Summer is coming to an end, mornings are turning crisp and the days are getting shorter. The cold months are perfect for hot breakfasts, and burritos answer to the call for convenience and deliciousness literally getting rolled into one. I first learned about this incredible trick from my sister-in-law, Ashley, and my life will never be the same. Before I go on, I must tell you that I learn a lot from Ashley. She’s a great gal, smart as a whip, funny, classy and someone I am super grateful to know. Now back to breakfast. Before I moved to this tiny town, I lived in a moderately sized city and worked full time as a history teacher in an amazing school that had a top notch cafeteria. The ladies there know a thing or three about putting together a breakfast burrito, so if ever I was hankering for warm breakfast goodness wrapped in a tortilla, I would stroll down and get one… it was a sweet setup.

Well, now my kitchen is where all the meals come from (budgeting!) and my awesome husband leaves for work by 6 am. I am not up at 6 am now that my life is yoga pants (it’s THE step up from pajama pants that spurred this whole creative process you are now reading… in fact I also purchased a pair of jeans last week — look at me go!) and breastfeeding. Here comes the trick that allows me to provide a hot, hearty breakfast every morning without even getting out of bed… ready for it?

I make a bunch of breakfast burritos and freeze them, so all that needs to be done is pushing a couple of buttons on the microwave, and voila. I know what you’re thinking: microwaves make bread disgusting, everyone knows that. But that isn’t the case with this situation, I promise. Had I known about this earlier, I would have been doing this for years.

As I said, I first learned about this from Ashley, but then took to google for ideas, storage preferences and of course reheat times.

I documented my process for this week’s burritos. Check it out, then do it, and I know you will be happy about it when you are driving to work, or school, or even sitting at your dining room table  eating a delicious, hot breakfast burrito.

Here’s my ingredient list- modify as you wish…

Ingredients yield 11 big burritos and 6 fajita burritos

Tortillas- 1 bag standard size and 1 bag fajita size (those are for my 3 year old and they are ADORABLE.)

Bacon- 1 package of 24 bacon slices- that makes more than enough, use any left overs for a BLT! If you rather have sausage, 1 lb of breakfast sausage will do the trick.

Shredded cheese- 1 bag pre-shredded cheese.

Eggs- 15 (or about 1 per regular sized burrito).

Potatoes- Two russet potatoes.

Onion- I only use about ¼ of a yellow onion.

Black Beans- 1 can.

Milk- ⅓ cup.

Olive oil- 5-8 tablespoons.

Butter- 1-2 tablespoons.

Seasonings to taste: Salt, pepper, chili powder

**Also need wax paper and tin foil for storage.

Directions- Fancy Elephant Style

Bacon-

So the first thing I do is heat the oven to 350 degrees and it’s time to bake some bacon. Get a couple of cookie sheets and line them with tin foil (*important- make high walls with your tin foil) and then place your bacon in rows on the cookie sheets.

Place sheets in oven and set timer for 10 minutes. Flip bacon and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove the bacon from the oven and place on paper towel or brown paper bags to cool and degrease themselves a little.

After the tin foil has cooled simply pick it up and toss it, with the grease from the bacon safely inside. After the bacon has cooled, chop into little bite-sized chunks and set aside.

Potatoes-

While the bacon is in oven, it’s time to scrub the potatoes and cut them up into ½ inch (ish) cubes. Chop up some onion too (I just use a little onion for flavoring- it’s a preference thing- use as much as you want.), drizzle some olive oil in a pan, turn the burner on medium heat and toss those onions in there! Give the onions a minute to cook in the oil as it heats up then go ahead and put your potato chunks in with the onions. At this point I like to put my spices on and top that sucker with… a top. Give it a bit, then start gently stir/flipping with a spatula.

The key is to keep the heat on medium so the potatoes don’t burn or get stuck the bottom of the pan. When it’s been about 10 minutes, pour ¼ cup of water in with the potatoes and cover them up again. The trapped steam, heat, oil, potato combo will cook them beautifully. This heat, and stir/flip dance will go on for about 15-20 minutes or so, until it’s time to taste the potatoes. Do you like how tender/crisp they are? Do they need more salt? Interact with your food. In the last 3 or 4 minutes take the top off the pan, let any remaining water cook off and if you feel they need a little more oil, this is a perfect time to put it on! Once your potatoes are just how you like them turn off the burner, remove them from heat and set them aside.

Eggs-

I use 1 egg per burrito and I scramble my eggs, so get a bowl and crack some eggs! Once that’s done sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add a splash of milk! You don’t need a ton, I use about ⅓ cup per dozen eggs. Milk makes the eggs extra fluffy… it’s divine. Take a fork, poking into each yolk, then whisk your fork with some zest- letting some air make its way into the mixture.

