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.

Chicken Breakfast Sausage (Organic)

So I'm in the mode of trying to make things easier for myself. I am trying my hand at cooking and freezing individual servings of meals for everyone. Since everyone in my family works different hours and you never know when anyone will be home or hungry. I thought I would try and get some meals frozen and easy to grab. In the next year our life is going to get even busier and more hectic so this is a good time to get in the habit of once or twice a month doing a major cook and freeze.
My first attempt was bean burgers and buns. So we will see how those work. Next is for breakfast. Im going to make egg,cheese, sausage biscuits and again freeze them. I have already posted a good breakfast sausage recipe on here. I wanted to try and use just organic chicken breast (as organic pork is VERY expensive.) So this morning I whipped these sausage patties up and they are the BOMB DIGGITY if I do say so myself. So if you are looking for a good, healthy and lean breakfast sausage that tastes like breakfast sausage give these a try.
NOTE: I have one of those FoodSavor machines (I call it the sucky thing) and I am freezing the servings first on trays and then transferring them to the bags and sucky thinging them. You get what I am saying. Then into my deep freeze they go for the "Mom, is there anything to eat" times or "Mom, I'm hungry" times. I'm ready. Bring on the starving adult men in my life.
Here is what I did:

2 lbs boneless skinless organic chicken breasts (it was 2 chicken breasts), cleaned, cut into chunks and processed in food processor till is is smooth. Not pasty but well ground up. No chunks left.
Place in a bowl. In a small bowl mix the following dried seasonings (most but not all my seasonings are also organic.)The seasoning are really to taste. So play with them if this isn't quite to your liking.
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp dried. ground sage
1 tsp. dried savory
1/8 tsp. nutmeg (heaping )
1 tsp. dried marjoram
1 tsp. brown sugar (you could add more. I just don't like a sweet sausage)
1]2 tsp. red pepper flakes

 Pour over the ground chicken and blend, blend, blend (I used my hands. They were clean!) Now after you are sure its all blended together well. Take a pinch of the meat mixture out and fry it in a skillet and give it a taste for seasoning. Make sure it is to your liking. If not then now is the time to adjust the seasonings. It was fine as is for me.  I took two pieces of wax paper and sprayed them lightly with cooking spray (so the chicken wouldn't stick to the wax paper.) I  placed the chicken sausage mix between the wax paper and flattened it out till it looked as thick as I wanted. I then used the same size biscuit cutter as I am using to make the biscuits that these will go on and cut out rounds of sausage. I got 18. Mine weren't super thick patties. I then added just a couple drops of  grapeseed oil to my hot pan and fried the chicken sausage for about 3 minutes per side and placed on paper towels to drain. I did continue to add the oil as needed.Too much oil and you won't get that sausage look on the surface of the patties (if that is important.) I'm very pleased with how these turned out and will be making them again. They taste great. They hit that breakfast sausage spot in taste and they are guilt free as they are lean and organic. Can't beat that.

Enjoy!

No Bake Chocolate Walnut Bars

My husband and sons love, love, loves these. They are a great grab and go. If you have a sweet tooth, these will hit the spot.  They are pretty easy to make and work great for us.

Here is what I do:
1/2 Cup raw unfiltered organic honey
1/4 Cup organic cold pressed coconut oil
1/4 Cup almond butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Cup chopped walnuts or half cup walnuts and half cup almonds chopped
1/2 Cup raw organic cocoa nibs (you can use chocolate chips if you want. We just don't want the added sugar. Cocoa nibs keeps it healthier.)
1/4 Cup sunflower seeds
1/4 Cup pepitas ( raw shelled pumpkin seeds)
1/4 Cup dried goji berries (I sit and cut them in half. You don't have to but I like them smaller)
1 Cup organic rolled oats

Place walnuts, cocoa nibs, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, goji berries and rolled oats into a large bowl. Mix and set aside.
Oil an 8x8 baking dish and set aside.
In a saute pan set over med-low heat add the honey, coconut oil, almond butter, salt and cinnamon. Bring to a boil over med heat and let boil about two minutes stirring constantly. This will be your tried and true work. If you boil it long enough the bars will not get soft and messy when eating them room temperature. If you don't boil it long enough they will be a bit gooey. Not big deal. You will figure out what the right amount of time to boil the mixture for is. After the two minutes remove from the heat and add the vanilla and stir well.
Pour over dry ingredients and stir well to combine (I use a rubber spatula for this. It seems to work best and everything doesn't stick to it.)
Pour into prepared baking dish and press everything in tight. Place in refrigerator for two hours. Take out and cut into 12 bars. I them wrap them individually in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator. They will soften some as they warm up while you eat them. Sticky and delicious. 

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I originally found this recipe in Pillsbury Healthy Baking Cookbook. I will list the original recipe which is lower in fat etc.... then list the one that I also make that is a little higher in sugar and fat. That way you can choose which you want to make. They are both good.


