Sausage Breakfast Burritos

Sometimes, there just nothing quite like breakfast for dinner.

Last week, we were very organized in taking either meats or prepared food out of the freezer and having delicious dinners throughout the week.  One of the dinners we decided on was Breakfast Burritos - to be made with some sausage that we had in the freezer.

The breakfast burrito ended up being a delicious mid-week treat, and I know my husband enjoyed them, since he went back for more!  This meal's "I tried something new" happen to work in our favor!!  My recipe is below, but this is really one of those things where you can make it however you want!

Sausage Breakfast Burritos
1 lb Sausage, taken out of the casings (I use Perri Sausage, 1/2 lb hot and 1/2 lb sweet)
5 eggs
Chopped onion
Chopped green bell pepper
Chopped red bell pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste
Soft Shell Tacos, or burritos
Shredded Mild Cheddar
Sour Cream
Chopped Tomatoes
Chopped Avocado

The Method

• Saute the onion and peppers in some olive oil on the stove, until translucent.
• Take the sausage out of the casings, and add the sausage into the onion and pepper mixture.  Break up the sausage as much as you want (I don't like huge chunks. so I tried to grind it up on the small side) and cook until everything is browned
• Drain the mixture of any excess fat
• Season with salt and pepper, not too much is needed as there are lots of seasonings in the sausage
• Add the beaten eggs and cook well
• Warm the burrito shells or taco shells in the oven so they are warm and pliable.

When the sausage and egg mixture is fully cooked, spoon the mixture into the shells, and top with whatever toppings you prefer!

I used a leftover package of soft shell tacos that came in a taco kit.  This only contains 6 shells, but there is plenty of stuffing for at least 10!  If you don't have enough shells, it's delicious on toasted bread, or even eaten plain!!

Enjoy!!

Hello from New Jersey!!

Hi All!  Greetings from New Jersey!  I've been here since Sunday evening for a work conference.  It's been really great!  A bit overwhelming because of all the info, but very informative.  I've been able to contribute a lot, and make a lot of new contacts.  Overall, a successful trip!

Tonight I drove up from where I'm staying (The Morris Plains area) up to my sister's house (Westchester County, NY) to have dinner with her and her husband.  It was a little bit of a drive, but we had a lot of laughs and a delicious dinner!

Steph made a sausage and feta cheese quiche, and it was so delicious!

Steph had a log of Jimmy Dean sausage, so we browned up half of it in a pan.  She used half a tube of Pillsbury rolls as the crust of the quiche.  She mixed together the cooked sausage, crumbled feta, onion and olives, and put that evenly over the un-cooked crust.  Then she added 4 eggs mixed with milk over the top.  Baked for about 20-30 minutes, and it was delicious!!!

My awesome sister, posing with her delicious quiche!!

A Masterpiece!!

Sausage Loaf

Sausage Loaf.  Most of the time when I talk about this, people look at me like I'm nuts.  I'm sure it can be called anything, Sausage bread, sausage calzone, whatever....

It takes only 3 ingredients to make sausage loaf.  1)  Pizza Dough.  2)  Sausage.  3)  Eggs.

And that's it.  It's SO easy....Yet for some reason, it's often not made.

On Sunday, I made some Homemade Pizza Dough....As I mentioned, we had a family party, and I felt like I needed to bring something.  I made the sausage loaf once before (for a previous party with the same family) and I don't think anyone touched it....I think some people are afraid to try something new.  So I decided that I would make this for us for dinner, and I made Spinach Pie to bring to the party instead.

In any case, it's incredibly easy to make this....And it's so delicious.

Take a pound of hot sausage and remove from the casing (you can also buy it in bulk, if you prefer).  Cook up the sausage in a skillet, and make sure you break up the meat well.  You don't need to add any oil to the pan, there's plenty of fat already in the sausage.  Once the sausage is cooked, drain out any extra fat, and add in 2-3 beaten eggs.  Stir everything together and cook until the eggs are good and cooked.  You don't need to any ANY seasonings here - there are plenty of seasonings already in the sausage.

Cooking up the sausage!

Sausage and egg, ready to go!

Remove the sausage mixture from the stove (I transferred onto a large plate) and allow it to cool down.  In the meantime, take your pizza dough and spread some out on the counter in order to get ready for the sausage mixture.  I spread out enough dough for 2 loaves, and let it sit and rise a bit while the sausage was cooling.

Two pieces of dough, spread and rising, waiting while the sausage mixture cools

Once the sausage mixture is cooled, spread half onto each piece of dough and get ready to roll!!

Spread the sausage mixture onto the dough, leaving room around all of the edges

Fold in the two sides, first.  If the dough is really dry, put a little bit of water on the top so that the dough can stick together

Roll the bottom up, ensuring that there are no holes for the sausage to escape!  Roll 'er up!!