Once eggs are whisked, turn the burner on medium heat, let some butter (a tablespoon or so) melt in the pan and pour your eggs into the pan. Because I use 10-12 eggs per burrito batch it fills the pan pretty generously so I always give my eggs a minute or two to cook between each stir/flip with the spatula.

Keep your attention on the eggs as they cook- burnt eggs don’t taste very good, plus they are much harder to clean up.

Black Beans

I am wanting to keep this very simple so I am just opening a can of beans and heating them up in a pot.

*Tip from my mama: Rinse the beans and drain the water they were canned in- apparently that will help keep unwanted toots at bay.

Cheese and Tortillas

I open a bag of pre-shredded cheese, and two bags of pre-made tortillas (one regular-sized, one fajita-sized). Good grief, right? Now that those exhausting steps are done, I will get the wax paper, tin foil, and set up the assembly station on the kitchen table.

Time to assemble the burritos  

As you can see I have my eggs, potatoes, black beans, shredded cheese and bacon bits (they are in the red bowl, which I also used to whisk the eggs, but has since been washed and dried for sanity as well as sanitary purposes.)

*Now this is important: note how each tortilla is sitting on its own pre-cut wax paper, and that is on its own pre-cut tin foil square? This is the all important step that will guide your burritos into safe storage in a freezer!

*Tip- So, I’m not going to get controlling and tell you what order to put your ingredients in your burrito, but I will take a moment to encourage that you put your cheese on the tortilla first, and that you put it in this formation. Why? Excellent question. You see, the cheese acts as a glue and after you have all of your ingredients in, and you roll your burrito up, the little arm of cheese will help hold the burrito flap down! It’s awesome!

Alright, load up the rest of the goodies and try to keep the portions even throughout.

To roll up, I always fold two sides in, then roll the whole deal up so no spillage will occur in storage or reheating.

Now wrap in wax paper and finally in tin foil!

I made some pyramids just for fun, then packed em’ in the freezer.

Reheating these bad boys

*UNWRAP COMPLETELY- Never, I repeat, NEVER microwave wax paper OR tin foil!

Regular sized burritos-

Place your frozen burrito on a plate- microwave for 2 minutes on high, flip the burrito and microwave for 30 seconds on high.

Fajita sized burritos-

Place your frozen burrito on a plate- microwave for 30 on high, flip the burrito and microwave for 20 seconds on high.

Things to keep in mind regardless of burrito size-

*Warning- It will be hot after reheating! Give it a minute to cool down before eating. Interact with the food and test the temp before you or anyone else bites into it- no burned mouths please!

*Tip- there will be condensation on the plate, and when I flip the burrito for the last 30 seconds of warmup, I also move it out of the condensation so it doesn’t get gooey.

Boom! Breakfast done for days, and the dishes only got messy once.

Breakfast Burritos

• Servings: 12-14
• Time: 1 1/2 hours
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A wonderful way to make a hearty warm breakfast to enjoy for days to come.

Ingredients

Tortillas- 1 bag standard size and 1 bag fajita size Bacon- 1 package of 24 bacon slices or 1 lb of breakfast sausage will do the trick. Shredded cheese- 1 bag pre-shredded cheese. Eggs- 15 (or about 1 per regular sized burrito). Potatoes- Two russet potatoes. Onion- ¼ of a yellow onion. Black Beans- 1 can. Milk- ⅓ cup. Olive oil- 5-8 tablespoons. Butter- 1-2 tablespoons. Seasonings to taste: Salt, pepper, chili powder **Also need wax paper and tin foil for storage.

Directions

1.) Bake Bacon at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Flip half way. Drain and chop Bacon then set aside.
2.) Chop Onion and cleaned potatoes into 1/4 chunks. Season with salt, pepper and chili powder. Saute in olive oil for 10 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of water, cover and continue to cook until done (about 10 more minutes.)
3.) Add milk to bowl. Crack eggs into bowl with milk, scramble, season, and cook eggs in a pan with butter until done.
4.) Open can of black beans, rinse and heat.
5.) Open package of cheese and bags of totillas.
5.) Prepare wax paper and tin foil.
6.) Load up then roll up tortillas, then wrap in wax paper AND tin foil.

Reheating these bad boys
*UNWRAP COMPLETELY- Never, I repeat, NEVER microwave wax paper OR tin foil!
Regular sized burritos-
Place your frozen burrito on a plate- microwave for 2 minutes on high, flip the burrito and microwave for 30 seconds on high.
Fajita sized burritos-
Place your frozen burrito on a plate- microwave for 30 on high, flip the burrito and microwave for 20 seconds on high.
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