Make-Your-Own Breakfast Burritos

In the sweet, sweet summertime, it seems like so many of my blog recipes are from the lake. With a busy schedule at home, it’s easy to turn to trusted and true recipes on weeknights – which means my new, fun recipes sometimes have to wait until we’re with the in-laws at their lake house.

I’ve been wanting to try make-your-own breakfast burritos for YEARS! I first had them at a conference for work in San Antonio, TX in 2009. I remember walking up to their continental breakfast table, seeing dozens of ingredients laid out, and thinking – this is such an awesome idea!

Since then, I’ve considered making them for New Years Day breakfast with friends, but we always opt for bagels or something easy instead. I’ve considered making them for a special breakfast for Brett, but with only 2 of us, it would be a waste of food.

So, as always…lake time to the rescue. Memorial Day weekend was the perfect opportunity to make these, with 5 grown adults needing breakfast. These are fun, so filling, and make a nice presentation.

Make-Your-Own Breakfast Burritos – no recipe source
Measurements below for 6-7 people

1 lb ground pork breakfast sausage
1-2 green bell peppers, diced
1 medium onion, diced
8 eggs
1 small bag frozen hashbrowns (shoestring or cubed)
10-12 flour burrito-sized tortillas
pico de gallo or salsa
chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
tabasco sauce (optional)
2 C shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 C milk
salt, pepper
olive oil

1. Brown sausage; drain grease. On a large cookie sheet, place browned sausage to one side, and set in a warm oven. Cook hashbrowns according to directions. When finished, place on cookie sheet and return to warm oven.

2. In 2 TBS olive oil, saute green peppers and onion until onion is translucent and peppers are tender. Place on cookie sheet and return to warm oven.

3. Mix eggs, milk, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Scramble. When finished, place on cookie sheet.

4. Warm tortillas. Lay out all ingredients, and place salsa/cilantro/cheese in small bowls.

5. Make your own burritos by putting ingredients in each tortilla. Wrap up and eat!

Red Beans & Rice

Lately I’ve been craving some SPICE! Spicy salsa, spicy snacks, spicy Cajun and Asian and Thai….oh my!

This recipe satisfies that craving and is very “back-to-the-basics.” Basic ingredients and basic prep, although the final dish is so NOT basic. The end product is very filling and healthy, fed us for 3 nights, and packs tons of flavor. What’s not to love?

I used smoked turkey sausage in lieu of the andouille to make this a bit less fattening and the flavor didn’t suffer. Or if it did, we didn’t know about it! I was also surprised that the recipe didn’t include any tomato/sauce or paste, but apparently “authentic” red beans and rice doesn’t include any tomato-based ingredients. So, I went with the flow and loved every bite.

Enjoy!

Red Beans and Rice – adapted from Authentic Louisiana Red Beans and Rice on Allrecipes.com

4 cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3 TBS olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
4 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 TBS cajun seasoning
1 lb sausage link (andouille, smoked turkey, etc.) sliced into 1/2-inch discs
white rice (not jasmine), prepared as directed on package

In a large pot, cook onion, pepper, and celery in olive oil over med-high heat for 4-5 minutes until tender. Add garlic and cook an additional minute. Add sausage, seasoning, bay leaves and beans. Simmer for 30 minutes and remove bay leaves. Serve alongside white rice.

Red Curry Chicken

A couple years back, Kansas City finally got a Trader Joe’s.  At the time it opened, I had never been to a Trader Joe’s. I’ve now been there on several trips (sometimes with Brett’s mom, sometimes solo) and it holds a special place in my heart!

Trader Joe’s is really a vegan-/organic-/cheap wine-lover’s paradise. The products are inexpensive and unique. I generally start on one side of the store, tossing different types of chips and snack mixes into the cart. The next aisle over is my favorite: SAUCES! Oils! Canned goods!!! This is where I load up on everything from a gallon of extra virgin olive oil (for about $6) to teriyaki sauces to curries to canned crab. Canned olives, artichokes, peppers, etc. Fast forward two lanes…and we’re into the wine. Wine upon wine upon wine. Two-buck-chuck. Reds, whites…all super cheap. I came home with an entire case a few weeks back. My wine rack is happy!

