Breakfast Burritos

We LOVE Breakfast Burritos.  Really love.  Best part is we make a lot at once, wrap them in wax paper and freeze them!  Super easy and quick breakfast when needed.  Great for Matt to heat up in morning to head for work or out hunting.

My mom gave me this recipe and it is a definite keeper!

Breakfast Burritos

1 lb of your choice of Meat (Bacon/Sausage)
Bag of Hashbrowns (cubed or shredded)
1 Dozen Eggs
Cheese
Tortillas (2 dozen fajita size)

Optional Adds
Peppers
Onions
Black Beans
Ham
Hot Sauce

* This makes about 2 dozen, depending on how much you stuff them & if you add anything else to mix! Make sure you have plenty of tortillas!*

I start of cooking my meat, sometimes I do half sausage half bacon.  Any way is good!  I use a big electric skillet, that way I'm not dirtying a bunch of pans, but it does take awhile.

Once meat is done I throw meat into big mixing bowl and throw in hashbrowns with diced peppers & onions.

Add finished hashbrowns to mixing bowl and cook dozen eggs in skillet.

Mix all in mixing bowl with cheese!

Roll burritos up and wrap in wax paper, then put in freezer bag.  To cook: put burrito WITH wax paper still on in microwave for about 2 mins... then... enjoy :-)

Antipasto SUPER Sub!

This is a fun recipe that we have made a couple of times now.  It's fun to make and a MESS to eat and oh so good tasting!  I found this in a Kraft Foods Cookbook and put my twist on it and here it goes....

Antipasto Super Sub

Ingredients

Round Italian Loaf
7 oz Jar of Roasted Red Peppers
15 oz Artichokes
1/3 C Italian Dressing
6 Slices of Provolone Cheese
Deli Sliced:
     Ham, Salami & Turkey
1 Garlic Clove minced

Slice the loaf horizontally twice so it looks like this...

Mix a couple spoonfuls of mayo and the garlic together.  Then smear on bottom piece of loaf.  Layer on ham, salami, turkey and cheese.

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INTERMISSION!!

While Makenzie and I are cooking Miss Madison and Daddy are playing!

Back to cooking!

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Put the middle piece on top of the cheese.  Dig out some of the bread from the middle piece making it look like a bread bowl.  (Not all of it, I left a thin layer of bread) Do the same to the top piece!

Chop Artichokes and peppers.

 I used a hand chopper!  Mix together with the Italian dressing and fill in your bread "bowl".

Put the top piece on and wrap the sub in aluminum foil.  Put in oven and bake for an hour at 350!  Enjoy!

A First Time (Times Three!)

The First First.

Late Tuesday Makenzie woke up with a high fever.  That was about ten. She cat napped on and off until one am when she threw up.  This girl will be 3 1/2 in June and this was the FIRST time she has ever thrown up!!!  Matt and I have officially been inducted to the "We're up all night dealing with a sick kid, doing laundry and cleaning vomit up from all over the place while trying not to throw up ourselves!"  We had a good run going!  Thank you Makenzie for giving us 3 1/2 years!!  XOXO!!

This fever just rocked her.  Tylenol didn't do much.  She sat in the rocker ALL day yesterday totally zoned out.  Thanks to a GREAT neighbor, she brought over some Pedialyte that Makenzie sipped on and I made a few popsicles out of too. Yesterday afternoon she took a 3 1/2 hour nap!!!!!!!!!!

Both girls were sleeping for two hours and I was in pure bliss as they slept!  Two hours not entertaining or parenting!  Score!!

The Second First.

As the girls were sleeping I thought it would be a good idea to quickly make dinner for the night and for the next night (tonight) too.  One problem... my last nights dinner involved grilling.  Gas grill I can do, but we don't have one.  We have a charcoal grill that hates me.  Matt makes it look SO easy to light and everytime I do I have to relight it or add more charcoal... it just doesn't go well.  I end up having to call him about 100 times and my meat sits on the grill for about an hour.

Yesterday I decided I would do it, I would grill.  I started the process and wasn't sure if it was doing what it should be.  I sat and contemplated... do I call Matt?  do I let it go and see what happens?  or do I call Matt's Dad?  (It's slightly embarrassing that Matt has run me thru the process a zillion times, but nothing is retained.  Not only that I get the Ugh... why is she monkeying around with my grill again groan and the you never get it right, when are you going to give up grunt)  I didn't want to bother Matt's dad at work with a silly question so Matt it was.  

Low and behold... I was doing everything right!!  The meat got grilled with out any help for the FIRST time!!  My meat was a little over done (or a LOT), but the job was done!

During their nap time I did the grilling (which took an hour :-/ ), made two meals, and sat in the sun relaxing.

The Third First... a Recipe!

FIRST time we've had this meal!  Concocted a little recipe last night, and here it goes!

Grilled Chicken Queso Pasta

4 Chicken Breast
1/2 C Ranch Dressing (split)
3-4 diced Tomatoes
1-2 Tablespoons of fresh chopped Cilantro
1 1/2 C Shredded Cheddar Cheese
16 oz Bowtie Pasta
Red pepper flakes or diced Jalapeno (Optional!)

