Breakfast Burritos for the Freeze and Heat Crowd

So I am trying to find ways to make life easier for me in the kitchen. Cooking and freezing foods that can be grabbed out of the freezer and heated up by a crowd of Sasquatches that don't think they can do anything by themselves in the kitchen.
So far I am doing ok. I have frozen individual servings of BBQ brisket. Heat up and eat on a bun. Chili, and Sloppy Joes. Each pouch has just enough for one sandwich. It is working pretty good. So now breakfast. Everyone loves breakfast burritos and so I thought that would be a great grab and heat and out the door breakfast. One problem I ran into is I made the mistake of starting them while everyone was still home. So after I got through making them for everyone to eat right away, I was left with enough to do a few to freeze. NOTE to self, do this when no one is home next time.

I would really call this a no recipe recipe. It isn't brain surgery but worked well and I thought I would put it on my blog.

Here is what I did.

1 lb. applewood smoked bacon, cut into little pieces and fried till crisp and drained on paper towels. Set aside.

Half a bag of frozen shredded hash browns. I just cooked them in a skillet enough to thaw and brown a bit but don't want them mushy. Set aside.

16 eggs

1/2-1 cup salsa

shredded cheddar cheese

Flour tortillas (we used the fajita size, they were a little small. I may try bigger tortillas next time.)

So I fried up the bacon and drained it and cleaned out the pan. I cooked the hash browns in a separate skillet and set off the burner till I needed them.  I added a little butter and mixed the eggs with a tiny bit of water and put in hot skillet and started to scramble them. When the eggs were almost done I added the bacon in and stirred mixing together. Then I turned off the heat and added the hash browns and mixed together. I then added the salsa and mixed. I chose not to layer the burritos as I figured it would be easier to eat them on the go if everything is mixed up (but not over blended where it is mush)

This is the eggs/bacon/hash browns/salsa mixture. Ready to go into the burritos. So everything is pretty cool at this point. I did warm the tortillas up to make them more pliable for rolling.

I scooped a bit onto the tortillas and topped with cheese and rolled.

I then placed them on wax paper placed on a cutting board that will fit my freezer shelf.

Don't let them touch as they will freeze together and you will break or tear the tortillas getting them apart.
I then placed them in the freezer (where they are now freezing) and will put them out in a couple hours and wrap them individually and place in bags marked with date and ingredients. I have a son who doesn't like cheese (I'm convinced he was switched at birth) so I always mark the bags. He is convinced he would die an agonizing death if he bit into anything with cheese in it.

Just take one out and wrap in a paper towel and microwave for a few minutes (the time will vary depending on YOUR microwave) and out the door you go. You can serve with extra salsa and fixings if you are inclined to. I just tried to add everything so that they can eat them on the run.

So that is my no-recipe recipe for breakfast burritos for the freeze and heat crowd.

Enjoy!

Baked Apple Cider Donuts (or Doughnuts)

Who doesn't love donuts? We think it would be so hard to make them that we never consider that it could really be easy and wonderful. I have made regular fried donuts that take hours of leavening etc... and they are wonderful but not quick and easy. These baked donuts are super quick and easy and have all the taste that makes us think of fall. I only think about making them during the fall months although they would be good anytime.
You will need donut baking pans. You can find them at most any large store. I purchased mine at an actual kitchen store but you can get them online as well. Here is what they look like.  They are made by Wilton. You might even find them at a Micheals or Hobby Lobby.

The recipe requires two pans and makes 12 donuts.

Turn oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spray tins with a little cooking spray. 

Heres what you will need:
2 Cups all purpose flour
1 Tbl. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon (now this is tricky. The original recipe called for a lot of pumpkin pie spice in this. I think it overpowered the donut. Particularly if you are using my apple butter recipe. So I add cinnamon and just a little pumpkin pie spice. You will have to determine how much you use. now if you are using plain apple sauce you will want to punch up the spice. I would add more pumpkin pie spice if using plain apple sauce. Play with it till it meets your personal tastes. That is the great thing about cooking. We make it our own.)
1/4-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Mix together in bowl and set aside.