This red curry chicken is a very simple dish that can easily be made with any type of bottled curry sauce. You can also use any vegetable or “addition” that you like. I originally wanted to have the green beans on the side, but made the last-minute decision to throw them into the mix. The pineapple is sweet and juicy, and one of the best things about this meal. Enjoy!

Red Curry Chicken – no recipe source

2-3 chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 can pineapple chunks, drained
3-4 handfuls of fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
11 ounce bottle of red curry simmer sauce – Trader Joe’s or similar
red pepper flakes, salt, pepper
white jasmine rice, cooked according to directions

Heat 2 TBS olive oil over med-high heat in large skillet. Cook chicken 4-5 minutes on each side until cooked through; remove from pan. Add green beans to hot pan, adding more oil if needed. Saute until green beans are bright green and crispy tender, about 8 minutes. Add remaining ingredients to pan (not rice) and return chicken to pan. Stir well. Serve chicken over cooked jasmine rice.

Cajun-Style Meatloaf

Believe it or not….here I am today with the recipe I’ve been promising!

So, as I mentioned, our SD card is broken, and I lost quite a few of my food pics. No big deal. Lucky for me, when I made this meatloaf recipe, I decided to take a picture to send to a friend, so I happened to have a back-up picture of this recipe. It’s not the best quality, but it works.

Other things that have been going on over the last 2 months which have prevented me from blogging….

-I’ve been traveling to Houston for work about every 3 weeks. Luckily my next trip isn’t for quite some time!

-Brett has been traveling to Missouri for work about every 3 weeks. So when I’m home and he’s not, I don’t cook. Instead, I buy Hot Pockets.

-I took up running and it’s sort of consuming my life, in the best way possible. But, it’s time to find a sustainable routine that allows me to run consistently, and still make home-cooked meals 2-3 times per week.

-The weather has warmed up. Meaning that nights when we we’re both home, there’s a good chance we’re grilling with the neighbors, and this doesn’t give me many new recipes to work with.

So how ’bout this meatloaf. I served this VERY flavorful, bold, and juicy meatloaf over a big pile of red mashed potatoes…and died and went to heaven. I hoped this recipe would serve us for 2 full nights (maybe even a lunch, as well) but we both loved it so much that we stuffed ourselves full and didn’t have much left over after night one. This will absolutely go onto our regular rotation.

Enjoy!

Cajun-Style Meatloaf – adapted from Cajun Style Meatloaf on Allrecipes.com

2 bay leaves, salt, pepper, cayenne, cumin
2 TBS olive oil
small onion, diced
small green bell pepper, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 TBS tabasco
1 TBS worcestershire sauce
4 oz evaporated milk
1/2 C ketchup
1.5 lb ground turkey
0.5 lb ground hot italian sausage
2 eggs
1 C dried bread crumbs

1. Combine seasonings in small bowl and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil over med/high heat, and add onion and peppers. Cook several minutes and add garlic, seasoning mix, tabasco and worcestershire sauce. Cook several more minutes until mixture starts to stick to pan, and add evaporated milk and ketchup. Cook several more minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

3. Put ground turkey, ground sausage, eggs and bread crumbs into large bowl. Using a spoon, mix well. Add vegetable/seasoning mixture and continue to mix very well. Your arm might get tired, but keep going!!! If you’re brave and the mixture has cooled down, use your hands. Remove the bay leaves.

4. Shape mixture into a loaf 1.5-inches tall and place in a 9×13 casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Increase to 400 degrees and bake an additional 35 minutes. Juices will run clear when cooked through. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.
 

Update

I’m here! I’m here!

Here’s the deal. Our SD card (you know, the little memory card containing my pretty food pictures…) broke recently. I’m not a tech-y, and the tech-y husband is so preoccupied with the yard and basement, that fixing the little SD card is low on his list. So while I do have 2-3 pending recipes to post, the pics are probably lost. Of course I could just try a new recipe, but due to multiple trips to Houston in the last 6 weeks, I can barely remember the last time I cooked a real meal. 

