archshrk » BS Ministry

How to make a burrito

archshrk — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 20:35:13 +0000

Before I begin, i have to confess…

I don’t think this post is necessary. Or at least I didn’t think so. I have several websites that I manage and one of them has to do with serving burritos to the homeless. You may also know that I am addicted to tracking my site traffic via StatCounter.com. one thing I’ve noticed is how many people visit that site by searching for “how to make a burrito”. So, I’ve decided to teach you.

First, it’s really simple and is totally customizable to your taste or talent. A burrito is nothing more than some warm food wrapped in a tortilla.

What you need…
Meat: about 1lb (beef, chicken, pork)
Beans: refried, black or pinto
Tortillas: 8-10 inch, flour (1-2 per person)
Cheese: cheddar or mexi-blend
Rice: optional (white or Mexican)
Sour Cream, salsa, guacamole

Cook the meat. Cook it however you like. Typically, I brown some ground turkey with taco seasoning but you can use your own spicy concoction or marinade some beef/chicken/pork and grill it. Carna Asada, Polo Asada and Carnitas are available pre-marinated at your local store. Also consider grilling some onions and bell peppers while you’re at it.

Heat the Beans. Since you’re probably using refried beans you simply need to heat the beans in a pot. This can be true for black and pinto beans but if you’re more comfortable in the kitchen, feel free to start from scratch.

Warm Tortillas. Tortillas (tôr-t?’y?s) need to be served warm. You can cover them in a damp paper towel and seat them in the microwave for about 30 secs. or you can fire them over an open flame. One method I used was to place a cast iron pan upside down over a burner and “toast” them to perfection. it’s important to only do this with a cast iron pan as you will ruin any other types. Another method is to heat them in oil. Place a small amount of oil in a pan and “shallow fry” the tortillas. it’s my favorite but is obviously less healthy and takes more time – but it’s so worth it!

Everything else is added cold (or room temp)…
salsa (chunky is my favorite)
sour cream
guacamole
shredded cheese
shredded or leaf lettuce
or anything else you can think to add.

Closing a burrito is the hardest part. Try not to over stuff. If you pile on too much you just created a giant soft taco. New parents probably already know how to wrap a burrito since they wrap their baby the same way. Basically, place your filling in the middle of the tortilla in a straight line. Leave a bit of “naked” tortilla at one end but lay out the filling to the edge of the other end. Fold over one side and try to tuck it under the filling a little bit. Fold the “tail” we left onto the filling and then roll the whole thing tight. I’ll add pictures as soon as I make burritos again but feel free to ask questions here or look at other sites until then.

Optional: cook some rice for inside or outside the burrito. When I was working the Burrito and Sock homeless ministry, we had a simple recipe. Beans, cheese, rice, salsa. Because we were limited in funds, time and manpower this quick and easy method really served our needs. We’d cook about four cups of minute rice, and 7lbs of refried beans, spoon them over the tortillas (microwaved), sprinkled with cheese and salsa. This made about 48 small burritos individually wrapped in foil.Similar Posts:

How to make a burrito

Where it all began

archshrk — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 01:24:01 +0000

This is the one and only entry into a paper journal I wrote when I started blogging. It’s from Febuary 26th, 2004

God has a funny way of working with us sometimes. PhotoJulia bought this journal because she thought the cover was neat (and it is, too) but here I am writing in it.

Last week (or was it two) I started a blog simply on a whim. I haven’t used it yet b ut I think that I will. I established it to relate stories of our adventures in the Burrito and Socks Ministry. So far I haven’t even mentioned it but I think I will make a point to enter something every week. Hopefully, I can get PK or Big Mike (or anyone else) to contribute also. This may be a good way to encourage others and to share with those who cannot join us Thursday nights.

Tonight didn’t go as planned. We did meet and greet but it didn’t have the same satisfaction. One main reason I suspect is because we didn’t have burritos tonight. We’d been warned about getting into trouble with the cops because they didn’t want people helping the homeless. They probably don’t want to encourage the homeless because they detract from the beauty of El Cajon. One warning had to do with serving homemade food items. Peviously, another group serving the homeless pointed out that was legal to give away pre-packaged food items so this week we gave out puddin’ cups and water. We had planned to give out pop-tarts and granola bars but the pudding was the big hit so we stuck with that. I tell you this, the chocolate pudding was no substitute for some cheap, home-made, bean, cheese, rice and salsa burritos.

Well, my mind is starting to get distracted so while I have more to say, I’m going to end here tonight. Maybe I can save the rest for my blog tomorrow. Thank you PhotoJulia for my new journal. It rocks!

