A love for food…

Growing up with an Italian mother meant food being center stage wasn’t reserved for mere holidays. It was interwoven into daily and weekly routines. Every week I would go to the market with my mom, skip down the aisles and gather ingredients for the week’s meals. Every night she made delicious, well planned dinners from scratch. I’m talking homemade bread, gravy, and all the fixings. My parents, papa, and sisters gathered around the table to eat and talk about our day. Dinner was a time for us to be together and check in. On our birthdays my mom has always made us feel special when she makes our favorite meals and desserts. During the holidays we’ve always recreated dishes that my nuna and great grandmother have made making it feel like they were there with us. To me cooking is a hobby, a craft, a time machine, a way to keep traditions alive, to bring people together, to show love and to nourish our bodies. I am looking forward to sharing recipes that you might share around a table with your loved ones and friends. Or if you’re like me living a busy life, to also pack in a lunchbox and eat later.

The Breakfast Burrito

The first recipe I want to share started off as a quick midweek dinner. Then one Easy Like Sunday Morning, I was in the mood to make homemade biscuits. I thought the leftovers in the fridge would go great with biscuits and an egg over easy. Slam dunk for your taste buds! As a full time middle school health teacher I wake up at 5:15 and am out the door by 6:30AM. Making biscuits weekly is not realistic time wise or waistline wise but I needed an easy satisfying breakfast option. I find that when I don’t eat breakfast I get hangry, and can’t stop looking at my watch for lunch. Also, when I don’t eat breakfast, even after I eat lunch I will have food cravings later in the day. I’ve experimented and will be the first to say I am my best self when I eat a satiating breakfast with high protein, fiber and carbs. I make the super simple potato filling and store it in the fridge. On a weekday morning the only thing I need to cook are eggs over easy. I reheat the filling, a tortilla and a half a slice of cheese. We like it a bit hot in my house so I always add a dash of hot sauce. Whola! A breakfast burrito. On the mornings when I can’t seem to get out of my own way, I wrap it in foil and eat it on my drive to work. Whoever said Wheaties is the breakfast of champions clearly never had eaten a breakfast burrito.  I hope you like this recipe and feel like a champion today!

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Breakfast Burrito
Slam Dunk for Your Taste Buds and the Real Breakfast of Champions.

Make Ahead Ingredients:

5-6 medium potatoes, skin on

1 whole head of garlic

1 medium onion

Two tablespoons fresh herbs Oregano/Thyme (optional)

1 package Chicken Chorizo

2-3 TB olive oil

Salt and pepper

Burrito Ingredients:

¼ cup-1/3 cup of make ahead filling

1 egg over easy

Half a slice of cheddar cheese

Tortilla

Dash of hot sauce/sweet habanero

Directions:

Preheat oven to 420. Rinse and scrub potatoes. Dice potatoes into ½ inch chunks and place onto baking pan. Cut onion into half inch chunks and place onto baking pan. Cut chorizo into fourths and then dice. Add chorizo to pan. Chop garlic into medium chunks and add to pan.  If using herbs chop and add to pan. Drizzle olive oil over mixture and stir until coated. Add salt and pepper as desired. Place into hot oven for 15 minutes. Take out of oven and scrape the pan stirring gently to allow to brown other side. Place back into oven for another 15-20 minutes until cooked and crispy. Eat as a meal or set aside in fridge for breakfast burrito.

Heat frying pan on medium high heat. Once a dash of water fizzles lower to medium heat. Meanwhile place tortilla, spoonful of filling with a half a slice of cheese in microwave for no more than 30 seconds. When you have more time reheat on stove. Cook egg in frying pan. When the outer part of the egg whites start to firm add a dash of salt and pepper if desired and flip egg over. You can turn off heat. Cook about 1-2 minutes then place on top of tortilla. Yolk should be broken over potatoes. Add a dash of hot sauce. Roll tortilla to pull filling tightly, fold sides in and finish rolling. Eat or wrap in aluminum foil to go.

Easy Like Sunday Morning: This dish is also really delicious over fresh homemade biscuits instead of in a burrito. Bake biscuits. Cut biscuit in half and place on plate. Pour potato filling over biscuit halves. Put an egg over easy on each biscuit half. Cheese if desired. Double yum yum!

For easier cleanup, soak pan in hot water for 15 minutes before washing.