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Breakfast Burritos for the Freezer

Daddy got to pick out breakfasts this week and (surprise, surprise) he chose breakfast burritos. Technically, I’ve already posted a recipe for breakfast burritos, but we’ve changed things up a bit since we first started making these bad boys, so here’s what we do now.

Breakfast Burritos

  • 18 flour tortillas (we buy Market Pantry low-carb)
  • 18 eggs
  • 1/2 package hashbrowns
  • 2 lbs chorizo sausage (if you can find Boulder Sausage Company, you win!)
  • 1 cup or so cheese
  • salsa to serve, if desired

We realized after years of making up all the ingredients and tediously filling each burrito with each ingredient that we could do this much more efficiently if we just mixed them together in a hash. So we prepare the eggs (scrambled and mixed in with the cheese at the last mo), chorizo (browned) and hashbrowns (browned) and then mix them all together.

Once we have the hash, we line up pieces of foil on the counter and lay out the tortillas, top them with the filling and roll them up for the freezer or fridge. Don’t forget to label. The whole process took us less than an hour to make 18 burritos. That will feed Matt and the kids all week with a couple leftover for me. When you want to eat them, you can just open the burrito and nuke it for about a minute. If you want to reheat for many, place in a warmed oven right in the foil. 400 for ~30 minutes.

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Lemonade Layer Cake

Matt’s birthday always seems to get lost in the shuffle. It’s not because he’s not incredibly important to me and the kids, but because things are always going on, it seems. Graduations, Mother’s Day, etc. He also doesn’t like to make a big deal about birthdays and generally buys himself whatever he wants during the year and so he’s a pretty hard guy to find a present for.

But I always like to do SOMETHING to mark the day, even if it ends up just being a promise to spend time together in a couple of days. This year, we had a nice steak dinner planned and I thought he might like a birthday cake for dessert. Matt is very big into lemon desserts, so I found a recipe I’d pinned a while back called lemonade cake. It was lemony, light and sounded fairly doable for a weeknight. It’s also a cooking light recipe, coming in at 322 calories for 1 of 16 slices.

I grabbed the couple ingredients I lacked (a lemon, some lemonade concentrate, cream cheese and buttermilk) on the way home for work and whipped it up in pretty good time. The hardest part was getting the butter, cream cheese and lemonade concentrate softened. My west-facing front porch in the afternoon was the perfect spot to leave everything for 5 minutes and they were quite well softened.

Lemonade Cake

adapted from Cooking Light

cake:

  • 1 1/3 C sugar
  • 6 T butter, softened
  • 1 T grated lemon rind
  • 3 T thawed lemonade concentrate
  • 2 t vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 egg whites
  • 2 C all-purpose flour
  • 1 t baking powder
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1/2 t baking soda
  • 1 1/4 C fat-free buttermilk
  • Cooking spray

frosting:

  • 2 T butter, softened
  • 2 t grated lemon rind
  • 2 t thawed lemonade concentrate
  • 1/2 t vanilla extract
  • 8 oz low fat cream cheese
  • 3 1/2 C powdered sugar

To make the cake: Heat oven to 350°. Pam two 9-inch round cake pans. In the bowl of a stand mixer, place sugar, butter, lemon rind, lemonade concentrate and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs and egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; stir well with a whisk. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture and beat well after each addition.

Divide batter between prepared pans and sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare frosting, place 2 T butter, lemon rind, lemonade concentrate, vanilla extract and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, up to 3 1/2 C until desired sweetness and beat at low speed just until blended. Chill 1 hour. Frost cake as desired and serve immediately. Happy b’day to Matty!

Nannersp
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Balsamic Marinated Flank Steak

I’ve been pretty sluggish about May’s cookbook, which is Bobby Flay’s Boy Gets Grill. It has some tasty looking recipes in it, but it also leans more towards harder to find and more expensive ingredients, which I’m not against, of course, but it is harder to fit into my weekly cooking scheme. Flank steak, though, is always a good affordable treat and this recipe did NOT disappoint. The only hard part about it is that you will have to plan ahead since it takes 4-8 hours to marinate. It’s worth it though!

