Recipe - Back to School Breakfast Burritos

This past Sunday a sister in our ward asked me if I would talk about a great idea she had for a healthy breakfast-on-the run for school kids--Frozen Breakfast Burritos.  The recipe she likes calls for healthy ingredients, such as spinach and black beans, but this can be easily tailored to the tastes of your family.  This is the first August in 25 years that I have not sent at least one child off to school, so thinking about kids' breakfasts and lunches is bittersweet for me.  My high school girls liked me to make homemade cinnamon bread frozen in individually wrapped slices they could slip into their backpacks, but right up through his senior year, my son was not above taking a full-sized packed lunch from home.  There are so many ideas for sending children off well-nourished and prepared for a great school day.  The important thing is that they actually eat what they take and that it isn't full of empty calories.  A high-protein breakfast is just the ticket to help them stay awake and alert in class all morning.  For most busy families, this will only happen if moms prepare ahead.

I decided to experiment with making a few breakfast burritos to see how well they rewarmed after being frozen.  I used eggs, sausage, potatoes, green chilies, cheese, and salsa for my filling, but you could use most anything--diced bell peppers, ham, bacon--whatever your little (and big) people enjoy.  I made mine quite large so we could have them for dinner tonight, but you could make them much smaller for your elementary aged kids.  You can make a whole bunch at a time, and they'll take only two or three minutes to heat in the microwave straight from the freezer.  I thought they turned out great--so much more tasty and healthy than a similar commercially prepared item.

Back to School Breakfast Burritos

Here are the ingredients I used:  Cooked, shredded potatoes, eggs, cheddar cheese, green chilies, sausage, tortillas, and salsa.

-First, brown a pound of sausage.  I like to use either Tennessee Pride or Jimmy Dean 1 lb rolls, as they are quite lean and good quality.  Make sure it gets good and done, and spoon off fat.  To get even more of the fat off, blot with paper towels.

-Remove sausage from skillet and add a bit of butter to the pan.  Add shredded cooked potatoes (either boiled with skins on then peeled or baked in foil and peeled and cooled--I used leftover boiled garden potatoes) and brown them a bit, seasoning with salt and pepper.  As an alternative, frozen hash browns can be used, but make sure to get them completely done before adding them to the burritos.

-Remove potatoes from skillet, wipe it out, and spray with cooking spray.  Add about 10 whole eggs and season with salt and pepper.

Scramble them right in the pan, so that you still see both the whites and yolks.

When they are almost done, add a can of green chilies if desired. 

-Lay out all the ingredients and start layering them into the tortillas as shown below:

-Tuck the ends of the tortilla in and fold over.  I'm not very good at this, so do it your own way.

Freeze in a zip-lock bag.

To reheat, remove one from freezer and place on a plate in the microwave with another plate or bowl on top to cover.  I made large burritos, and they took 4 minutes at level 7 power on my microwave.  

Top with additional salsa and/or guacamole if desired, or just enjoy as they are.