Breakfast Burritos

My family leads a very busy life, with most mornings (especially Sundays) permitting only a brief time to prepare breakfast. I really wanted something that could be prepared ahead of time, but available over the long term.

That's when I discovered breakfast burritos! I picked up the recipe from a friend and have slightly adapted it to our tastes.

Breakfast Burritos
Serves 16

Ingredients:

1) Package of flour tortillas (whole wheat in packages of 16 work best. The WW stretch further than the white or corn)
2) 1-dozen eggs
3) 1-package of freezer hash-browns (for those who like peppers and onions pick up the O'Brien potatoes)
4) 1lb loose breakfast sausage [OPTIONAL}
5) 1lb Shredded Cheddar Cheese
6) 16 oz of taco Sauce (I prefer Ortega Mild Original Thick and Smooth) [OPTIONAL]

Directions:
1. Bring tortillas to room temperature.
2. Meanwhile cook breakfast sausage. Then remove to large bowl.
3. Cook hash-browns per package directions. (I sometimes add taco seasoning to the hash-browns, especially if I do not use the O'Brien potatoes). Then remove to large bowl stir together with sausage.
4. Scramble the eggs. Then remove to large bowl and mix with sausage and hash-browns.
5. Add cheese and taco sauce to egg/sausage/potato mix.
6. Stir together.
7. Scoop spoonful of mix into each open tortilla.
8. Roll tortilla and wrap in parchment paper, wax paper or freezer paper. Seal in freezer paper or foil. Store in Ziploc bag in freezer.

Once frozen they can be served individually after 1-2 minutes in the microwave.

**Notes:

- I have discovered that while the burritos microwave well in parchment paper they do NOT in wax paper or freezer paper. If you wish to use one of the latter two then be sure to remove burrito from the paper and place on a plate before microwaving.

- I've adapted the recipe to add fresh cilantro, black olives, beans, pretty much anything you'd serve in tacos or burritos.

Taco Pasta

I my quest for recipes that use tomato paste, I came across this meal on the $5 Dinner Mom blog. I changed several things based on what I had in my pantry and my personal tastes. If you'd like to see the original recipe, go here. It got rave reviews from the men in our house, which means it's a keeper. :-)

TACO PASTA

Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef (I used precooked hamburger from my freezer)
1- 6 oz. can tomato paste
15 oz. can pinto beans (original recipe calls for kidney beans, I think pinto beans are more "mexican" and it's what I had on hand)
1 pgk. taco seasoning (orginal recipe uses various spices, this was easier for me)
2 cups uncooked rotini pasta (I used whole grain pasta)
1 c. frozen corn (I used the last of a bag of corn I had on hand. You could substitute 1 can of corn)

1-2 cups shredded cheese (optional, I skipped this)

Directions
1. In large skillet, brown ground beef. Drain and return to skillet. Skip this step if you are using pre-cooked hamburger.
2. Add tomato paste plus 2 cans worth of water to the ground beef. Stir until paste becomes tomato-y sauce. Add drained and rinsed beans. Add corn. Add taco seasoning. Stir through and let simmer for 4-5 minutes until hot.
3. Add 2 cups uncooked pasta with 2 cups of water to the meat mixture. Cover and cook over medium high heat for 10-12 minutes, or until pasta has cooked through. Stir a few times while pasta is cooking.
4. Top with cheese if desired.

Peach Quesadillas

I forgot the photo and this was supposed to be posted mid-summer when peaches were in season.

8 tortillas
2 large peaches, peeled and thinly sliced
2 sweet onions
2 cups shredded gouda cheese (though I intend to try other cheeses)
Tablespoon olive oil
Olive oil cooking spray

Thinly slice onions. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions.
Divide onions, peaches, and cheese evenly between tortillas; put on one side.
Cook quesadillas in a skillet coated with cooking spray. Fold in half after 1-2 minutes and then flip. Sides should be golden brown. Cut into several sections.

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

I tried this recipe for the first time last week and it is a keeper.

Ingredients
1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Optional Garnishes:
Corn chips, fresh diced avocado, sour cream, shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese.

Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.

Notes: I used mild enchilada sauce and went on the low side of chili powder. You can spice this up by going to medium or hot. I also used some of my frozen, chopped chicken breast from my freezer stash. Talk about making this meal super easy to assemble! As usual, I assembled this is my crock pot the night before. Since I don't have a large crock pot, I guess measured the chicken, corn and water so that it wouldn't be overfull. I garnished with all of the above suggested garnishes.

Adapted from Allrecipes.com.

Fajitas! I Just Made Some Easy Fa-jiiiiiiiiiii-tas!

You know you want to belt that out to the tune of "Maria" from West Side Story.

In the summer, I put all my baking recipes away and start using my giant 12" high sides nonstick pan. You can make a lot of things in a pan like this and it's easy to clean up!

Fajitas are great because you can use up veggies that have been hanging around in your fridge, or just buy whatever is on sale. I usually use some combination of onions and bell peppers, and you can also throw in mushrooms, zucchini, summer squash, or whatever other vegetables you need to sneak in and use up. I used up a leftover steak and some purple cabbage with my onions and peppers in the above-pictured meal.

Easy Leftover-User-Upper Fajitas
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon oil
1 onion, chopped in half and then into eighths.
2 bell peppers (of whatever color), again, halved lengthwise and chopped into fat strips.
You can stop there. Or you can add another cup of chopped veggies.

2 pieces of leftover grilled chicken or steak, sliced. Or two steaks or boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces. Or skip it altogether.

Seasoning:
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspooons cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt (I use less)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more...)
If you have cilantro lying around, chopped up (because you're making guacamole or something), you can toss some in as well.

