to freeze and microwave.

As for dealing with the after word too-tired-to-cook, try to cook ahead. Or have precook ingredients on hand that you can just heat up into a fresh meal. For instance, some precooked rice and veggies reheat easily for a stir-fry. You’d probably add meat to that, but that too can be precooked and in the fridge ready to go. Just enough for one ‘fresh cooked’ meal at a time. Left over cooked rice can also very easily make rice pudding. I like hot brown rice for breakfast, with some sweetener and milk. Like oatmeal but chewier. it’s a nice change from the usual. I don’t particularly like precooked pasta, but its so quick that it doesn’t take more then ten minutes (depending on the type) to cook, and in that time you can heat the sauce, a frozen veggie or two and even some garlic bread. 

Equipment can save you time as well. Crock pots are great for having dinner ready when you get home. Don’t feel the need to limit yourself to just soup. They can cook potatoes, as well, while you are at work, for hot fresh baked potato for dinner. I do not have a pressure cooker, but I hear they are also wonderful for quickly cooking long cooking items like beans.  If you eat a lot of beans and like to make them from dry this might be an investment you’d be interested in.

Remember, diet is tied to health and the healthier you can keep yourself with your own efforts the less health care you have to pay for later. With that in mind, there are many cheap alternatives and a few that are more expensive but are wroth it in the long run. Whole grain pasta, rather than white, is one of the more expensive, but worthy purchases. Make sure a box or two is in your cart. Home made sauce is a bit more time intensive but leaves out the excess oil and sugar of the store bought. Though the store bought jarred sauces can be healthy. Just read the labels. Brown rice over white rice is by far healthier. Both come in instant, though dry is probably healthier. Either dry or instant, brown rice is the superior choice. Dried or canned beans are also still a cheap healthy option.  And there is no need to worry about ‘protein combining’ that’s no longer considered necessary. So go for the rice and beans. Make extra, I’ve found that it freezes well and reheats nicely. Add peas to pasta and sauce for an extra kick of protein and an extra veggie.  Peas are cheaper than meat, so this might be a good option when you are especially strapped. And a healthier alternative to mac’n’cheese, even with peas and tuna.  Unless you were making that from scratch with real cheese and whole grain pasta. It does cost a little more than mac’n’cheese or ramen noodles or a can of speghettiO’s. In the long run it is worth it.

Remember, store bought is cheaper than takeout, and homemade is cheaper than store bought. But as cost goes down, time needed goes up. Its up to you to find a good balance.  You don’t have to change all at once, give up all your outings to the local Chinese take-out in one go. Taper off slowly. Start slowly. Make a batch of brownies (remember the freezing individually trick to keep some for the next few days) for the week, and take one to work everyday.  Make a crock pot soup (the simplest to make) one day the next week to have a healthy dinner to come home to. Freeze leftover that you wont eat in the next few days for a few weeks later.  Take a sandwich to work for lunch a few times a week. The little things will start to add up and become habits.

If time is the issue, or you just hate to cook, go for the store bought convenience foods over eating out. Make health a bigger priority than eating cheap and go ahead and buy those pre-chopped veggies, or prepared sauces. Instant oatmeal and even dry cereal are still healthier cheaper alternatives than a donut or Danish from 7-11. Cereals like Chex can even be eaten on the run without milk, as finger food. Most could be, but the smaller ones might be messier when going over a pot hole in the car.

If nothing else, remember, your biggest food money waster is going to be eating out, usually at work. If you can cut that, even a little, you’re likely to see big savings at the end of the month.

Cheap Chili:
Heat together one can of chopped tomatoes and one can of chili beans in sauce. Add one can of corn if you like. Spice with chili power or hot sauce, anything you have on hand. Eat.  *feel free to add all the extras you want, this is more of a base recipe, but is good as is. Cheap and easy too.

Three ingredient peanut butter cookies:
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg

Mix ingredients together. Drop by spoonfuls on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake at 350F for 6 - 8 minutes. Do not overbake. Bottoms should be just brown.
A little more time intensive but worth it.

Soda Cake:
Combine one box cake mix with one can *12 oz* soda (dark soda for dark cakes, light for light. Though grape or strawberry or orange soda with white cake is fun)
Bake according to package directions. 
Not so healthy, plenty simple, fairly cheap.

Among other things, I’m unhappy with my skin.

