Macheesmo

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.

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.

Frozen Burritos

by Nick

Serves:

10 burritos

Prep Time:

30 mins

Total Time:

1 hr

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How I make frozen burritos in bulk at home.

Ingredients

10 burrito-sized flour tortillas

10 eggs, scrambled

8-10 ounces cheddar cheese, grated

Quick and Easy Rice and Beans:

1/2 onion, diced

1 Cup long grain rice

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Spice options: Cumin, Paprika, Chili powder, Cayenne, go crazy!

Instructions

1) For rice and beans, add olive oil to a large heavy pot over medium heat. Once hot, add diced onion and cook until soft, about 6 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.

2) When onion is cooked, add in rice, black beans, and tomatoes. Add 2 cups of water also. Turn heat down to low, cover the pot with a lid and let cook for about 15 minutes. Then remove from heat and let the rice and beans steam for 10 minutes. Then remove lid and fluff with a fork.

To Make burritos: Divide eggs, rice and beans, and cheese between burritos. Roll them up and then double wrap them for freezing. I like to wrap them once in plastic wrap or foil and then store all of the individually wrapped burritos in freezer-safe bags.

You can reheat burritos in the oven for 25-30 minutes or in the microwave. I prefer the oven method just because the tortillas get crispy.

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?

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.  If you’re using diced tomatoes, you’ll need less water because of the liquid from the tomatoes so go with 2 cups of added water. You can always add more later remember. Stir to combine everything, cover with a lid and let simmer for about 15 minutes minutes depending on your rice.

You’ll end up with this lovely dish that honestly I can eat by itself.

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

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!

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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?