a better breakfast burrito

If I have not properly expressed this previously, let me tell you that I am not a morning person. I'm the girl rolling into work at the crack of 9 am, still putting on makeup, and eating oatmeal out of a coffee mug. For these reasons and many more, I rely heavily on late night planning, and frozen, homemade breakfast burritos. A while ago, I made my first batch of breakfast burritos, and since then, I think they've just gotten better. In fact, this last round has been the best yet!

Stuff you need: 1. Whole wheat tortillas 2. 1 block firm tofu 3. Morningstar sausage patties 4. Roasted green chiles 5. Your favorite salsa

Begin by squeezing your tofu like you would for any other recipe- I like to wrap mine in a paper towel, and set something heavy on top of it while I prepare everything else. Meanwhile, you can chop your chiles and defrost your faux-sausage.

When the tofu is ready, crumble it into a skillet with a little olive oil, the Morngingstar sausage, green chiles, and some spices until everything is warmed through. In my tofu/faux-meat mixture, I like to add hot sauce, garlic salt, and cumin. Yumm.

When your burrito stuffing is tasting the way you'd like it to, grab a tortilla, spoon a healthy helping of the tofu mixture into the middle, add a bit of salsa, and then wrap the whole thing up in a square of foil.

Keep wrapping burritos until you're out of filling and tortillas, and then pop them into the freezer for future use. For me, 1 block of firm tofu made about 6 burritos.

When you're ready to devour your breakfast burrito, wrap it in a paper towel, and microwave it on high for 1 minute on each side. The tofu is difficult to heat all the way through, so it may need a little extra time as well. This not-so-fabulous picture is taken inside the microwave at my office. While not super aesthetically appealing, it was absolutely scrumptious, and the perfect way to start off a long day at work.

The combination of the fake sausage, chiles, and salsa, are the perfect mix of texture, heat, and flavor. They're fast and easy to make, they're absolutely delicious, and they're a total life saver first thing in the morning. You better believe I'll be making more of these very soon :)

overnight oats & homemade chips

I am not a morning person. In fact, I'm a total night owl, finding that my most productive hours are between 10 pm and 1 am. Because of this, I find it incredibly helpful to pack my gym bag, lunch, and anything else I can the night before. Enter, overnight oats. I made this recipe a lot last summer, and it's absolutely one of my favorites. Healthy, sweet, filling, and the perfect chilled breakfast for these hot summer days. The original recipe idea comes from Lorna Sass' cookbook Short-Cut Vegan, but I've altered it a little as well.

Stuff you need: 1. 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats 2. 1 8 oz can crushed pineapple 3. 1.5 cups milk- or a soy milk of some sort if you'd like to make it vegan 4. cinnamon 5. Nutmeg6. 1 Banana

Just before going to bed, combine the oats, pineapple, and milk into a large bowl. Spinkle with a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, cover, and pop in the refrigerator while you sleep. In the morning, scoop about 1 cup of the oats into a bowl, top with 1/2 a sliced banana, and dig in. No really, that's it!

It's so nice to have such a tasty meal already made for me in the morning, while I'm rushing around trying to get to work at a decent hour.The original recipe suggests using cardarmom and topping with toasted nuts or flax seed, but I like my changes as well. It still needs a little tweaking, but I think flavor perfection is almost there.

Also, on another late night note, I'm pleased to say that as of this evening, I have successfully prepared breakfast, lunch, and a snack for tomorrow. Less chaos for me in the morning! Currently, my favorite snack is homemade tortilla chips. If you've never made them yourself, you must try it.

Stuff you need: 1. Whole wheat tortillas 2. Olive oil 3. Sea salt

This is so incredibly easy and delicious, I may have to start making these all the time! Take your whole wheat tortilla and slice it into little triangles. I simply continuously folded my tortilla until I had little bite sized pieces. Place these tortilla chunks into your toaster over- or on a baking sheet in a real oven. Lightly coat with olive oil and coarse seal salt, and pop them in the hot oven at 325 for 5-10 minutes. Check on them often, making sure they become golden, but not brown. When golden, flip them over and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.

They are crispy, yet buttery, with just a hint of saltiness. You can serve them with salsa or guacamole, but I eat them plain cause I think they're that good. Mmm! Seriously. Bestest, most easiest snack EVER.

Oh! And one last thing-see how this late-night energy really kicks in? Tonight I also rummaged around in my craft bin, looking for something fun to make in honor of this festivity-filled weekend ahead of us. I found a tub of round beads in rainbow colors, popped in Julie & Julia, and 2 hours later, I'm filled with good-chick-flick vibes and half a dozen fun bracelets for my accessorizing pleasure. Pre-made meals, a heart-warming movie, and a little bit of crafting to boot. What a lovely Thursday evening, indeed!

breakfast dilemma & morningstar farms

When I arrived at work this morning, I found my friend Jenna in a breakfast dilemma. She came to work armed with a package of Morningstar Farms bacon, egg and cheese breakfast biscuits when she discovered that one of our coworkers had brought in homemade breakfast burritos for $2, which, I might say, are absolutely delicious. On top of this, she also found out, much to her dismay, that Morningstar Farms is a vegetarian company, and this said "bacon biscuit" contained no real bacon at all- mind you, my friend is an avid carnivore. Thus, Jenna's breakfast dilemma.

This is where I enter. Eat your vegetarian bacon biscuit so it doesn't go to waste, even though I've already had a wee apple for breakfast, just so you can eat a meaty burrito instead? Oh twist my arm.