Balsamic Marinated Flank Steak with Spring Green Salad

adapted from Bobby Flay’s Boy Gets Grill

  • 1/2 C balsamic vinegar  + 2 T
  • 3/4 C olive oil + 3 T
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 T rosemary leaves, chopped
  • 1 1/2  to 1 3/4 lb beef flank steak
  • Salt and pepper
  • 6 C spring greens
  • 1/2 lb cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1/4 red onion very thinly sliced
  • parmesan cheese to top

Whisk together the half cup vinegar, the 3/4 C oil, the garlic and rosemary in a large dish. Add the steak and turn to coat. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and up to 8 hours, turning every 2 hours or whenever you happen to think about it.

Heat your grill to high. While it’s heating, prepare the salad. Whisk together the remaining 2 T vinegar and 3 T olive oil (I usually use much more balsamic than oil though – I like it better that way) and season with salt and pepper. Add the spring greens, tomatoes and onions and toss to coat. Top with shaved parmesan (vegetable peeler works great for shaving parmesan).

Remove the steak from the marinade and season with salt and pepper. Grill until lightly charred and kinda crusty, 4 to 5 minutes. Do not close the lid on your grill unless it is cold and/or windy. Turn steak over, reduce the heat to medium or move to a cooler part of the grill, and grill until medium-rare, 3 to 4 minutes more. If cooking a bigger steak, grill for an extra 1 to 2 minutes per side – take care  not to overcook!! Remove the steak to a cutting board and let rest for five minutes. Cut into half-inch thick slices against the grain of the meat. Serve meat alongside the salad.

 

The whole family loved this recipe, particularly our resident carnivore, Tabby. The salad was a nice light accompaniment.

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5 Spot Pancakes

Since we’re camping this weekend I thought I’d FINALLY share my favorite pancake recipe with you. This came up in a search last year when I was looking for camping recipes. We made it on our first camping trip in our pop-up and it was an instant hit. And we’ve been making it ever since. We’ve made it times other than camping as well, but I cannot imagine a camping trip without it and I’m pretty sure it will make an appearance each time we go.

When we go camping, I take the dry ingredients and measure them out and mix them up (and store them in a plastic container. I pre-measure the buttermilk into a jar and keep that in the cooler or camper fridge until ready to use. An egg and a little butter and some bananas is all that’s left – and of course some syrup. These come out super light and fluffy and amazingly tasty!

One recipe should do well for a family of four if two of the four are light eaters or small children, but any more than that and you’ll probably want a double recipe. Worst case scenario you can feed your fellow campers. I have also found it unnecessary to oil the griddle when I make these (presumably because of the butter in the batter) but if you find them sticking, obviously Pam it up.

5 Spot Pancakes (with Bananas)

adapted from Sunset Magazine

Ingredients

  • 3/4 C all-purpose flour
  • 6 T whole-wheat flour
  • 1 1/4 t baking powder
  • 3/4 t baking soda
  • 1 1/2 t sugar
  • 1/4 t salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 C buttermilk
  • About 3 T melted butter or margarine
  • 2 ripe bananas, peeled and thinly sliced or other toppings of your choice (blueberries!)

In a bowl, mix all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, whisk to blend eggs, buttermilk, and 3 tablespoons butter. Add to dry ingredients and stir just until batter is evenly moistened.

Ladle batter, 1/4 cup at a time, onto a medium-hot (350°) griddle or 10- to 12-inch nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Put 3 to 5 banana slices onto each pancake and cook until edges of the cake look dry, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn with a wide spatula and cook until browned on the bottom, 3 or 4 minutes longer. Serve pancakes immediately!

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Chicken Stirfry Lettuce Wraps

Well April is almost done and so is my fourth cookbook, Great Food Fast. I have nothing but praise for this cookbook. I loved the full-color photos of EVERY recipe. I love the organization (by season!) and I loved the food. I actually tried EIGHT recipes from this (yay, made it!) book.

and for the finale … Chicken Stirfry Lettuce Wraps. Continue reading “Chicken Stirfry Lettuce Wraps”

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Chicken Caesar Salad

I debated even posting this recipe because we strayed so far from the original in Great Food Fast that it was really more of an inspiration than a recipe we followed. The original recipe called for making your own caesar dressing. I’m all for that, but we ended up making these for lunch and somehow homemade caesar is less appealing after hanging out in the breakroom fridge for a while, so I grabbed some stuff we had in the fridge and used that instead. I also try not to keep mayo (an ingredient in the dressing) in the house. It’s an ethical thing seeing as I hate mayo. But in the end, this is a really tasty and darn quick meal and I wanted to share it because it’s something that I love but never think about making. Maybe now you’ll think to make it too.