Low Fat version:
2 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 Cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 Cup chocolate chips (mini chips work great too)
3/4 Cup 2% milk
3 Tbl. oil
1 egg, beaten

Topping for muffins (optional)
3 Tbl. sugar
2 Tbl. brown sugar

Heat oven to 400. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners. In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder,salt, and chocolate chips. Mix well. In small bowl, combine milk, oil, and egg, blend well. Add  dry ingredients to wet and stir till just combined. Divide into paper lined muffin cups. Mix the brown sugar and white sugar together and sprinkle on top of the muffins before baking (this is optional. Sometimes I do and a lot of the time I forget.) Bake 18-23 minutes.

Less healthy version: It is not much different. More sugar and usually whole milk.

2 Cups all purpose flour
1 Cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 Cup (or more) chocolate chips. Minis work great.)
1 Cup milk
3 Tbl. oil
1 egg beaten

follow directions above and add sugar topping if you want.

Sunrise Punch

I love Pioneer Woman. Nuff said. I watched her show every week while it was on The Food Network. I was so excited. I don't know what that says about me. I'm easily pleased? My Mom may tell you thats not true. But!.......this punch pleases me. Pioneer Woman made this on one of her shows. Oh my goodness is this good. I want to share it with you. We make it often and I can drink the whole pitcher of it by myself. You will be happy if you try this. I make it for breakfast when we are having something savory to eat. Just sets right with all that yummy bacon and eggs. Give it a try.

Sunrise Punch

2 Cups orange juice

2 Cups pineapple juice

2 Cups whole milk

1/2 Cup powdered sugar

2 Tbl. meringue powder (Wiltons is easy to find. Walmart has it in the cake decorating area. Hobby Lobby, Michaels etc.... all carry it.)

2 tsp. vanilla

ice

(Now this makes a full blender full. The meringue powder really froths this. Watch for over flow in your blender.)

Add the orange juice, pineapple juice, milk, sugar, meringue powder and vanilla extract to a blender. Fill the rest of the blender with ice and blend!

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

I love the taste of breakfast sausage. I don't love the nasty junk in breakfast sausage. So just like grinding my own roasts to make my own hamburger meat. I have set out to make my own breakfast sausage. What I have come up with is pretty good. I'm not saying I wont tweak it more as I think this is a work in progress. This is certainly good enough to blog about. I am going to continue to hunt and try recipes as I know there is an ultimate one out there. Till then this is what we use. I make breakfast sandwiches for all my men using this sausage and of course other yummy stuff. But for now we are talking about breakfast sausage. Feel free to make it your own play with it till it tastes as you like it to. I use a mixture of pork and turkey. You can use whatever meat combo you like. I think it would taste good no matter what meat you use. So here it is.

Breakfast Sausage

2lbs. pork loin (I grind up my own meat. I cut away as much fat as I can and weigh it. The loins are always bigger than two pounds. I freeze the extra till the next time I make sausage.)

1lb. ground turkey breast

2 tsp. salt

3  tsp. sage (if after you have everything in and you cook a small bit you think it needs more sage add more in a 1/2 tsp. at a time amounts tasting after each addition. Just fry small little bites to taste for correct seasoning.)

1 1/2 tsp. savory

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp. marjoram

1 tsp. pepper

4 tsp. brown sugar (this is optional. I don't always add it. Some like a little maple syrup in theirs. What works for you.)

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

After grinding my pork loin I place it in a bowl with the ground turkey breast and all the seasoning. With my hands I blend it till it is all mixed together. I pinch off a piece and fry it to taste for seasoning. If it is good then I make patties and flash freeze them (place on cookie sheet with wax paper on it and put in freezer till frozen. I place them in a large zip lock bags in layers with wax paper in between and keep in the freezer. I take out as many as I need and fry them up. Sometimes I will put just a drop of oil in the pan as these are very lean and have no fat for frying. They are very good. Enjoy.

Potato Basil Frittata served with Orange Yogurt with Granola

I generally don't like breakfast casseroles. This is the exception to that rule. I love love love this. It is adapted from a recipe by the Barefoot Contessa on Food Network. I make her orange yogurt topped with granola to go with it.

Lets start with the frittata.

Potato and Basil Frittata

8 Tbl. unsalted butter, divided

2 Cups peeled and 1/2" diced boiling potatoes (about 4 potatoes)

8 Extra large eggs

15oz. ricotta cheese

3/4 pound Gruyere cheese, grated

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper

3/4 Cup chopped fresh basil

1/3 Cup flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

Heat oven 350. Melt 3 Tbl.  butter in pan over med-low heat. Add the potatoes and fry till cooked through, turning often, about 10-15 minutes.(I transfer the potaotes to a standard glass cake pan 13x9 that I have sprayed with non stick spray) Melt the remaining 5 Tbl. of butter in small bowl in microwave. Meanwhile, whisk eggs and stir in ricotta, gruyere, melted butter, salt and pepper, basil. Sprinkle with flour and baking powder and stir egg mixture. Pour eggs over potatoes. Place in center of oven and bake till browned and fluffy. About 50-60 minutes. It will be rounded and firm in the middle and knife will come out clean when inserted. Serve hot.

