Breakfast Burrito Bonanza!

Every morning you run out the door and the last thing on your mind is stopping to make breakfast. Maybe you grab a bagel and stuff it in your mouth wishing for something with a little more flavor and perhaps a little healthier for you. Well I have the solution! The home made frozen breakfast burrito! You can put whatever strikes your fancy into these little guys. Just make sure your ingredients are dry or when you reheat your burrito it gets kinda soggy. You can make as many of these as you want at a time. I made a dozen of them this time and for that I used:

1 dozen eggs

12 burrito shells

1 pack lean turkey bacon

1 can black beans

Grated cheddar cheese

Salsa

Rinse and drain your beans well. Chop the bacon and cook well. Cook your eggs, but just before they really start firming up add in the turkey bacon and black beans and mix together. Cook your eggs all the way through (or burrito will be soggy!). Let the egg mixture cool all the way.

Now take your shells (I used whole wheat this time) and put a ½ cup of your egg mix in the middle, top with some salsa and cheese, fold up tight!

The important part to making these is really in how you freeze them. Place them on the freezer shelf, or on your cookie cooling rack, in a single layer with nothing covering them. Freeze them solid (takes maybe 2 hours). Then once they are solid you can store them in a big ziplock bag. When I need to take one with me I just take it out and put in a smaller ziplock in my lunchbox. Now to reheat wrap the burrito in paper towels and microwave for about 2 minutes. Tada! Insta-breakfast!

Berry Tasty Muffins!

I love a good muffin for breakfast and my favorites are filled with berries! In the summer I use fresh berries but in the winter frozen will do. This time I made them with frozen strawberries and this I do not recommend! The strawberries never quite get dry enough so you end up with soggy muffins. Try using frozen raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries as they work much better! Just make sure they are fully defrosted and let them sit for a while to dry out as much as possible. The less water on them the better! The recipe I use for muffins comes from my McCall's cookbook from 1963. I highly recommend finding some of these old cookbooks at book sales as they have lots of useful information and they come from a time before pre-made everything. So what you find in here is simple ingredients and good recipes.

Perfect Muffins
2c all purpose flour
1/4 sugar
3tsp baking powder
1/2tsp salt
1c milk
1/3c salad oil or melted shortening
1 egg (slightly beaten)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Take your muffin pan and either grease the cups or place paper liners in them. You will get about a dozen muffins from this recipe.
Mix your flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl.

Add your well drained berries to your dry ingredients and mix together. In another bowl put your milk, oil, and egg and mix together well. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in your milk mixture.

Stir quickly with a fork until just mixed (your batter will be lumpy). Fill your muffin cups until just more the half full. Now bake for 20-25 minutes and you're done! These are great to take to breakfast with you or if you just want a quick snack.

How to make delicious pancakes...

...And make people love you.

The fiance and I have Pancake Sunday every week. It used to be Cinnamon Roll Sunday, but they are just too packaged and processed for us to buy.

NOW, before we start, let's talk spatulas! Unfortunately, you get what you pay for. This baby cost me sixteen bucks, but let me tell you why it is so great. Silicone or plastic is easier to get under your cake than metal. Metal doesn't bend or warp (as much) over repeated use/dishwashing. This one is a metal spatula with silicone on the outside! WORTH THE MONEY! If you are going to make flip-necessary food, invest in a good spatula!



Step the First: Ingredients!



1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk or sour milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick of butter (we won't use all of it)
1/3 - 1/2 cup pecans (optional)

Step 2: If you don't have buttermilk, start by making yourself some sour milk. Measure out 1 1/4 cups of milk and add a tablespoon of white vinegar. Let it sit on the counter for ten minutes and get all gloopy and gross. The reason I tell you to use less milk than buttermilk is because buttermilk tends to be a lot thicker and make a thicker batter than plain milk.

Step 3: Grab a large frying pan. If we were a super fancy blog, we would tell you to pull out a saute pan. But in my house, it is a frying pan. Be sure to put it on the range at medium-high heat so it's nice and hot BEFORE you start trying to put pancakes on there. This way you'll have pancakes that are consistently cooked throughout all the batches.

Step 4: Using a whisk or fork, beat eggs until smooth.


Step 5: Add 1 cup of the milk and the vanilla and whisk that in until combined.


Step 6: Add dry ingredients and beat in. For the love of Pete, do not overbeat this. A few small lumps here and there are totally okay in pancakes.


Step 7: Take a look at your batter. It's probably too thick, so slowly whisk in the remaining milk until it looks to be the right consistency, like a slightly too-thin cake batter. You may need to add a little more than called for. The reason the batter should be so thin is to get a nice evenly cooked pancake. Not to mention that if you have kids, you can do what my mom did when my brother and I were munchkins; make freehand pancake shapes. Pumpkins, apples, and round little baby chicks were our favorites! Here's how it should look:


Step 8: Butter! Use about this much:


Step 9: Gently pour 1/3 cup of the batter into the pan. It'll make a 4" - 5" pancake. If you are using pecans (or blueberries, or grated apple, or CHOCOLATE CHIPS) sprinkle them on now.


Step 10: Watch for bubbles. When there are some nice-looking bubbles happening, and the edge is golden-brown...flip!



Step 11: Serve with a big glob of butter and whatever other toppings you like.


Step 12: Bask in the compliments of your family and friends.