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.

Sunshine Shakes and other Breakfast Smoothies

When I was a teenager my family went through a phase where we would make fruit and yogurt smoothies for breakfast four days out of seven. Recently I stumbled upon the recipe we used most frequently. I don't have a photograph, but thought I'd share it here along with two others I have also enjoyed:

Sunshine Shake
Amount: 1-2 servings

Blend in blender until smooth:
1- medium orange, peeled and cut into chunks
1- medium banana, peeled
1/2 cup low fat vanilla or nonfat or low fat plain yogurt (Add honey, to taste, with plain yogurt)
1/16 tsp. cinnamon
1/16 tsp. nutmeg


Banana Raspberry Smoothie
Amount: 3 servings

1 1/2 cups Pineapple juice
1 cup vanilla yogurt (or plain sweetened with honey)
1 cup raspberries
2 ripe, medium bananas, peeled
1/2 cup of ice cubes (omit if you use frozen raspberries)

Combine pineapple juice, yogurt, raspberries, bananas and ice cubes in blender. Blend until smooth.

Berry Bonanza Smoothie
Amount: 2 servings

1 ripe banana, peeled and sliced
1 cup frozen berries (any mix of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries)
5 ice cubes (or omit and use a frozen banana instead of fresh)
* Can be sweetened with a touch of honey if too tart

Blend ingredients at high speed till smooth. Thin with a little nonfat milk if needed.

Breakfast Hash Brown Casserole

This tastes a lot better than it deserves to for how quick it is to make. I usually mix it up the night before, then put it in the oven in the morning, set the timer, and then can go exercise/feed the babies/crawl back in bed depending on how the morning is going.

Layer in ungreased 9x13 baking pan:
8 hash brown patties
1 can mushrooms, drained (or peppers would be good if you're not a fungi person)

Mix and pour over the top
2 T dried onion flakes
1 t. garlic powder
6 eggs
1/3 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
extra mushroom liquid if you want

Top with cheese, if you want.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until eggs are set in the middle.

Stuffed French Toast

This is not a low-fat recipe but it is a yummy treat.

Stuffed French Toast

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 cup chopped pecans (you could use other nuts)

At least 14 slices of bread
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 cans of fruit, any kind, I used apricot, about 15 oz each, home
canned is fine, just no melon or grapes

8 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I thought it would have been good with
almond or half vanilla and half almond, especially with the apricot, or
if you used cherries)

1/2 cup butter, melted

Open cans of fruit and drain in a strainer.

Heat butter, brown sugar and maple syrup in a microwave bowl for about
2 1/2 minutes, stir to completely melt butter and mix everything up.

Spray or butter a large pan (I should have used an 11 X 15, rather
than the 9 X 13 I did, but you can squish them tightly once they are
wet with the egg mixture). Pour the syrup in the bottom of the pan and
sprinkle with the chopped pecans.

Lay out the bread slices. Spread softened butter on one slice of
bread, top with well drained fruit (berries or pineapple can be
crushed). Spread butter on a second slice of bread and use it to cover
the bread with the fruit. Cut this sandwich in half and place it in
the pan on top of the syrup mixture. Make the rest of the bread into
sandwiches like this, cut them in half and put them in the pan. You
can crowd them, but don't overlap the bread.

Beat the eggs with the sugar, cream and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
Pour this over the bread in the pan. Press down firmly on the bread
with a metal spatula. You want to soak all the bread.

Cover the pan with plastic wrap or foil and let it stand on the
counter for about 20 minutes (or you can put it in the fridge overnight
and bake in the morning). Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Take off any plastic or foil. Melt the third stick of butter, drizzle
it over the top of the sandwiches. Bake the french toast at 375
degrees, uncovered, for about 45 minutes, or until the top has browned.
Let pan cool on a wire rack for at least 5 minutes.

Easy breakfast casserole

I found this recipe recently and have already made it four times. I halved it for our breakfasts, doubled it to serve my family, and even brought it to a baby shower (so it makes the transition from elegant to hearty!) It's easy to make, tastes great, and consists of fairly cheap ingredients. There, that's my pep talk.

Easy Breakfast Casserole

Six bread slices (I use leftover heels from the freezer)
1 lb. sausage (I use a lot less, especially if it's spicy; I also use just a smidgen of sausage, which is expensive, and mostly ground turkey)
1 cup cheese (I use less)
Six eggs
2 cups milk
Salt
Pepper

Rip up the bread slices and place in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Fry the sausage and sprinkle over the bread; sprinkle the cheese over this. (Note: at this point you could cover the dish and store it in the fridge overnight, if you wanted to save time the next morning.) Beat the eggs and milk; add salt and pepper and pour over the sausage mixture. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until hot and bubbling. Best when hot and fresh!

Breakfast Idea: Peanut Butter Parfait

My former roommate used to fix yogurt parfaits for breakfast at least once a week, usually with frozen raspberries. They were good, but out here in Ohio I encountered two problems with the concept: a) berries are more expensive out here; b) a yogurt parfait does not have enough protein for me to make it through the morning even when I'm not feeding someone else, too. I switched to banana parfaits (with homemade granola) which were much cheaper, but they were still a tad low on protein. This morning I got an idea from my favorite sandwich and created:

Peanut Butter & Banana Parfaits
1/2 c. vanilla yogurt (I can't find one with fructose sweetner out here, so I add a spoonful of honey and a dash of vanilla to plain yogurt.)
1-2 T. peanut butter

Mix together; then if you want to be fancy you can layer the mixture in an elegant glass dish with 1 chopped banana and 1 cup of granola, or if you just want to eat breakfast you dump the banana and the granola in on top and mix it all up. If you do it that way, it's not much harder than a bowl of cereal for those who like bananas in their cereal. In slightly smaller quantities, it would be a great snack or maybe even dessert. Amounts are very approximate, except for the banana.

I survived until 11:45 before I was ready to kill for lunch, so I think it had adequate staying power. Now to convince DOB that he likes it, which might be hard because he thinks peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches are gross.