Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The Spouse's Breakfast Burritos.

The Spouse and I have a strange eating arrangement. See, we lived apart for about a year* - by job choice, not marital strife - and in that time, developed "habits". The basic gist is:

  • Breakfast - me=protein shake + greens, spouse=breakfast burritos his BFF introduced him to
  • Lunch - me=left-overs from whatever I've cooked on Sunday, spouse=usually eats out
  • Dinner - me=protein shake + fruits, spouse=protein bar and a glass of OJ
It does vary - sometimes Spouse comes home and makes a sammich , sometimes I go out for lunch; sometimes we go out for dinner or decide pizza sounds delish...but generally, it's the bullet point menu above. 

The arrangement works in a few ways because Spouse works pretty late most days, so if I made a real meal for dinner, we'd be eating most nights at 8:30 p.m. or later. Plus, as mentioned in my first post, I'm less fluffy and want to stay so - as does Spouse. 

Shortly after we were living apart, Spouse's BFF, Reverend Al, came to Ohio to visit from where he lives in California, and made breakfast, which was the now ubiquitous Breakfast Burritos. Spouse loves them, he would make them on his own during our time apart but once I came back*, I started making them for him. 

Even though I think they are incredibly delicious (and I really, really do), I stick with my protein shake + greens for two reasons: 1.) I'm lazy and a shake is really easy and portable, if say I'm running late in the morning; 2:) I'm lazy and if we both ate them, I'd have to make more batches of the burritos. 

The following recipe makes 8 burritos at a time, so you could scale up or down as needed, if you wish. It takes around 30 minutes to make 8. 

My basic calculations are, that made with everything below, each burrito is approximately 326 calories.

Ingredients:
  • Foil to wrap each burrito.
  • Taco sized tortillas (not burrito sized). Spouse likes the Fiber Rich variety from Giant Eagle.
  • Package of chicken sausage. Spouse likes Al Fresco's Spicy Jalapeno which come with 4 in a package (so basically you are having 1/2 a sausage in each burrito).
  • Hot sauce of your choice, if you like it spicy. Right now, we are using CaJohn's Jalapeno Garlic Sauce, which we got at the CaJohn's shop at the North Market
  • Six eggs - farm fresh if you can
  • Your favorite kind of cheese for Mexican dishes, shredded - you'll need about 8 oz. depending on how cheesy you like them. (I don't use all 8 oz but this way, I don't feel like I have to be stingy.)
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Smoked Paprika
  • Two (2) small cans of Green Chilis. We swear by Trader Joe's New Mexico Hatch Valley Green Chilis. They have more heat than the green chilis you can get from Ortega or Old El Paso, and are meatier/less juicy. 
    • Reverend Al lived in New Mexico for more than 5 years so he's got legit cred in this area, so trust him - he's a Reverend.

Instructions:

The first thing I do is set a skillet on the stove at medium+ level so it has a chance to warm up.

Clear some counter space and lay out 8 pieces of foil, then slap one tortilla per foil piece. 


Slice the four sausages into coin sized pieces, approximately 13-15 slices per sausage. 

Lay slices of sausage in one layer in the heated skillet.

While the sausage is browning up, break the six eggs into a bowl and whisk the crap out of them until they are nice and frothy. 
 

I add water instead of milk, which makes my scrambled eggs fluffier but whatever method you prefer. Whisk some more and then set it down to chill out.

Once the sausage is browned to your taste, line up 7-8 slices on each burrito.

 With the skillet still hot, rewhisk the eggs and add them to the skillet to cook in whatever yummy juices the sausage left for you. Salt and pepper to taste.

As the eggs are cooking, add hot sauce and shredded cheese with the sausage, on the tortilla, which is on the foil piece. Again, I don't measure - I just sorta wing it. 

Once the eggs are scrambling, add a few shakes of smoked paprika and both cans of the New Mexico green chilis. Seriously, they are incredible. You will poo-poo the cans at other stores once you've tried them. Who knew one could be a green chili snob?
Let the chili peppers warm up and the smoked paprika soak in a bit and cook until the eggs are scrambled to your taste. 

When the eggs are done, take a nice wide spatula and transfer a nice load of seasoned eggs + green chilis to each tortilla. You just have to guess how much is enough but do not worry! If it's too much, you can move some to another tortilla and if it's not enough, whork some from another one. Easy peasy. 

I prefer the Chipotle method of folding to keep every tasty morsel in the tortilla. So grab the two sides and get everything nice and centered.

Fold the bottom third of the tortilla up over the burrito guts.

Then fold one side over and then the other.
 

Gently pick up the burrito and place it on an angle about 2/3 of the way down the piece of foil.

Fold the bottom part up, then the sides in, then roll it all up into a nice, tidy packet.

Repeat another seven times and poof, you have eight little tasty burritos! 
YUMMY!

Spouse nukes these puppies on 90% for a minute and let's them cool down for a few minutes before devouring them. Then he pats me on the head, since I'm the Best.Wife.Ever (or BWE). 

Again, best part, there are 8 of them which means I only have to make them once a week. Score. The hardest part is remembering to keep everything in stock but I've mostly solved it so that we get 8-10 cans of green chilis at Trader Joe's and double up on most everything else. 

Of course, I was *still* one burrito short when I had to make the latest batch. Best.Husband.Ever (or BHE) ran out to get more and in the process, bought 3 packs. Sa-weeeet! Thanks, sweetie!

So there you have it. Spouse's Breakfast Burritos. Created by Revered Al. Perfected by me - HAR! 

Smell ya later, peeps.

*-story of job related living apart to come. Just keep reading.

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