After this entry I started using the journal for taking notes during mid-week studies and sermons. The blog doesn’t get a new post for another two months. The Burrito and Socks Ministry was in service for 18 months. About amonth ago I wrote to one of the girls who had been with us untill she moved farther north.

“Hey, ei_socket. First let me just say, we miss you. Second, I signed up with a xanga account just so I could post comments on your blog (and someone else’s).

The BSM was retired some time ago. www.burritoandsocks.com has more about when and why. Essentially, we realized that our efforts there were having little impact and that there wasn’t this big shortage of ministries serving the homeless (it started getting crowded out there). Instead, we refocused our energies into other ministries that were lacking in general and that Kaleo could better fill with our resources. Currently, Big Mike is involved with East County Pregnancy Care Center and Cool Mike is involved with Care House Life Ministries. Thomas has just started his own ministry called Abandoned But Precious. This is a ministry to help orphans in India. I am still trying to find my calling so please pray for me on that.

In other news…Big Mike is now a Deacon, cool Mike is a deacon-in-training, Mark is an Elder candidate and we’re still meeting in the AMC theaters in Mission Valley. Overall, Kaleo has gotten a lot busier and is still growing. Our weekly attendance is at 150+ and climbing. I could go on but it’s 7:30am saturday morning and I still need to get my bills done. check out my blog and click on the worship catagory. I think you’ll like it (especially Personal Worship)

Love in Christ, archshrk

But there’s hope on the horizon. We may get a chance to legally serve the homeless again. I’ll tell you more about that when I get the details but we’re all very excited. Praise God!

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Where it all began

What happened to Burritos and Socks?

archshrk — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 19:28:04 +0000

If you got the July 26th newsletter you may have noticed that there were some changes made to the Burritos and Socks Ministry. You may have even tried to go to the website to get the details. Unfortunately, the site as down the following morning so I’ll have to give you the quick version…

San Diego Department of Environmental Health does not permit anyone to make food for the public in any location without a “valid public health permit”.

Romans 13:1-7 says “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment…”

We have been convicted in our hearts to obey the laws of man since they do not go against God. We are allowed to hand out pre-packaged, non-perishable food (plus socks) and so we shall.

You can help by joining us Monday nights when we go out to the homeless or by donating socks, water and food items (as described) or by giving an extra contribution with your tithe. We could also do with a lot of prayer and love.

Check back often to find out more and to read about our efforts and experiences.Similar Posts:

What happened to Burritos and Socks?

How NOT to Serve

archshrk — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 19:07:06 +0000

Big Mike was asking our old friend Mr. Davis if he was getting involved with any of these churches he was visiting. He wasn’t and “I’ll tell you why…” Turns out that he would end up spending more time correcting these people becuse they weren’t doing what they were supposed to do. They are supposed to help the poor and needy, and they aren’t. Mr. Davis points to the Catholics, they do more than anybody according to him. Mr. Davis also thinks that you should let people make there own decisions. Now, he admits they will suffer the consiquenses but if they don’t want to do what’s right, so be it.Similar Posts:

How NOT to Serve

New Night! New Ministry?

archshrk — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 17:07:38 +0000

Tonight is the first night of our revised ministry. We now meet on Mondays at 6:30 at Marc’s house. Another major change is our menu. We have accepted that we cannot legally make burritos at home and have begum looking for alternate food items. The major problem is the cost of being within the law. $20 buys supplies for 48 burritos or…60 single serving cereal boxes, or 60 indivudual fruit cups, or….you get the idea. Last Thursday was supposed to be our first night but attendance was a little low and I didn’t feel like going by myself. Actually, I could have managed two more people but figured it was better to wait till Monday since our food items were so minimal. We will discuss and pray tonight before going out about the future of this ministry but I have a couple ideas that may serve as goals to strive towards.Similar Posts:

New Night! New Ministry?

…and Socks

archshrk — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 21:07:04 +0000

Well, tonight’s the night we stop making burritos. I’m a little sad to see that part of our ministry go but I have to desire God’s will over my own. The hardest part is that we can make 48 burritos with bean, cheese, rice and salsa for about $20 but we can’t get that much hearty, nutritious, non-perishable, pre-packaged food for that little. Right now, I picked up some single serving cereal boxes on sale 10 for $3 but that’s not much compared to a warm burrito. We can still give out socks and water, both of which are very appreciated. I’ll keep looking for other food items we can bring but food isn’t as needed as you would think.

It turns out that a lot of the people you see out on the streets get money from SSI (Social Security Insurance). The government will give them about $950 a month for whatever disability they seem to have. Now this may not seem like much, especially in San Diego, but you can rent a room downtown for about $600 a month and live on the $300 left over. Sure it’s not the high life but its food and shelter, which can get you started on the road to independence. Unfortunately, the addictions that led them to the street, usually keeps them from spending their money wisely. Most often, the people we see on the street who collect SSI use up their money three weeks into the month (weekly rent).