First and foremost, it's a little high in calories and fat than I'd like in my breakfasts. Usually I stick to oatmeal, fresh fruits, or toast, so this 270 calorie pocket (with 80 fat calories and 8 grams of fat) was not part of my diet. However, it is seriously tasty. Throw aside all caloric numbers and thoughts of the treadmill, and this is a mighty fine breakfast. It nukes quickly in the microwave, the flavors are great, and the biscuit was soft and moist.

I probably won't make a habit of eating these all the time, but if I was forced to eat one again in order to help out a friend, I would have absolutely no problems in doing so :)

This was hands down the best breakfast dilemma I've been part of. Any food crisis that ends with me eating awesome, free, vegetarian food is a.o.k by me.

vaffeldagen

If your Friday was anything like mine, it probably included excessive amounts of drinking and waffles. Waffles you say? Of course! For those of us who are not up-to-date on our random holidays, yesterday was Vaffeldagen! In Sweden, March 25th started out as a celebration for the virgin annunciation- the day Mary found out she was preggers with baby Jesus. However, Varfrudagen (Our Lady Day) sounded way too close to Vaffeldagen, and it stuck! Thus, March 25th is Waffle Day. Note: this is the only thing I learned from my vikings class in college.

So, yesterday I filled my meals with waffles in various forms. For breakfast, I had whole wheat waffles covered with apples and strawberries- SUPER tasty and healthy. My lunch was an ode to chicken and waffles- a Morningstar Farms chik patty with some more whole wheat waffles and a little stone ground mustard on the side- also delicious.

For all my waffle needs, I usually use Krusteaz wheat and honey pancake mix. You measure it out, add water, stir it up, and throw it in the waffle maker. It's super easy, and the results are always fluffy breakfast perfection.

Even though my waffle streak was broken with a plate of fried pickles and some Mexican food, my first 2 meals were a total success! More importantly, I had way too much fun planning out special recipes in celebration of a fun holiday. I definitely plan to do it more often!

breakfast burritos & daiya cheese

Let me begin by saying that I am NOT a morning person. I usually make my lunch, lay out my clothes, and make extensive lists the night before, otherwise I always end up forgetting something important first thing in the morning. This is why last night I decided to make a big batch of vegan breakfast burritos to last me the next few weeks. A healthy homemade breakfast burrito always beats eating plain toast while running out the door, and trying to put on eyeliner in the car.

Stuff you need: 1. 1 firm block of tofu it will be about 6 burritos) 2. some tortillas (the regular size is fine) 3. tasty salsa 4. vegan cheese (or regular cheese or no cheese- your choice) 5. spices 6. foil

Start by squeezing the liquid out of the tofu like normal. When your skillet is warmed to about medium, crumble the block of tofu into the hot pan. Season the tofu with your favorite spices (I used tobasco, red pepper flakes, garlic salt, and CUMIN♥ to stick with the Mexican breakfast theme). When the tofu is warmed through and spiced to your liking, take a tortilla and throw it in the microwave for 25 seconds.

Pull the tortilla out of the microwave and put it on top of a piece of foil. Add some tofu, salsa, and cheese to the tortilla and roll it up nice and tight (don't forget to tuck in the ends). Wrap the burrito up in foil and throw it in the freezer. DONE AND DONE!

A breakfast burrito was perfect this morning! I grabbed one on my way out the door, and when I got to my office, I took the burrito out of the foil, and microwaved it for about a minute or so in a paper towel. A hot, healthy, and incredibly easy-to-make breakfast like that! I love it.

Here is my only complaint: the cheese. I know this is heresy, but I don't think I liked the Daiya vegan cheese I purchased. I've read about this stuff everywhere, and everyone and their mom says that this it's the best cheese substitute out there. Of course I had to try it! The texture is phenomenal- it does, indeed, melt and stretch just like real cheese, but there's no way I can get past the taste. Maybe I needed more salsa, or spices, or maybe there was too much cheese for the little burrito, but I definitely did NOT like the taste at all. I can't put my finger on it -like, old soy cheese with better texture? Maybe the flavor is too strong for cheese? I don't know, but it wasn't good.

I haven't given up on Daiya just yet. Since everyone loves it to death, I'm going to keep around the rest of the bag so I can try a dip or pizza or something, but until it impresses me, strike 1, Daiya, strike 1.

I think I'm in love with the homemade breakfast burrito idea.

On my next batch, I'll just skip the cheese altogether :)

tofu scramble

So this is the dish my mom goes crazy for. Every time we say, What should we have for dinner? Mom always says A TOFU SCRAMBLE! Yeah she's hooked. I've tried a lot of tofu scrambles out there, but I personally think mine is the best :)

Stuff you need: 1. 1 block firm tofu 2. any vegetables & fun stuff you have laying around the kitchen- veggies, Morningstar sausage, spices, etc.

Start by draining & squeezing your tofu- I usually wrap it in a paper towel and let it sit under something heavy while I do everything else for this recipe. Chop up all your veggies into bite-size pieces. For this particular scramble, we found onions, carrots, zuccini, tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers, and Morningstar Farms breakfast sausages (which I cooked in the microwave before adding to the scramble).

Pour a little olive oil into your pan and sauté all your fixins from hardest to softest- so onion goes first, so they get nice and soft, followed by carrots, bell pepper, zuccini, and mushrooms. When all your vegetables are starting to get tender, unwrap the tofu and crumble it into the pan. Mix everything thoroughly and make sure all the ingredients are warmed through. Add your tomatoes, cooked breakfast sausage, and cheese if you'd like it for a non-vegan version. Season with garlic salt, pepper, CUMIN♥, tobasco sauce, and anything else to your liking.

Voila! Plate it up and devour! A little salsa is nice on the side, but let me tell you, it's also delicious as is!