And I didn’t have enough money to get a facial or even buy a product at the local drug store. While a product called “Yes to Carrots” looks interesting and is something I’d like to try, $14.99 is just too rich for my blood this week.  I’ve managed to be broke with a week to go before my next check, again. I have some emergency money. And I don’t “NEED” anything, including a facial. So being broke is not such a big deal. Until its time to take a picture. I’m also very unhappy with the fading of my hair color. But again, not much to be done. I can, however, get the individual photo taken later. Thank you, Curtis.

So what’s to do? Well, there are home facials, that you can make yourself with food stuffs. Too bad for me I didn’t think of that in time for the photos. So I’ve looked up online many recipes. I’ll compile them here. I’ll give as much credit as I can to where they came from, but I think most are just the same basic recipes that have been around for a long time. Maybe they have tweeked the proportions. They are all probably worth a try, you never know what will work for you.

For the face:
 
Honey:  Place a warm washrag on your face for ten minutes to open the pores. Smear on honey, and leave on for 15 to 30 minutes. Rinse off with warm water, then use cold water to close the pores. Use once a week.

Avocado:  Mash the meat of the avocado into a creamy texture. Massage into the face and neck . Leave on for 20 minutes and gently rinse off.

Lemon Juice : I remember reading in a book, about seven years ago, that lemon juice was a good astringent and also a good bleaching agent for the skin. I was very interested because I hate my freckles. It also said the same about pineapple juice and if I’m remembering right, all citrus fruits were supposed to do the same. But I wont swear to that, just the lemon and pineapple juices I remember were listed for sure.  I never got around to trying it too much, life caught up and I just didn’t have the time or energy before I moved and forgot all about it. Until now. I think that recipe was lemon juice and yogurt. But I googled and found this : “ Squeeze half a lemon and mix the juice with one beaten egg white. Leave on your face overnight or, for a quick pick-me-up, just 15 minutes. Splash warm water on your face to rinse.”  from healthrecipes.com

Also from healthrecipes.com:  Clay is available in powder form at any health food store. Mix 1 tablespoon dry clay with 1 egg yolk, 1/4 of a mashed avocado and enough witch hazel to create a smooth mixture. Mud dries excess sebum while the egg yolk and avocado replenish lost moisture. Witch hazel tones.

Oatmeal is a good exfoliation agent. Just be sure to grind it up to fine flour consistency. Usually I’ve seen it mixed with olive oil or yogurt or honey even. You could pick the one you like best and go for it.

Raw potato for the under eye circles is something I’ve seen listed a few times. And of course the cold tea bags. Those have never really worked for me. Might be time to try the good old potato.

Still at the healthrecipes.com site I found this oily skin mask recipe, and it sounded interesting :  Mix 1 tsp. brewer’s yeast with enough natural yogurt to make a thin mixture. Pat this thoroughly into all the oily areas and allow it to dry on the skin. After 15 - 20 minutes, rinse off with warm water, then cool water and blot dry.  I’ve never seen yeast listed in a facial recipe before.

For Hair :

The ones I can name off the top of my head (  :D ):

Olive oil for conditioning, and also mayo.
Vinegar for shine and build up.
Egg for washing and conditioning.
Baking soda for washing.

I really like the healthrecipes.com and this is one I hadn’t seen before that I plan on trying:

Combine mashed avocado with some coconut milk. Comb it through the hair and let sit for 10 -15 minutes, rinse out.  I like avocado but usually cant use it all up before it goes bad. I figure between the hair and face recipes ill have enough left to make a mashed avo sandwich as well. Or so I hope.  Not bad for the $2 it costs for an avocado these days.

My favorite body scrub that I haven’t done in many years was/is sugar mixed with oil, olive if you are feeling rich (most of us are NOT ) or mineral if you aren’t (this would be our category). I used baby oil. Something thicker would be nice, but I cant afford much more. That made a very nice scrub though. Most recipes say salt. I haven’t tried salt. I also haven’t tried it mixed in with body wash instead of oil, that was just suggested to me by Arin, of Free Credit Fixes. That probably smells really really good. So thats what I’ll be trying next.  I’m assuming it will also work for dry skin on the feet as well, making for a very nice home pedicure. 

I don’t think we should all run out and buy some exotic ingredients we don’t normally buy, but with so many things to choose from, I’m sure we can all find at least one combo that will work for us, that we have on hand and is cheap and that will make us and our skin feel pampered. A lit scented candle, a bubble bath, some soft music and a facial is maybe just the thing when you have to have a group photo taken and you at least want to feel your best, if not look it.