Getting fed can be difficult in San Diego. While there are many programs to help the homeless, most do not include daily meals. Those that do, often require participation in their program, which, for people who usually reject authority, is not an acceptable trade. There are various groups that hand out food on a weekly basis. City of Refuge is one of the most dedicated to this end. They head out several nights a week and hand out ‘legit’ food and try to minister to the people where they find them. There are also a few small groups that bring miscellaneous food items down throughout the week like those from the Rock Church and Point Loma University, but they, like us are limited by resources and bound by the law.

We’ll see how this all pans out tonight but I suspect we’ll want to take this to the next level. Sharing the Gospel is our first priority, but feeding the homeless regularly would be real nice, too. Unfortunately, I don’t know how cooperative the city would be to a permanent food program. They don’t want homeless people congregating or lingering in any one area, but they don’t want people handing out food without safety measures in place. In the mean time, I guess we’ll have to call ourselves ~~Burrito~~ and Socks Ministry.Similar Posts:

…and Socks

How can we minister to the homeless without feeding them?

archshrk — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 05:07:55 +0000

Well, the debate is over. After some prayerful consideration and studying the word of God it is clear that we need to obey the law as it does not go against God. We are not prohibited from feeding the homeless, we just can not make food at home for them. This is an easy fix. We will purchase pre-packaged, non-perishable food items to give with the socks and water.

The law is there to protect people from unsafe food, we can not ignore it because it does not suit us. God has put the authorities in place for the welfare of the whole society. Our ministry was not so much about feeding them food (for many are not lacking) but to bring them the Gospel. If we can not bring the Gospel without a home-made burrito, then we were never bringing the Gospel at all.

My eternal gratitude to those who have helped make many a burrito these past 18 months. Starting out in a kitchen too small for all of us to fit into, to a kitchen that could be used to feed the entire church (which it has). This has been an amazing journey.

The next step for burritos and socks is unclear. We will still gather together to go downtown with whatever supplies we are permitted but what that develops into is yet to be seen. I encourage all of you to join us as we continue this ministry in its new season.

Also, we will be moving Burritos and Socks to Monday nights next week. We will still meet at the Goodmanson’s this week on Thursday but will meet at Marc Hutchinson’s the following Monday. Consiquently, the Monday night group will now meet at Marc’s on Thursday (next week)

If you have any questions, you can contact me at burritos@kaleochurch.comSimilar Posts:

How can we minister to the homeless without feeding them?

Jaywalking for Jesus

archshrk — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 05:07:14 +0000

It has come under discussion that doing good could be sin. Specifically, San Diego County does not allow us to give home made food to the homeless.

Can I sell food I make at home?
No. All food sold or given away to the public must be prepared and stored at a commercial food establishment with a valid public health permit.

According to the California Uniform Retail Food Facilities Law, Division 104 Enviromental Health, Part 7 Retail Food, Section 114015 Returned Food/ Food Prepared in Private Homes, Paragraph 4

(4) Nonperishable, prepackaged food maybe given away, sold, or handled from a private home. For puposes of this paragraph only: (A) “nonperishable food” means a food that is not a potentially hazardous food, and that does not show signs of spoiling, becoming rancid, or developing objectionable odors during storage at ambient temperatures; and (B) no food that has exceeded the labeled shelf life date recommended by the manufacturer shall be deemed to be “nonperishable”.

Romans 13:1-7 says

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment…”

Therefore, are we in sin because we willinging violate the local laws established by the God appointed authorities? But are we to submit to tyrants and evil-doers as well. Were those who helped free slaves, sinning? What about those who resisted the Nazis?

In case you’re wondering, Jaywalking for Jesus comes from an earlier discussion about how we are willing to Jaywalk to give a homeless person a burrito but once we are done serving, we suddenly feel compeled to follow the traffic rules. We can no longer justify our rule breaking.

We rationalised that it was OK to break the rules if you were serving God but not if you are just being lazy.Similar Posts:

Jaywalking for Jesus

Bibles anyone?

archshrk — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 15:06:41 +0000

Mr. Davis will not serve. I don’t mean in the military, I mean in the church. But he has a good reason, which I’ll explain later, but first, I need to tell you about bibles.

A few weeks ago, while doing our normal rounds of servitude, a young man walked through the parking lot we were ministering in. We quickly handed him a burrito, socks and water and asked how he was doing. After a lengthy conversation, Marc asked him if we brought him a bible would he read it. He said that he would so Marc promised to bring him a bible next time. You may be asking yourself “why not just give him a bible then and there?” That’s a good question (which is usually a fancy way of saying ” I don’t know”) but the problem is, we don’t typically carry extra bibles. We should, but we’ve been donating our extra bibles to www.FreeBibles.net lately. Don’t worry, I’ve remedied that problem when I bought 10 bibles with a gift card I had been needing to use.