Chicken Caesar Salad

  • 4 oz Italian or French bread cut into 3/4 inch cubes (about 4 cups)
  • 3 T olive oil
  • coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 18 – 20 oz romaine hearts
  • caesar dressing (either from a bottle or scratch – I’ll add that below)

Heat oven to 375. Place bread on a rimmed cookie sheet and drizzle with 2 T olive oil and season with S&P. Toss to coat. Bake, tossing now and then until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat remaining tablespoon of oil over high heat in a skillet. Throw in your chicken and season with S&P as desired. Cook until a bit browned on the sides, stirring now and again with a spatula, about 3-4 minutes in all. Set aside.

Prep the romaine by slicing crosswise in 1-inch ribbons. Wash and dry (spin cycle). Toss with croutons, chicken and dressing. Enjoy!

If you want to make the dressing from scratch, Great Food Fast does it this way: put 1/4 C fresh lemon juice, 1/4 C reduced fat mayo, 1/4 C grated parm, 2 anchovy fillets and 1 small garlic clove in your blender and blend until smooth. Honestly, it sounds great, even with that evil mayo and I would love to try it next time.

This was also a great way to use up the extra bread left over from making the kids Berry French Toast this weekend. I already had the oven on from making the sugar cookies (they were the base of the fruit pizzas) and so I finished up the french toast and tossed in the croutons then stored them in an airtight container until we needed them. Just remembering to do little things like that makes putting together dinner (or lunch for the next day) so much easier!

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Meat ‘n’ Potatoes

Well things got kinda crazy last week with the hospital thing and all. But the week wound down nicely into another busy weekend. On Thursday our resident grill master’s new grill was delivered. And it was pretty. And he was happy. Since we had a bbq planned for Saturday, we thought we best test it out. And how better to do that than cook a couple of recipes from Great Food Fast. So we did.

Flank Steak with Lime Marinade

 

  • 1/3 C fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)
  • 2 T soy sauce
  • 2 scallions thinly sliced
  • 2 T minced peeled ginger
  • 1/2 t red pepper flakes
  • 1.5 lbs flank steak
  • vegetable oil for grates
  • coarse salt and pepper

In a resealable plastic bag, combine the lime juice, soy sauce, scallions, ginger and red pepper. Add the steak and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator, turning occasionally for 30 minutes.

Heat the grill to high. Lightly oil the grates. Remove the steak fro the marinade, letting excess drip off. Season with S&P. Place on the grill and cover. Cook turning once until the meat has reached desired doneness, 6-8 minutes for medium rare. Let the steak rest for 10 minutes before slicing thin.

 

Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Scallions

  • 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick slices
  • 3 T olive oil
  • 1 t dried thyme
  • 1/4 t cayenne pepper
  • coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 2 T butter (optional)
  • 2 scallions thinly sliced

Heat grill to medium. Toss the sweet potatoes in a large bowl with the olive oil, thyme, and cayenne pepper. Season with S&P.

Grill the potatoes, turning frequently until tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 20-30 minutes.

Return the grilled potatoes to the bowl and add the butter. Break potatoes into large pieces with the side of a spoon. Toss in the scallions and serve.

These two meat and potatoes dishes were incredibly easy, very very tasty, quite healthy and a huge hit with everyone. We added a bit of fruit and dinner was served.

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Lemon Pudding Cakes

I think my give-a-darn must have been broken last night when I was trying to make dinner. My parents brought the kids back to our house and I made the easiest meal ever, spaghetti, for  dinner and Matt whipped up this dessert, Lemon Pudding Cakes (from Great Food Fast, in case you’re in the dark). Spaghetti, being ridiculously easy to make, turned out great. And these turned out great as well, thanks to Matt being at the helm and not myself. I was unfortunately in charge of photographing them and that err … didn’t go so well.

But rest assured, despite the crappy photo over there, these are amazingly tasty and worth your time to make. They are also light and fresh and not a bit heavy. I believe they come in around 150 calories apiece too, so no guilt!