But, I haven’t forgotten about you guys, and I have a picture of the Cajun meatloaf (next recipe) on my iphone. Its not the best picture, but I’ll try my hardest to get that recipe posted this weekend.

Thanks for being patient with me!

Low Country Boil (aka Frogmore Stew, aka Shrimp with Potatoes and Corn)

Every so often my mother-in-law Ellen will make us a big ol’ one-pot dish that goes a little something like this:

Boil water
Add seasoning to water
Add veggies to water
Add shrimp to water
Drain, eat

I always just sort of assumed that Ellen’s combination of shrimp, potatoes and corn was something she randomly had in the fridge/pantry one day. That is, until I googled it, and realized that this is actually a very well-known combination of foods called Low Country Boil or Frogmore Stew. Real Low Country Boil also has sausage links that are cut into small pieces, but I wanted to stay true to the Walbridges’ adaptation, so I left it out.

After draining the “stew”, I poured everything onto a ginormous serving plate and dropped a half-stick butter on top. I also poured little bowls of cocktail sauce for the shrimp, and we went to town!

PS – fun tidbit – online I saw a few photos of families serving this outdoors in warm weather. Cover a picnic table with newspaper, drop everything onto the newspaper, and eat with your hands. Perfect idea for a casual, outdoor family gathering!

Low Country Boil – multiple recipe sources!

1 lb large raw frozen shrimp with tails
3-4 red potatoes, cut into cubes
6-8 frozen mini corn on the cobs
3 TBS mixed seasoning, e.g. poultry or seafood seasoning
butter, cocktail sauce

Heat large pot of water to boiling. Add seasoning. Drop in potatoes and corn and cook until tender. Remove from pan and set in large serving dish. Return water to boiling and drop shrimp into water. Boil for 2-3 minutes until pink and cooked through. Add shrimp to serving dish. Melt butter over all and serve on large plates. Cocktail sauce is for dipping the shrimp.

Spicy Goulash

Recently my best friend Aimee and I began working out together 2-3 times per week. Whether we’re on the elliptical or stretching before Pilates class, we have found ourselves with TONS of time to talk, and there’s never a quiet moment! A couple weeks back we were talking about what we had for dinner the night before, and Aimee said that she had made “goulash.”

I asked her, “Isn’t that the ground beef and veggies with noodles, in a spicy sauce?”
“Yup,” she replied.

I’m not sure what it was about “ground beef and veggies with noodles in a spicy sauce” that stuck in my head, but it gave me a craving that wouldn’t go away. It sounded like a comfort food, something I could let simmer all day and eat in PJs in front of the TV. With the option to substitute ground turkey or chicken for the beef, and the fact that there really wasn’t much fat in any of the ingredients, it was a winner.

I served this with super-crunchy, toasted Italian bread. Enjoy!

Spicy Goulash – adapted from Classic Goulash on Allrecipes.com

1 lb ground turkey, chicken or beef
1 TBS olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 C water
30 oz tomato sauce
30 oz diced tomatoes with peppers or chiles
2 TBS soy sauce
2 TBS worcestershire sauce
2 TBS dried italian seasoning
2-3 bay leaves
salt, pepper to taste
1.5 C uncooked elbow macaroni

In large stockpot, brown meat. Add oil, onion and pepper. Saute until onion and pepper are tender, about 8-10 minutes. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds. Add all ingredients through bay leaves (don’t add noodles yet!) At this point you can simmer on low heat anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours. With 20 or so minutes remaining, add dry noodles and increase heat to medium-high. You want to reach a low boil so that the noodles can cook. Noodles should be tender within 15-20 minutes. Serve with crusty bread.

Honey Mustard and Pecan-Crusted Alaskan Salmon

On occasion, I find the need to “re-set” my recipe searches and get back to the basics. I am so accustomed to searching for unique dishes that have lots of ingredients, that I often forget the “meat + starch + vegetable” option. Choose a meat and a marinade, set it atop a bed of rice or noodles, and cook a quick veggie on the side. This doesn’t need to be complicated, and it certainly isn’t expensive.

