Lentil Burritos and Roasted Parmesan Garlic Cauliflower

I am gonna make my dinner post short and sweet today. My son's big boy bunk beds are being delivered as I write this, so I probably should stop goofing around on the computer and go attend to that business. Also, my little guy is napping and my dogs are barking their heads off....good times. Ugh.

This burrito recipe is from the $5 Dinners website and the cauliflower side dish is from recipezaar.com. I don't know how cohesive my menu will be, with one dish being Mexican-inspired and the other being Italian, but I am very excited to try both recipes anyway. I love finding promising, new, vegetarian dishes! I will let you know how it all turns out later.

Lentil Burritos
From: $5Dinners.com

Ingredients:
1 cup white or brown rice
1 cup lentils, any color
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
Salt/pepper
6-8 tortillas
1 cup shredded cheese

Directions:
1. Cook rice. In saucepan, bring 2.5 cups of water or chicken broth to boil. Add 1 cup of white or brown rice. Return to boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer. For white rice, cook for 20 minutes. For brown rice, cook for 50 minutes.
2. Cook lentils. In saucepan, add 1 cup of lentils plus water to cover lentils by an inch. Bring to boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until lentils are soft. Drain any excess water.
3. Combine rice, lentils and can of Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles. Stir in garlic powder, ground cumin, salt and pepper.
4. Lay tortillas (corn or flour…whichever you prefer!) out and spoon rice/lentil mixture into the tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese and roll up. Place burritos in 8×8 baking dish.
5. Place lentil burritos in a warm oven (250) for about 20 minutes, giving cheese time to melt. Don’t leave in too long or the tortillas will get crispy!


Roasted Parmesan Garlic Cauliflower
From:recipezaar.com/Recipe #59965

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons fresh minced garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 head cauliflower, separated in florets
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and black pepper
chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease large casserole dish. Place olive oil and garlic in large resealable bag. Add cauliflower and shake to mix. Pour into prepared casserole dish. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring halfway through. Top with Parmesan and parsley and broil for 3 to 5 minutes until golden brown.



The Result:
I will be the first to admit...my photo is really not exciting. (I tried to sprinkle some cheese on top to make it look better, but no such luck.) Despite the boring appearance of this dish, it was fan-freakin'-tastic. I just loved it. I loved the simplicity of it all...the easy preparation, the uncomplicated ingredients, the surprising deliciousness...it was really, really good. The combo of the rice, lentils and spices were perfect. Then, I would hit a little pocket of cheese and it would just get sooooo much better. Yum! The burritos ended up pretty small, because my whole wheat tortillas were really small. We ended up having two burritos each. The husband said that he had really low expectations going into this meal, but ended up loving it, too. It was just a solid, yummy, somehow satisfying, choice. My little guy also loved it, so it was a winner all the way around. Hooray for lentil burritos!
As for the cauliflower, that was also great! I am not a huge fan of cauliflower, but it turned out perfect. I heart roasted veggies. This recipe actually made me love cauliflower!!!! I used Pecorino Romano cheese instead of Parm, but that was the only change I made. The sharp Pecorino complimented the cauliflower nicely. Surprisingly, the combo of the cauliflower and burritos was awesome. I would not hesitate to make either of these recipes again....they are both definite keepers!