Lemon Pudding Cakes

ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/3 C all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 t baking powder
  • 1/4 t fine salt
  • 3 large eggs, separated
  • 3/4 C granulated sugar
  • 1 t finely grated lemon zest
  • 1/3 C lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
  • 1 1/4 C whole milk
  • Confectioners’ sugar, for serving

Heat the oven to 350. Put kettle on to heat. Butter eight 6-ounce ramekins or custard cups. Set in a shallow baking pan.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks with 1/2 cup granulated sugar until pale and smooth. Whisk in butter, lemon zest and juice, milk, and flour mixture.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites with 1/4 cup granulated sugar until stiff peaks form, 5 minutes; fold into batter. With a ladle, divide batter among ramekins, keeping sides clean if you can! Pour enough hot water (from the kettle) into baking pan to come halfway up sides of ramekins. Bake until cakes are puffed and slightly golden on top, 20-25 minutes. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve immediately.

 

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Pasta with Salmon, Peas and Mint

I frequently get a surprised reaction when I reveal that my kids like fish, but they do, like a LOT. We are met with squeals of delight when we mention fish is on the menu. I like this kind of weird! So I knew it was a pretty done deal when I selected this recipe from Great Food Fast to try out. Salmon is instantly popular and add pasta to it? Slam dunk. That’s the right basketball metaphor isn’t it? I’m more sure of football: TOUCH DOWN!

As an added bonus, we got to use the fresh mint from our garden and I am always a fan of that. Matt is constantly threatening to eradicate my precious mint before it takes over the neighborhood, but I say he’s a spoil sport. But I figure I better use it while I can and it grows so fast I can harvest virtually all the mint I want and still have tons left over.

Pasta with Salmon, Peas and Mint
adapted from Great Food Fast

Ingredients

  • 1 pound short pasta (rotini, farfalle, cavatappi, elbow macaroni?)
  • 1.5 lbs salmon (skin removed)
  • juice and zest of 2 lemons
  • 10 oz frozen peas, defrosted
  • 2 T unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint plus more for serving

Cook pasta according to al dente. Reserve 1 C pasta water and return to pot. Meanwhile, season salmon with S&P and place in a large skillet. Add a 1/4 cup of water and the lemon juice and zest. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and steam for 10 minutes. Add peas and steam until they are tender, 2-3 more minutes.

Combine salmon, peas and cooking water with the pasta. Add butter, mint and season with S&P to taste. Stir gently breaking the salmon into large flakes. Add reserved pasta water for desired consistency. Serve topped with a little extra mint if you like.

 

This was a great recipe and just as tasty leftover as it was the evening we first made it. The kids devoured it and asked for seconds. I would like next time to add just a little cheese, perhaps Parmesan or Romano or maybe feta? just to see how it would be.

Pasta with Salmon, Peas and Mint

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Asparagus Tart and Cookbook Indecision

So after I decided that the original cookbook I’d selected for this month wouldn’t work, I decided to move on to Jaime’s Dinners, which I’d originally slated for next month. I started going through it and while I found some recipes that I want to try, the vast majority are heavier, BRITISH foods (err … duh) more suited for chilly winter months.

So I ended up giving up on it  and I’ve switched (AGAIN) to Great Food Fast, which is a compendium of recipes from my all-time-favorite food magazine, Everyday Food. I’ve already tackled two recipes from the book since making the decision and I am really glad I chose it. They are tasty, healthy, fast and easy. The book is divided up by seasons which I love because that’s how I cook and everything I selected from this week was from the Spring section.

Asparagus Gruyere Tart

Ingredients

  • 1 sheet puff pastry
  • flour for rolling surface
  • 1 lb of fresh asparagus
  • 5.5 oz grueyere cheese, grated
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400. Roll puff pastry into 10×16″ rectangle. Fold in 1/2 inch on each side and pierce surface with a fork. Transfer to baking sheet and bake 15 minutes or until lightly brown. Top crust with grueyere. Trim asparagus to width of crust and place on top in neat rows, alternating which side the tops point to. Brush lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake 10-15 minutes more until asparagus is tender. Cut into segments and serve immediately to general applause.

Since we are all asparagus fans, this was an immediate hit in our house. We have another sheet of puff pastry (two to a box) and some more asparagus and Tabby has already requested we make it again. Similar to the chalupas, this is a good jumping-off point for lots of other flavor combinations on top of puff pastry. I can see there being lots of possibilities here!