Directions

1. Mix together seasoning ingredients in a small bowl.

2. Heat oil in large pan. Add vegetables and stir fry to nearly desired doneness over medium-high heat.

3. If you're making this meatless or using raw meat, skip this step. If you're using leftover meat, add it to the pan now - you're just warming it up.

4. Sprinkle about 2/3rds of the seasoning over the vegetables (and meat), and add about a 1/4 cup of water. Stir to evenly coat and let the water evaporate. Taste it and see if you want to add more seasoning. If you do, repeat step three with the rest of the seasoning!

5. If you're carnivorous, and using raw meat, take the veggies out of the pan, stir fry the meat, and repeat step three with the remaining 1/3 of seasoning. You can serve the meat separately or combine it with the vegetables.

Serve with shredded cheddar cheese (I know, it technically isn't done - but it's GOOD!), sour cream, and guacamole in burrito shells. And lime slices, if you're fancy!

For Jack (my 18 month old), I skip the burrito shell, cut everything up a little more, mix it together, and feed it to him like a casserole. When my husband saw that, he decided to eat his in a bowl without the shell too. So, gluten free option!

EASY "CHIPOTLE" GUACAMOLE (from the "Chipotle Fan" website)
2 Avocados
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (REALLY minced, if you're not into spicy)
1/4 red onion, minced
2 heaping tablespoons finely chopped cilantro (confession: I just chop it, stems and all, until there are no more leaves. And no one has died or gagged)
1/4 of a lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mash until smooth. Add additional lime juice or salt to taste.

Disclaimer: I'm originally from Minnesota. And Minnesotans voted Taco Bell their third favorite Mexican restaurant (I can't find the link, but it was in City Pages in 2007 or so). So that may explain some things.

Easy Enchilada Sauce

Ben is allergic to soy and I've discovered that most premaid enchilada sauces have soybean oil. Recently I found this recipe in Cooking Lightmade some adjustments and discovered an easy recipe. It is yummy!

1 t olive oil
1/2 C diced red onion
1 t minced garlic
1/2 C vegetable broth
1 T chili powder
1 T honey
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t salt
28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Heat in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in everything else. Reduce heat; simmer 30 minutes. Yields 3 cups. (We used it to feed 6 people.)

I made some yummy black bean, corn, and zucchini enchiladas but the sauce would go well with chicken or onion/sour cream enchiladas.

Meatless tacos

This one is very simple, very nutritious, and very cheap. We've served it in taco shells or tortilla rounds, and topped with cheese, salsa, and sour cream (which, okay, will bring the cost of the meal up a bit - but still less than if you were using ground beef to start with!)

Taco Style Lentils & Rice
3/4 cup dry lentils
3/4 cup brown rice
4 cups water
4 beef bouillon cubes*
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
*(I just used a few teaspoons of bouillon powder because it's always going on sale at Walgreens. In fact, I bet you could use the seasoning packet from a bag of ramen noodles, too.)

In a 2-quart saucepan bring the water to a boil. As the water is heating, add the lentils, rice, bouillon, chili powder, cumin, onion powder, and garlic powder. Bring the whole thing to a nice fat boil. Reduce the heat to low. Place a lid on the lentils and allow the mixture to simmer for about 45 to 50 minutes. The water should be mostly absorbed.

This recipe also came from Miss Maggie's Hillbilly Housewife.

Enchiladas

Last night I was at the grocery store trying to figure out what to get for dinner (our fridge and cabinets are VERY empty right now) when suddenly I was inspired by the mexican food aisle to make enchiladas. After all our traveling and fast food lately, Nathan was very happy to actually eat a hot, home made meal. :-)

For those of you who like to wing it in the kitchen, here is the way I fix my enchiladas. (As learned from my sister in law) Adapt to your taste and spice level. This makes 6 large enchiladas last night in a 9x13 pan.

In a large skillet (enough to hold all the filling) brown 1lb. ground beef. Drain. Add 1 can refried beans and some salsa (about 1 c.) to taste. Mix well.

Lightly grease 9x13 pan. Pour some enchilada sauce over bottom of pan. I use the El Paso brand canned sauce.

On the side assemble your enchiladas as follows in the large flour shells: Meat & Bean mixture, a few diced fresh tomatoes, light sprinkle of cheddar cheese. Roll and place folded side down in pan. Repeat until pan is full.

Pour remaining enchilada sauce over top. I used 2 cans total for one pan. Sprinkle diced tomatoes, cheddar cheese and black olives over top as desired. Bake in oven at 350 until hot and cheese is melted. (About 20+ minutes.)

Summer Quesadillas

I recently did this to make a dinner out of peaches and they were a hit.

Slice peaches and add some chives and a TINY bit of brown of sugar. Add this and feta or goat cheese to tortillas and let them heat in a pan or the oven for a few minutes. They are great with a sauce of honey, lime juice, and a little lime rind peel (lemon or orange works fine too).

Mexican Corn and Bean Soup

While this is not the exact recipe that Sarah is looking for, we had it for dinner last week and it was very good. As with any soup, you could add in any extra vegetables you have on hand and just make more broth. The benefit to this recipe is that it is FAST. Great for coming home from work and having something ready 20 minutes later.

2 t olive oil
1/2 C chopped onion
1 t ground cumin
1 t minced garlic (the bottled kind or fresh)
1/2 t dried oregano
1 C frozen whole-kernel corn
1/2 t black pepper
1 - 14 oz can chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
1 - 15 oz can black beans, drained
1 - 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
Lime slices (optional)
Cilantro (optional)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, cumin, garlic and oregano; saute 1 1/2 minutes. Stir in corn, pepper, broth, beans, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes. Serve with lime slices and top with cilantro if desired. Serves 2-3.