Vegetarian Green Chili Burrito Bake Recipe...exposed!

This is ONE, single burrito. They are huge, stuffed full...and, chock full of food groups.

OK, not really exposed, just converted. Sheesh. This is a fairly simple one. For a newbie at converting recipes to vegetarian-friendly meals, I suggest ground beef as a launching site. It's an easy change. Both Morningstar Farms and Quorn make great ground beef substitutes (tofu-based and micoprotein-based "meats", aka mushrooms, respectively). I'm sure there are other substitutes out there as well. My take on these two is: Quorn is a little more like real ground beef, but is slightly more expensive than the Morningstar Farms version. Also, the Quorn tends to cook down less than the Morningstar Farms meat. Which brings up another point. If using Quorn, you'll want to use less than the original meat recipe calls for to convert it properly. However, with Morningstar Farms, you can use about the same amount.

The original recipe is from www.menu4moms.com.
Green Chili:

• 1 lb. ground beef* (from freezer), or ground turkey
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped (from freezer)
• 5 tablespoons flour
• 1 - 14-1/2 oz. can tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cans water
• 1- 4 oz. can chopped green chiles
• 1-2 jalapeno peppers, chopped, more or less to taste (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. garlic powder

Assemble Burrito Casserole:

• 1 package, whole grain tortillas, corn or flour
• 2 Cups refried beans; canned, or homemade*
• 2 Cups Mexican blend or Cheddar cheese, shredded
• Sour cream 

Now here's the converted Green Chili Burrito Bake:

Vegetarian Green Chili Burrito Bake
Green Chili:

• 1 bag Morningstar Farms or Quorn beef crumbles
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped (from freezer)
• 5 tablespoons flour
• 1 - 14-1/2 oz. can tomatoes, chopped
• 1 can water
• 1- 7 oz. can chopped green chiles
• 1-2 jalapeno peppers, chopped, more or less to taste (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. garlic powder

Preheat oven to 425. Thaw meat and onion. Heat meat and onion over medium heat. Cook until onion is soft but not brown. Stir in flour, add tomatoes, water (reduced from 2 cans to 1...this just looked like it would be too runny otherwise, possibly due to fake meat), green chiles (increased to 7 oz. can from 4 oz., mainly just because I like chiles, optional increase for you), jalapeno peppers, salt, and garlic powder. Stir until thickened. Reduce heat to low, simmer 30 minutes. Use that time to prepare the burrito casserole. 
Assemble Burrito Casserole:

• 1 package, whole grain tortillas, corn or flour
• 2 Cups refried beans; canned, or homemade (I used a 20 oz. can of refried black beans)
• 2 Cups Mexican blend or Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 Cup sour cream 

Heat tortilla briefly in microwave or on hot griddle so the tortilla is pliable. Place 1/4 Cup refried bean mixture inside the tortilla, with 1-2 tablespoons shredded cheese, and 1-2 tsp. sour cream. Or, if you're like me and that seems like a lot of individual measuring for each burrito, dump all those ingredients in a bowl, stir it up and dish a couple large spoonfuls into each tortilla. There was no amount listed for the sour cream in the original recipe. I went with about a cup total. Roll up tightly, place in 9 X 13 casserole dish. Make 8-10 burritos. Smother the burritos with hot green chili in casserole dish. Place casserole in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until the mixture is bubbly. Serve hot burritos on plates, and pass around the optional garnishes below.
Garnishes:

• 1/2 Cup sour cream
• 2 Cups shredded lettuce
• 1-2 tomatoes, diced
• Guacamole
• Green onions, chopped 

The Results:
I absolutely loved this. I texted my husband after I sampled it fresh out of the oven and said something about it being, restaurant-level delicious. So yummy and different from your standard boring enchiladas and fill-your-own burritos that I usually make with practically the same ingredients. Our 20-month-old happily gobbled down about half of a burrito smooshed into bits in her plastic bowl. The 3-month-old is not quite up to burritos yet, but when she is I think this will be a repeat.

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