In large bowl add:

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apple butter (recipe on this sitehttp://triedandtruerecipes-foodiekatz.blogspot.com/2015/10/spiced-apple-butter.html . You can also use store bought apple butter or even apple sauce. The spice flavor will be different but still makes a great donut.)
2 Tbl. melted butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4-1 cup apple cider (you want your batter to be the consistency of waffle batter or a thick pancake batter. It should pour but not run)

Mix everything together and then add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix. You will want to move quickly as the baking powder starts working right away.

You can do one of two things. Put the batter into a large zip lock bag and snip the corner and pipe the batter into the donut pans about 3/4 full. There is just about a perfect amount of batter for the twelve donuts. Or you can try and spoon it in. This is more messy and takes more time. Tap pans down and place in oven for 10 minutes. Check for doneness (either by pressing lightly or using a toothpick.) If done take out and let cook a couple minutes and then remove from the pan and set on a cooling rack and let cool completely.

After they have cooled completely you will then make a glaze (some like them with a little cinnamon sugar on them. I prefer a glaze.)

glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 Tbl. apple cider

In a bowl that would be good for dunking the donuts in add the powdered sugar. Then start out with
3 Tbl. of apple cider. Mix well. If too thick add a little bit more till it is the consistency you like. I like mine a little thicker so I usually only add 3 Tbl. plus a drop more maybe of the apple cider. Mix well and dunk the donuts half way in the glaze and set back on the wire rack to let the glaze set. You might place some wax paper under the rack to catch any falling glaze. Once glaze has set, store in covered container.
Enjoy!

Spiced Apple Butter

Let me say this was super easy and super delicious. The recipe is inspired by one I read on Laura Vitale's web site. The apple butter is made in a slow cooker. Makes it a no fuss, no muss recipe. I made the apple butter because it is part of the recipe for Apple Cider baked donuts. It would however be good on toast, biscuits, ice cream, pie, dirt mounds, cabbage.....you get my point.
As apple butter recipes go this one is spiced. I think it is perfect, but everyone's taste buds are different. I made one mistake when making it. The recipe calls to put it on low and cook for 8-10 hours. I put it on high and it was done in a couple hours. If you choose to do what I did then watch it close so that it doesn't scorch. With these spices it could burn to yuck easily.

Here is what your suppose to do and then what I did:

6 lbs. granny smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks and tossed into slow cooker sleeve. (You can use  a mix of granny smith and other tart/sweet apples. I would not use the red sweet apples alone. I don't care for those apples and also they would make it too sweet in my opinion.)

3/4- 1 1/2 cups sugar. (I used all granny smith so I ended up using about 1 1/4 cups of sugar. I tasted it while it was still cooking and adjusted it then.)

3/4 Cup brown sugar

1  Tbl. pumpkin pie spice (now this is a highly spiced concoction. If you are not a fan of clove then you might make your own and make adjustments or use apple pie spice. Whatever works for you. I am fine with the pre-made pumpkin pie spice in this recipe. It doesn't run over the apple in any way in my opinion.)

1/2 tsp. salt

 zest of 1/2 orange (optional)

2 tsp. real vanilla extract



place the cut up apples in the sleeve of the slow cooker and add the sugars, salt, pumpkin pie spice and orange zest (DO NOT add the vanilla yet.) Mix and place in slow cooker. Cover and turn on low and cook for 8-10 hours. This just depends on how long it takes your apples to cook down. You will want to do this right before bed as in the morning you will need to cook the apples with the lid off on high for additional 1-3 hours to thicken it. OR you can do what I did. Ok, so once the apples are cooked down take a immersion blender and blend till smooth. Add the vanilla and stir it together. Taste for sweet/tart flavor and adjust with more sugar if you need it. Turn on to high and place lid just opposit of how it would normally sit (this is just to keep the apples from bubbling and spitting all over the place as it thickens up.) and let the apple butter cook down to thicken. You can decide how thick you want it. Stir frequently to keep the spices from burning.

here is what I did:
after placing everything in the sleeve and placing in the crock pot cooker. Turn on to high and cook for about 2-3 hours. After a couple hours take lid off and stir and check and see if the apples are done. Mine were done and completely mush. I then blended them and added the vanilla. Tasted it and adjusted the sugar. Took the lid and laid it on there sideways and cooked it down stirring it often for another hour or so. Thats it.

place in a container and let it cool. Place in fridge and it will be good for a few weeks or you can even freeze it for later uses.