True to his word, the young man was there waiting for us the following Thursday at the same location we meet him at before. Unfortunately, Marc was not with us this time. It’s not unusual for Marc to not come out, after all he is a single parent, but we still din’t have any bibles to give. So I explained the situation, gave him another burrito, socks and water and promised him “next week” once again.

Last week were down to only three again and this time I drove (I had the largest of 3 toyota pickups). Now this is one of those moments were you clearly see God’s hand involved in our efforts. We arrived at the same parking lot as before but we’re a few minites later than usual (15min) and I see the same young man walking off towards his “camp”. I honked my horn as we pulled in so he would come back and get a burrito, socks and water. Once stopped, I realize Marc is home being a good father and we still didn’t get any bibles to hand out yet! So after hooking him up with some food, I reached into my truck and grab my brand new compact bible I got for myself only a couple of weeks ago. I need to tell you, I really liked this bible. It was very compact (fits into any back pocket), was an English Standard Version translation (which I wanted to start using), was made very nicely and matched my wedding theme almost perfectly (I’m a newly wed still). Did I mention I really liked this bible?

After giving the bible to this young man and making sure the print wasn’t too small, I wished him well and let him go on his way as he doesn’t like to linger too much. It felt good to be able to help him get a bible, to fufill our promise and to make a little sacrafice for Christ. I knew God had placed me there with my truck so that I would be able to give that young man a bible, but I knew what we needed to do – get more bibles. The next week, we had ten new bibles to hand out if needed and we ended up giving away three. I was surprised but pleased. we didn’t push the bibles on anyone, they asked for them. Benny of all people just grabbed one out of my hand before even saying “hih” as if he were waiting for it. God is good.

I’ll have to tell you about Mr. Davis next time.Similar Posts:

Bibles anyone?

Ten Cents to a Donut

archshrk — Fri, 20 May 2005 17:09:13 +0000

Despite our recent boom , only three of us went out to serve last night. While this isn’t the first time it was unusual. Even more unusual were the few conversations we had (3 people handing out 48 burritos don’t have a lot of time for talking) marc tried to converse with a very beligerant old man who kept saying “ten cents to a donut” like it was common expression. He used it more like ‘what is ten cents to something like a donut’ but it came out more like an expletive (he yelled it more often than not) The ‘locals’ asked us to just let him move along and not encourage him when he’s drunk.

Later, while Marc was talking with one young man Jim and I spoke with Pastor Joe Williams (and crew) who also brings food an ministers to the homeless. They specialize in fried chicken donated by local resturaunts. They are an interesting group. They’re more…exhuberant then most of us, but as long as they are faithful to the scriptures and love God…go for it. As Joe and his friend Bill were talking to me and Jim this little asian woman (Veitmanese, I think) just scooted into the center of us, looked Jim dead in the eye like a lost puppy and started explaining how her preies is somewhere in England, or Britian, or Germany, or…and then rambled on about somethings related to the RCC. It didn’t make any sense to me but eventually Jim asked her if she knew that Jesus Christ was God at which point she shuffled off again, much to Joe’s surprise because he turned around to ask one of the women from his group pray for her only to turn back and find her gone.

Our last stop was at the liquor store near the Smart and Final. Marc had a long discussion with a very animated character who didn’t believe that Jesus felt any pain on the cross. Jim and I talked with Indian Mike who seemed not at the top of his game. We listened as he told us about his life and the things that were going on but eventually he started talking about Mother Earth and Father God. He was wondering why people looked at him funny when he talked about this so I tried to explain. Now, I realize he’s indian (Blackfoot and Mexican) but I can’t let his upbringing be an excuse not to know the gospel correctly. I tried to explain that Mother Earth and Father God are two different concepts that can not co-exist. Eventually, we got to the question “is God perfect” to my surprise, he said “no”. Well, that just got us onto sin and how we brought sin into the world not God. He countered it wasn’t us but Adam who did this. I then asked “can a dog give birth to a cat?” (I’ll give you a hint – no) If Adam was full of sin then his offspring are born full of sin. And suddenly… the light came on. We talked a little more and eventually had to get going because it was already 10pm so we said good night and headed home. Our conversation just made his day. But I won’t let it go to my head. He had told us earlier how giveing his friend’s daughter a stuffed monkey toy made his day because of how she smiled and thanked him. I’m pretty sure we came in second but hopefully it will have an effect on him and his walk with Christ.Similar Posts:

Ten Cents to a Donut