Rolled and ready.

Transfer the loaves to a greased/oiled baking sheet (I put two per sheet) and cut small holes in the top of the loaves to allow for the residual heat to escape.  Spray a bit of oil on top, in order to allow for the tops to brown.  Bake at 425* for 20-25 minutes, until cooked throughout and beautifully browned.

Two loaves, ready to go!  (I made the slits on the top with a pair of kitchen scissors)

Beautifully browned loaves!

ENJOY!!!

Homemade Pizza Dough....And maybe a couple calzones....

I am a fan of the easy way out.  I have no shame whatsoever in admitting that I often buy pizza dough at the supermarket when I make pizza, spinach pie, or some kind of "calzone."  However, I do love making my own dough every once in a while.  My Aunt Annette does it all the time (it really is easy) and so yesterday, I decided to make some dough of my own.  

We're going to family party today, and I decided to bring some Sausage Loaf and some Spinach Pie (for you people out there who don't know what sausage loaf and spinach pie are, just assume that it's a sausage calzone and a spinach calzone....Other blog entries to come later this week).  I did make both of these once before for a previous family party, and while no one even touched the sausage loaf, some of the spinach pie did go (there were some store-bought calzones on the table, and I guess people felt safer going with those....).  Since I know Scott loves the sausage loaf, he and I ended up eating quite a bit of it for dinner last night, so only the spinach pie will make an appearance at today's party (and whatever doesn't get eaten, I'm taking home!!!).  

So on to the pizza dough.  

Home Made Pizza Dough - Rising in the bowl, ready to be spread and used!!!

You only need four things to make pizza dough at home.  

1)  Flour.  2)  Water.  3)  Yeast.  4)  Time.  

Seriously.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together 1 Tablespoon of instant yeast and 1 cup of warm water (you can also add up to 1 teaspoon of sugar, if you so desire.  This will help the yeast bubble up).  Let the yeast mixture proof.  Once it has proofed nicely, add 4-5 cups of flour and start mixing everything together with a dough hook.  Gradually add up to another 1 cup of water.  You need to use your judgement here.  You don't want the dough to be too liquidy, but you also don't want it hard as a brick.  Once the machine has kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes or so and the mixture is nice and smooth, you can dump the mixture onto the counter, knead it a bit by hand to make sure it's the consistency that you want, and then transfer it to an OILED bowl.  Cover and leave in a warm location (I left it on top of the stove with the light on).  

"The Yeast Makes the Dough Rise" - the yeast, sugar and water are all mixed together!!

Proofing the yeast - the most important part!!

Letting the mixer do the work!!!  Using the dough hook helps to knead the dough, and you don't have to do it all by hand!

The dough is ready to sit and rise!

The dough is covered in a bit of oil, and is sitting in an oiled bowl!  Getting ready to sit for about an hour to rise

Let the dough sit in a warm area for about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in bulk.  Punch the dough down, and then let it double again (this only takes about 30 minutes).

After the first rise, the dough is ready to be punched down!

Yes, I literally punched the dough!!  Ready to rise again!

The dough is re-risen, and ready to be used!!!

Now, you've got beautifully risen dough, ready for whatever you decide to make!  (Note, I divided the dough in 4 and made smaller loaves....)

Look for some more entries this week to make Sausage Loaf and Spinach Pie!!!

Sausage Loaf!!!

Spinach Pie!!!

Siena East Greenwich

So Friday, Scott and I drove into work together.  On the way home, we stopped by the house to see any progress in the painting and then we decided to go out to dinner.  My first thought was Cassarino's on Federal Hill in Providence....However, we have a gift certificate there and it was in Cranston....So that was a no-go.  Then we decided on Siena....But instead of going to the location on Federal Hill like we usually do, we decided to go to the location in East Greenwich.  Well, we were pleasantly surprised!!

The menu is very different, and they have an amazing appetizer choice - The Cheese Board!!!  You can get one of the three cheese board combinations that they put together, or you can do a "make your own" by choosing between some meat selections, olives, and cheeses.

Dinner was also amazing!!

If you have the chance to go there, I highly recommend it!!

Here's what we chose!

Soprasada, Castelvetrani olives, and Burrata (amazingly fresh mozzarella cheese).  The board also comes with crustini, fig jam, and candied nuts.  AMAZING!!!

Scott's dinner - Schiaffoni del Calzolaio - large tubes of pasta with ground sausage in a San Marzano tomato sauce

My Dinner - Cavatappi con Pollo - corkscrew pasta with chicken, spinach and roasted red peppers in a lemon-garlic sauce