AS REQUESTED, BURRITOS

Yesterday I mentioned this stack of forty breakfast and dinner burritos I made Saturday afternoon. I have two dozen breakfast burritos and eighteen dinner burritos in my freezer now. I've received about fifteen emails asking for my recipe and instructions on freezing and reheating these burritos.

So I have bad news and good news, Ladies. The bad news is I'm a scratch cook a lot of the time and don't use a recipe. The good news is I think I can tell you how I make these and even give you accurate amounts of the ingredients I use.

I first made these for Rob and I to take to the golf course since clubhouses at golf courses never have anything for breakfast other than rolls and muffins and not-so-good burritos. We wanted a hearty breakfast when we were exercising!


BREAKFAST BURRITOS

(Now remember, I made two dozen big fat burritos, bigger than you might make them. Depending on how big you make yours, you may get more burritos out of the amounts of ingredients I use. So you might want to buy an extra package of flour tortillas.)

3 dozen eggs
2 one-pound packages Jimmy Dean sausage (I use regular flavor but sage or maple would also be good)
2 32-ounce packages Ore Ida frozen hash brown potatoes (shredded or cubed, your choice, I use cubed)
2 7-ounce cans Ortega diced green chiles
1 medium yellow onion
16 to 24 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese (depends on how much cheese you like)
salt and pepper to taste
24 large (burrito size) flour tortillas

Scramble the eggs. I beat the eggs with about half a cup of milk and a couple of tablespoons of water and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook the hash browns according to package directions. I chop one yellow onion up and add it to the hashbrowns as they cook.

Cook the sausage. I chop it pretty well, so it's crumbly, as it cooks.

Using the biggest mixing bowl you can find, place hash browns, scrambled eggs and sausage in the bowl and mix gently but thoroughly. Add the green chiles and gently stir into mixture.

Place the flour tortillas on your kitchen counter, just a couple at a time so they don't dry out (if they dry out, they break when you fold them), and sprinkle Cheddar cheese down the middle. Place a couple of big spoonfuls of the potato-egg-sausage mixture on top of cheese. Fold burrito, folding the short ends in first and wrapping the long ends around.

Wrap each burrito individually in aluminum foil and freeze. These last a couple of months in the freezer - maybe longer, but I don't chance it with the eggs being factored in.

Here's how I prepare them when we're ready to eat them. I take the number I need out of the freezer the night before and let them thaw in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, since they're already wrapped in aluminum foil, I just pop them in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes until they're heated through. If they're not completely thawed, just heat them a little longer.


Rob and I like them just like this. But you can always top them with green chili or a cheese sauce, pretty much what you'd get on a breakfast burrito in a restaurant.



Here's a photo of my burritos. You can see that I make short, stubby FAT burritos.


LUNCH OR DINNER BURRITOS

For eighteen:

2 pounds very lean ground beef (I use 96/4)
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 yellow onion, diced
4 16-ounce cans refried beans
1 16-ounce package shredded Cheddar cheese
18 large flour tortillas

Brown the ground beef and onion together until the meat is done and the onions are soft. If necessary, drain off any grease. Sprinkle the taco seasoning mix over the meat and mix well. (Do NOT prepare the taco seasoning mix with water like the package says - just sprinkle the seasoning over the meat and mix it in. You don't want the liquid in burritos.)

Heat the refried beans so they're easy to spread on tortillas. I spray a sauce pan with Pam and heat the beans slowly over medium low heat. Be careful - they scorch easily. You might want to start them heating before you start the rest of the process. Also, put a lid on the sauce pan - they heat better all the way through with a lid but you'll want to stir them occasionally. You do NOT want to scorch them.

Spread a thick layer of refried beans down the middle of each flour tortilla. Cover the beans with a layer of Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle meat mixture on top of cheese.

Fold the flour tortilla, short ends first. Wrap each burrito in aluminum foil and freeze. (I let the wrapped burritos sit at room temperature for an hour or so - I don't want to put hot burritos into the freezer - let them cool down before you freeze them.)

The night before you plan to serve them, take them out of the freezer and let them thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Since they're already wrapped in foil, just pop them into a 350 degree oven and heat 20 to 30 minutes until heated through.

Again, these are fine just like this if you're packing them in your lunch or taking them on an outing. They're even better (at home) with green chili or cheese sauce spread over the top of them and your favorite burrito toppings. We like shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, sliced black olives, diced avocado, chopped scallions and sour cream. We take our dinner burritos very seriously!


If you're tempted to nuke them, I wouldn't. Microwaving these burritos really makes the tortillas dried out and tough. They're better just heated in their aluminum foil wrapping in your oven.


How's that? Enjoy! And you know what? If you make these, I'd really love to hear what you think of them, since it's my original "recipe" and all. :-)