I was feeling burned-out on chicken last week and salmon sounded good. While I would normally opt for the $5 bag of frozen salmon at Wal-Mart, I decided to get a little more fancy….and bought four fresh Alaskan Salmon filets at Dillion’s for about $13. I removed the skin and marinated in the honey mustard for several hours. We LOVED the flavor of the salmon and its crunchy coating, and the dish paired perfectly with wild rice and steamed veggies. Home cooking doesn’t get much more delicious!

Honey Mustard and Pecan-Crusted Alaskan Salmon – adapted from Alaska Salmon Bake with Pecan Coating from Allrecipes.com

4 fresh Alaskan Salmon filets, skin removed
4 TBS honey mustard sauce
1/2 C bread crumbs
1/2 C chopped pecans
1 TBS dried parsley
salt, pepper, olive oil
fresh lemon wedges

Rub both sides of salmon filets with a tiny bit of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Coat both sides with honey mustard and marinate several hours in the fridge. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix bread crumbs and pecans and dried parsley. Coat both sides of salmon filet with pecan mixture, placing most of the coating on the top (not bottom) of the filet. It’s okay to be messy! Bake 10-15 minutes per inch of thickness. Salmon will flake easily when done. Serve with fresh lemon.

Sage Butter Gnocchi with Shrimp

Warning: Buttery, rich, decadent, carb-loaded recipe ahead.

Sage butter is like a long-time friend to me, and its wonderful that only two flavors are able to meld and marry so perfectly that an entire dish can be arranged around them. The last time that I made sage butter was to serve alongside salmon and baked potatoes, and it paired so well. This time, I found a Sage Butter and Gnocchi recipe online and thought that shrimp would be the perfect thing to make this a bit more wholesome.

After finishing this dish, I decided that one small thing was missing…some sort of green, chopped veggie. I think asparagus would be perfect tossed with the shrimp and gnocchi before serving.

Lastly, its worth mentioning that this dish takes less than 20 minutes, including prep time. Love it!

Sage Butter Gnocchi with Shrimp – adapted from Allrecipes.com

24 oz gnocchi (in the pasta section!)
3 TBS butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
6-8 fresh sage leaves
1/4 C shredded parmesan
1 lb raw shrimp, thawed
salt + pepper

1. In large skillet, melt butter. Add sage leaves and “fry” them in the butter for about a minute. Add garlic and saute another minute. Reduce heat to low.

2. Meanwhile, cook gnocchi as directed (should only take a few minutes.) Using a slotted spoon, transfer gnocchi to warm sage butter. Drop shrimp into the gnocchi’s cooking water and quickly bring back to a boil. Boil 2-3 minutes until shrimp are just barely done. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to gnocchi and toss well. Sprinkle with salt/pepper to taste, and parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Cookie Dough Dip

Well, my plan to post BBQ chicken legs this week didn’t happen. We did make them for our Superbowl party (2 dozen of them, actually) but things were so hectic during the actual evening that I didn’t get a photo of them on the grill, or ready to eat.

Surprise! Cookie Dough Dip to save the day (you’ll probably like this recipe better, anyway.) I first had Cookie Dough Dip at our New Year’s Eve party when one of our friends Emily brought it over. I had never heard of, seen, or tasted Cookie Dough Dip – and its always refreshing for an avid cook to realize that there are still so many awesome recipes floating around this world just waiting to be discovered. I decided that this sweet and creamy dip was the perfect dessert for our Superbowl party and couldn’t wait to whip it up!

What’s awesome to me is that this dip, despite being loaded with cream cheese (which isn’t in cookie dough!) tastes so similar to cookie dough! Serve with teddy grahams, graham crackers, or fresh fruit.

Cookie Dough Dip – from Tasty Kitchen Blog

1 stick butter
1/3 C light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 block cream cheese, very softened
1/2 C powdered sugar
3/4 C+ mini chocolate chips

Melt butter in small sauce pan. Add brown sugar and whisk while bubbling until brown sugar is melted. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Using a mixer, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar. Add butter mixture. Mix well. Fold in chocolate chips until combined. Sprinkle additional chocolate chips on top.