Burritos: Now and Later

I am the worst at eating breakfast in the morning. I usually wake up between 6:30 and 7 and work on Macheesmo for a few hours before heading to work. Some days I eat an apple. Some days I forget entirely. And yes I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

So I’ve been trying to find creative ways to eat reasonably healthy things in the morning that are also fast to make. It doesn’t help my little problem that I really dislike cereal.

What I do like though, is breakfast burritos! A few weekends ago, I made enough burritos to last me a week and had some for dinner also.

Nothing fancy about it.

Since I’ve been trying to eat less meat these days, I decided to use spicy rice and beans as my base for the burritos. This is my quick take on rice and beans. It is far from the traditional variety, but produces a pretty solid result and is also relatively fast.

Quick and Easy Rice and Beans

- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 Cup long grain rice
- 2 cans black beans (Feel free to use dried if you want)
- Salt and Pepper
- Spice options: Cumin, Paprika, Chili powder, Cayenne, go crazy!

Start by sauteing your onions in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Once they are sweating a bit, add in your rice and stir, kind of like making a risotto. As you can see, I added a knob of butter because why not?

Almost risotto.

After that cooks for a second, add your two cans of beans (drained!) and 3 cups of water and whatever spices you want to start with. You can always add more later remember. Stir to combine everything, cover with a lid and let simmer for 20-30 minutes depending on your rice.

You’ll end up with this lovely dish that honestly I can eat by itself. You could definitely add some tomato or peppers to this if that is your thing.

Rice and beans isn't hard.

Even with this lovely rice and bean mixture, a breakfast burrito is not a breakfast burrito without eggs!

Runny eggs are what you want for frozen burritos.

Knowing that I’m going to microwave these guys ultimately, I undercooked my eggs. They will finish cooking in the microwave without a problem.

I tried these with wheat tortillas which honestly aren’t my favorite because they are more difficult to roll up. That’s me trying to be all healthy… If you throw them in the microwave (or in a warm oven) for a few seconds they will soften up and be easier to roll.

Then stack them high with the goods!

Breakfast variety

I kept these pretty plain: rice and beans, eggs, cheese. That said, I encourage creativity. I’m pretty sure anything under the sun can be good in a burrito. Go wild.

I use the double-ended method of rolling burritos which locks in both sides. Fold two ends over and then turn the burrito 90 degrees and roll it up!

Get it?

When freezing stuff like this, I like to double wrap them. That means wrapping them once in plastic wrap or sandwich sized bags…

One down. A bunch to go.

And then wrapping all the individual ones together in a larger bag. Try to get out as much air as you can. If you have one of those nifty vacuum-pack things, more power to ya.

Ready to freeze.

What’s nice about using the sandwich bags is that you can re-use all of them. A little easier on your pocket book and on Mother Earth.

Making breakfast for a week made me hungry. I made four burritos for dinner and replaced the eggs with salsa. I put them on a baking sheet and covered them with cheese because I had to counter-act the health gain from the wheat tortilla.

The dinner variety.

Baked them for a few minutes just to melt the cheese and served them with more salsa, guacamole, and Greek yogurt. It’s a fantastic substitute for sour cream.

Gotta love easy Tex-Mex!

I think I can get on board with this breakfast thing if I keep making stuff like this. I must admit I felt a lot more energized in the morning hours which isn’t surprising. This was just a test run. Next time I think I’m going to make like 40 because I have an empty freezer. I might as well fill it up with something delicious.

Anybody else have any fast breakfast tips that aren’t cereal related?