This is so good. I start it the day before I'm going to serve it. It is a great fresh taste with the rich Potato Basil Frittata. I purchase bulk granola with honey and almonds to serve on top. The recipe calls for raisins and walnuts. I don't use the raisins because I don't like raisins. I don't use the Walnuts becasue my kids don't like the nuts in the yogurt. So I serve chopped walnuts on top and the granola for those so inclined.

Orange Yogurt

1 quart low-fat plain yogurt

1/4 Cup raisins (I don't use these but they are part of the original recipe)

1/4 Cup chopped walnuts ( I serve these on the side)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 Cup honey

1 orange zested, zest minced

1/2-1 Cup fresh orange juice (I have used frozen orange juice made according to directions if the fresh orange juice is bitter or not sweet enough.)

Line a sieve with cheese cloth and suspend it over a bowl. Pour yogurt into sieve and cover with the cheese cloth ends. Allow to drain for 3 hours to over night in the fridge. 

Place thickened yogurt into a bowl (pour the drained liquid out) and add raisins, walnuts (if using), and vanilla, honey and zest. Stir to combine. Add the orange juice until it is the desired thickness. Serve with granola sprinkled on top.

Chocolate and Biscuits. What did you say? Yes, I said Chocolate and Biscuits. Its whats for breakfast.

When I was a little girl. Every Saturday morning we would congregate at my Grandmother's house for breakfast. She would make Chocolate and Biscuits with loads of fried bacon. Now the history of this dish in my family was that is was a poor mans way of using cold biscuits from dinner the night before. They would reheat the biscuits and make a chocolate (gravy) for the top. We of course just thought we were eating the best kid food in the world. Little did we know that it actually had a beginning as poor folks food. I haven't met a lot of people who are familiar with it. I have on occasion found people who have had it. Mostly I think it is a southern dish. I don't think I have ever met anyone who has had it that was from anywhere outside of the south. It is an important family food. It has warm childhood memories wrapped around it. Us kids sitting and watching Saturday morning cartoons while the adults sat at the table in the kitchen. The smell of bacon in the air and warm biscuits, and coffee. Then the yummy chocolate smell floating through the air. That's when we kids came running. It has become a family tradition that anyone marrying into our family had to try Chocolate and Biscuits and they had to like it. If they didn't like it they couldn't be part of our family. In our family if you didn't like chocolate and biscuits you would find a crowd of people looking at you like you had two heads. Your either in or your out, and it all weighed on chocolate and biscuits.

I'm listing the recipe along with a simple biscuit recipe in case you need one. Homemade biscuits are very easy to make. It would be a shame not to put this yummy stuff on a nice warm, fluffy home made biscuit.

The proportions for the chocolate are for 6 cups. This is a lot. It is what I make for my huge family. You can scale it down. This is also on the sweet side. I have made this by sight most my adult life. So there were times that the sugar was heavier and there were times that it wasn't. Of course that would also cause the bitterness of the chocolate flavor to vary. This is sweet and yummy. If it is too sweet then just use a little less sugar. Measuring by sight meant there have been times when it never came out the same twice. It has  always been yummy for us chocoholics. But now I have it down to measurements just for you.
After I put the biscuits in the oven is when I start cooking the chocolate. It only takes a few minutes for this to heat  up and thicken. I usually measure out the chocolate mix and water so that its ready to put over heat. Then I set it aside and make the biscuits. When the biscuits are put in the oven I start cooking the chocolate. This way everything times out pretty closely. I also have my bacon already cooked and just pop it in the microwave to heat it up after I get everything ready.
Chocolate:
11/4 Cups all purpose flour
3/4  Cup cocoa
2 Cups sugar
6 Cups water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbl. butter
In a saucepan put in the flour, cocoa, sugar. Mix it together. It should taste sweet with maybe just an ever so light bitter chocolate taste at the end. Add the water and with a whisk mix it together. Place on med heat and stir constantly (with the whisk, this helps it not lump up after it starts to get thick) till it is a thick gravy consistency. Turn off the heat and add the vanilla and the butter. Mix well.
Now take a hot biscuit and split it open. Put butter on each piece and then top with the chocolate. Serve with loads of bacon. YUMMY!

Simple Biscuits: Now I triple this recipe for my family.
2 Cups all purpose flour sifted
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/3 Cup Criso
3/4 Cup milk
preheat oven 425 degrees. In bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the crisco until mixture resembles course meal. Add milk, stir until blended. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface. Knead 8-10 times. Roll dough out (I just use my hands to flatten the dough out till it is about 1 inch thick.) till its 1/2 inch thick. Cut with floured biscuit cutter. I use biscuits cutters now, but for years I just used a glass to cut the rounds out. Bake on ungreased baking sheet for 12-15 minutes. How many biscuits you get depends on how thick your dough is and how big the biscuit rounds are. Like anything practice makes perfect. Don't give up. Like anything you will get better with time if they aren't perfect the first few times.
This is a very simple go to biscuit recipe.

I will also tell you we have this for breakfast and dinner as well. My grown children's eyes still light up when they know I'm making Chocolate and Biscuits. My kids are the 4th generation in my family to enjoy this wonderful meal.