Brush chicken with about 1/4 Cup of Ranch Dressing and have husband toss on grill.  (Don't ask me for grilling tips!)

Cook Pasta.

In a smaller sauce pan add 1/4 C ranch dressing, cilantro, cheese and tomatoes.  When that turns into a sauce (stir often so it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan), dice the grilled chicken and add all to the cooked pasta.  

My stomach is growling as I am typing this!!  Grilling the chicken gave it such a good smokey flavor that spread into the rest of the dish.  Yummm yummmm!!!!  And if you want more sauce just increase the sauce ingredients.

Enjoy!

Honey Dijon Chicken

I've now made this dish a few times and have got to share!!  It is SOOO yummy and one of those meals that taste like you put a lot of effort into it, but really didn't!  It's low fat and has a good chunk of honey in it which is full of antioxidants, that help boost your immune system.  Can't go wrong!

Honey Dijon Chicken, Lemon Garlic Asparagus and Baked Sweet Potato

Honey Dijon Chicken:  (Baked or Crockpot)

Ingredients

3/4 Cup Honey
1/3 Cup Dijon Mustard
2-3 teaspoons of curry powder (depending on how much you like it!)
6 Tablespoons of Melted Butter
Dash of Salt & Pepper
Sprinkle with Red Pepper Flakes (totally optional, yes mom, I did add this when you had it!)

Bag of Chicken, bone in breast, I think it's 3-4 lbs worth.  I got 8 pieces ;-)

(I don't totally thaw the chicken before I start working with it!  Just enough to where I can pull up the skin and pour some of the marinade between the breast and skin.)

Directions

Place chicken in 9 x 13 baking dish bone side down. If you remove the skin or are doing boneless chicken pour marinade over all the chicken.  If not.... use tongs to pull the skin away from the breast and pour some marinade in each pocket you've made!  Once you've done that to each breast, pour the remaining marinade over the top.
Cover the dish with aluminum foil and let marinade for at least an hour!  (I typically throw mine right in the oven to finish thawing and set the delay start timer on the oven.)

Bake 375 for 45 mins WITH FOIL ON! 

After 45 mins of baking, pull foil OFF and continue for another 30 mins. You could make this in a crock pot too.  But you won't get a nice crispy top like you do if you bake it.  BUT I am sure it would still taste just as good.


This makes great leftovers too... enjoy!

My FAVORITE Summer Dish... Tomato Basil Pizza

I need a better way to keep track of some of my favorite recipes!!  So I think I will start sharing them on here as I come across them!

Here's my FAVORITE recipe from the summer... shoot, maybe my new favorite all together!  You can have it all year, we just won't be picking fresh tomatoes and basil :-)

Tomato Basil Pizza

Ingredients:

2  Pizza Crust (JiffyMix)
Garlic Salt
Italian Seasoning
Olive Oil
1 1/2 C   Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/3 C    Parmesan Cheese
2 Med Sized Tomatoes Sliced
8 Basil Leaves (cut into strips)

-Make pizza crust as directed on package... EXCEPT before you add the water sprinkle in garlic salt and about a tablespoon of italian seasoning.

-When crust is out of the oven and ready for toppings brush the top of the crust with olive oil.

-Cover crust with1 Cup of Mozzarella cheese on top of that; followed by sliced tomatoes and basil.  

-Add remaining Mozzarella cheese and Parmesan Cheese. 

-Lightly sprinkle garlic salt over the top.

-Bake at 425 for 10-15 mins (or until cheese starts turning a golden color).

Makenzie and I LOVE to make pizza, so this was a nice change from the traditional pizza. Wasn't sure how Matt would like it because he pretty much despises any meal that doesn't have meat in it, but he loved it!  He even said "This may be my favorite pizza!"  Score!

Yummy Fruit Popsicles!

I had been looking for a recipe to make popsicles since I'm not thrilled with any of the ones at the stores and here is what Makenzie and I came up with!  We had a fun time whipping these bad boys out!!

Fruit Popsicles

Ingredients:

Blueberries
Strawberries (diced)
Peaches (diced w/o peel)

Watermelon (Pureed)

We spread out a bunch of little Dixie cups, filling them 3/4's to the top.

Then I got my food processor out and with an icecream scoop we scooped out the watermelon and pureed it to make the juice!  You pour the juice over the fruit then plop in a popsicle stick (the fruit holds the popsicle stick in place).

We put them in the freezer and in just a few hours they were read to eat!!  When you are ready to eat them you hold the popsicle under warm water for just a few mins then are able to pull the popsicle right out of the cup.  (I recommend for little ones keeping the cup for them to put the popsicle back into incase they need to go chase a butterfly or anything else that distracts them!)

It makes a wonderful sticky mess on a 2 1/2 year old... but that's a perfect snack on a hot summer day when the sprinkler is ready and waiting to be played in!