Burrito con Applesauce

In her youthful rebellion against meatloaf Thursday's and canned vegetables, my mom developed a taste for Mexican food--the spicier, the better--as soon as she left home. In Southern California, this mostly took the form of quesadillas, tacos, enchiladas, and chile rellenos. However, she had her hands full with a husband, a full-time job, and a particular child with a love of semantics. As a result, she usually made what was easy: burritos. These particular burritos were nothing more than ground turkey, refried beans, a taco seasoning packet, and a jar of hot salsa mixed together and stuffed in a tortilla with cheese. I ate these burritos for dinner several times a week and they often doubled as my latchkey kid after school snack. The only problem for me was that they were very, very spicy--at least, they were for a 7 year old kid--and my mom had no sympathy whatsoever. So, I learned to adapt (it was either that or, as my mom made clear on many occasions, starve). But as much as I loved burritos, I think I may have loved applesauce even more. Combining them seemed like a natural solution, especially since the sweetness of the applesauce cut the tear-inducing spiciness of my mom's rebellion.

Perhaps it was the stormy weather or the fact that I haven't been home in a while (though I will be in 2 weeks!), but today I was craving comfort food. And, for me, there's nothing more comforting than my mom's burritos smothered in applesauce. I know, I know, it sounds disgusting and maybe it is...but, I love it. So, I decided to replicate it in a way that's a little more sophisticated (but not too much) than the burritos I loved so much as a 7 year old.

Burrito Filling:
1 cup TVP
2 cups water, boiling
1 onion diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 handful sweet corn, frozen
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
2-3 tsp. ancho chile powder
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne (adjust to your likeness if omitting applesauce)
fresh ground pepper to taste
1 can refried beans

Combine TVP and 1 cup of boiling water in a small bowl. Set aside. In a medium size sauce pan, saute onion and garlic until onion starts to get translucent. Add green bell pepper and corn and cook for a few minutes more. Next, add the rest of the ingredients, except refried beans, and bring to a boil. Then reduce to simmer and cook until the liquid is pretty much gone. Add refried beans, mixing well, and heat through. Put some of the burrito mix in a tortilla and and top with unsweetened applesauce.

Josh likes this burrito filling on top of chips with nacho cheeze. There's no accounting for taste.