Right now I think the Boy Scouts’ motto of “Always Be Prepared” is the most brilliant thing ever. But I wasn’t a boy scout. And so I’m unprepared tonight to keep myself from running into and over everything in a dark apartment. At least I have a lighter to light the candles. I keep one for lighting my incense, which I really need to do more often. As an ex-smoker I no longer know where my several different lighters are at all times. I just have two, and one I don’t know where it is. This one I was lucky enough to have found and been using to light incense recently to show off my new incense burners.  Last time the electric went out, due to a transformer down the block blowing up, I learned the importance of keeping that lighter where I knew where to find it. Usually our blackouts don’t last that long, but we do have the.
So why am I, and we as a society, so unprepared for such basic needs? I wonder if the number of people that have extra batteries and/or adapters for their cell phones and notebooks would greatly outweigh the number of people that have candles and matches and flashlights with back up batteries. My guess is, it would. The basic disaster relief recommendation is three days worth of food and supplies. I know I don’t have that. Well, I might, but not the water or candles or matches. I have a lighter. It might not make it three days.
What constitutes a ‘basic need’ when we are talking about being prepared? Food and water, shelter,  heat, and light. Those are some basics we need to be able to know where to obtain in an emergency and preferable before we have that emergency.  The first is food. I know missing a few days’ worth of meals wont hurt me. But we’re American’s , we gotta eat!! So some extra canned food can come in handy. And don’t for get to add a can opener and some utensils.  Storage is something to keep in mind when stocking up for an emergency. Depending on the type of ‘disaster’, our needs will be different. Obviously extra ice cream will do us no good after the first night of no electricity in the middle of summer. Not that there would be any left after the first night. Canned and dried foods are the way to go. You might also want to keep some in your trunk, along with a can opener and some utensils. And bottled water. Probably at the top of everyone’s list is bottled water. And lots of it. Buy the case just in case. Now I have quite a few bottles of water in my fridge. They are recycled bottles though, not sealed up, so I don’t know if that would make a difference or not. Probably it would, but I really just don’t know.  If you live in California and are earthquake prone you would also want to keep some extra dishes of the unbreakable variety, assuming that all your dishes will be broken in the earthquake. Also you will probably want a few weeks wroth of food and water. (maybe I’ve heard too many horror stories about earthquakes) Most of us won’t need that much, but best to “be prepared”
When I was little we lived in Iowa. That’s just above Kansas, as I was aware of every year when “The Wizard of Oz” was on tv. I remember very vividly many, many times being rushed to the basement (as if I needed prompting at all) with the battery powered transistor radio.  I believe we even had a mattress down there. That was how we prepared. I was too young to know the difference between preparing for an event and the actual event. I just knew that basement with a radio or the bathtub with a mattress. I even had fantasies of making friends with the tornado, inviting it in to play, as if it were another child, and then it wouldn’t hurt us. (Please. I was five.)
 
Battery powered items and extra batteries should probably be on everyone’s list. At least one flashlight, a radio and extra batteries for them., because it will work fine until you need it. So best to “be prepared”. Here is something I didn’t think about until it happened to me, the phone.  Without electricity, cordless phones, uncharged, wont work. Make sure you know how yours is powered. Just in case. These days having an extra battery for your cell phone may be all you need.  While the radio used to be the all important item, you may be able to get news updates on your phone. I still don’t have one, though I am considering one.
 
Most of the people I know that do have them have about midrange services and accessories. A few are just plain phones. All could probably receive text message updates at the least. Should those be needed. Or we could just make the information getting simple and just have an old fashioned battery powered radio. Which I have. But guess who is battery-less when its needed? Just guess. So radio and flashlight with appropriate batteries and back up batteries are a must. In my unprepared glory I have neither. I do have a nifty pen that has a light in it.
    *If you live in Tornado Alley a mattress against the wall of the bathroom is also acceptable, especially if you are me.

 
Taking these extra preparedness items with you on a road trip could save your life. Perhaps that’s the one disaster we are all prone to, no matter what part of the country we live in. Just remember what can, and has, happened to people that have gotten lost and were unprepared for a sudden storm. The movie “Cujo” might be a bit graphic, but I think it is an excellent example of how the unexpected can take over on the most ordinary of trips. Being prepared for as much as you can, can go a long way to make your life less stressful when a disaster happens. Even if its just having candles and matches when the lights go out.
 
One of my candles is almost completely gone, the other two won’t last long beyond that and the wind is starting to whip them around again. So, to recap, I am completely unprepared for the basic needs that arise when a simple late summer storm wrecks a little havoc on my neighborhood. When it comes to living more simply, being prepared is an excellent place to start. It can help keep your stress level down in a time of crisis, or even just aggravation at trying to write by candle light.