Mother's Day Breakfast Burritos

As mentioned in my previous post, here is my recipe for breakfast burritos.  Not exactly reinventing the wheel here, just a tweak or two.

ingredients -- frozen hashbrowns, milk, flour tortillas, cream cheese, eggs, gravy mix and smoked sausage

step 1. cook hashbrowns as directed on package

dump in a big ass

pan (technical, I know) 

 Step 2 - dice smoked sausage into small bite size pieces, and brown

 (sorry - no picture of the dicing - you'll have to use your imagination)

 here is what they look like after browning (duh)

yep, you guessed it - dump in the big ass pan with the hashbrowns

next up -- eggs!  Ideally, I would have Philadelphia Cooking Creme to add to the eggs, but since the plain old unspiced boring flavor was unavailable everywhere I looked (2 stores!) I had to use regular cream cheese - which means it looks lumpy when you combine it with the eggs - don't worry - it will melt eventually.

 

Scramble the eggs and cheese until the eggs are set -- how bout that whisk action!!!

do I have to say it?  Ok fine - dump the eggs in the big ass pan

stir it all up till it looks like a mess.  Add a lot of salt and pepper. 

Actually now that I think about it, I think I salt and peppered the hashbrowns too. 

Doesn't really matter when, as long as you do it!

now you need to warm your tortillas in the microwave so they roll up without tearing

and you're ready to assemble the burritos.  Put a heaping spoonful of the mixture from the big ass pot on the tortilla and top it with a little bit of gravy.  Crap - I forgot to make the gravy.

Imagine this is a picture of a pan full of gravy mix and milk

Follow the directions on the package and make the gravy.

I had leftover gravy in the fridge so didn't have to make it.

Sorry

No action shots of the folding of the tortilla -

just go with whatever works for you so the stuff isn't falling out all over the place, mkay? 

Now wrap that bad boy up in some foil unless you're planning to eat it immediately. 

WAIT!  If you're going to reheat them in the microwave, foil - not such a great idea. 

You heard it here -- if your microwave catches on fire, don't blame me! 

Now for all the boring stuff for those of you cooks who don't just fly by the seat of your pants like I do.  Ingredients and such.

Mother's Day Breakfast Burritos

32 oz frozen hash brown O'Briens
1 package Smoked Sausage  (more if your husband won't stay out of them)
12 eggs
4 oz Philadelphia Cooking Creme, Original Flavor
salt and pepper to taste
18 flour tortillas (soft taco size)
1 package sausage gravy mix prepared as directed on package


Of course, you can use larger tortillas, which will result in fewer burritos (see how I did that?)  I made smallish ones since there was going to be alot of other food to eat.

As a reformed gravy hater, I enjoy the gravy added in.  If you haven't come over to the dark side, no prob - just leave the gravy out!  Or if you're really crazy - dump that shit over the top of it!  Go wild!  Whatever makes you happy!

Preserving Memories

Well another Mother's Day has come and gone, and this year was an especially enjoyable one.  Thanks to Erin's bright idea, we all fixed food and took it to Mom's  house Sunday morning for brunch.  So much good food, no one left the table hungry, I promise!   One thing I fixed this year was breakfast burritos.  I've discovered a new trick to making them extra yummy.  Gravy!  Doesn't take much - just a little on top of the filling before you roll them up.  You'd be surprised at how good they are!  Planning to do a post later with the recipe, so I can post it to Pinterest. 

My only goal for Mother's Day this year was to get a 4 generation picture with my Mom, myself, Erin and Chloe.  Some of us are not as photogenic as others in my family,(I'm talking about myself here) so getting a good picture of all four of us wasn't the easiest task.  Add to that the sun shining in mom's eyes (NOT complaining about the sun - it was glorius!) and we were just hoping for one decent shot.  Thanks to our expert photographer, Rosalie, we were successful.  Carter even got in on the fun with his first photobomb. 

And the winner is.....

It's a picture I will always treasure, and a family I will always treasure as well.  Hope your Mother's Day was just as wonderful!

Feeding My Memory

My co-worker Gina and I made chicken salad for lunch today.  When we started throwing things together, we realized it had been a while since we last made it and weren't even sure what all we used before.  We definitely don't want to forget how to make it!!  For that reason, and just because it's so yummy and we want to share, I'm posting the recipe here. 

Gina and Barb's Famous Chicken Salad

1 big can of chicken, drained
1 apple, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 cup grapes, halved
1 cup pecans
1 cup Miracle Whip

throw it all together in a big bowl and stir! 

Yes -- it's that simple.  Not exactly rocket science, but definitely worth making.  It makes enough to feed 3 or 4 lunch easily. 

Today, we finished off with a pinterest recipe for dessert.  You can find it on either of our pinterest pages. 

Crescent Roll Pecan Pie Bars



Obviously they are delish -- it's half gone already!!!  (and just in case you're wondering, no Gina and I did not eat all of that.  Not quite. ha!) Tastes just like pecan pie, but uses crescent roll dough so you don't have to roll out pie dough.  That's my kinda recipe!  Gina did tell me she doubled everything except the crescent roll.  More = better.  Right?

Psych 101

I think it's fair to say I've always been a moody person.  It never took much to make me turn on a dime.  As I've aged, the moodiness has increased.  Medication (not just for that) helps some, but menopause has kicked it into high gear.  This evening, I experienced both extremely highs and extremely lows within a matter of minutes.  I'm proud of myself for escaping on a positive note. 

After work, I went to Best Buy in search of an old Jason Aldean CD, released in 2006. I knew there wasn't much chance of them having it, but figured I'd give it a shot.  When I got to the CD section, wouldn't you know, there was a guy standing right in front of the -A-s.  As I tried to peak around him, I saw him reach for a CD.  Yeah, a Jason Aldean CD.  I picked up the only one left and it was the wrong one.  I said something to him about how funny we were both looking at the same artist, and told him which one I was trying to find.  He pulled a CD out of the stack he was holding and asked "is this it?"  Sure was -- and he told me to take it.  I asked if he was sure, and he said yes, so I thanked him profusely and happily bought my CD.  How awesome! 

I decided to grab a bite to eat at Taco Bell.  If you're familiar with the Taco Bell on Wanamaker, you know how congested the drive through line can get.  Of course it was backed up onto the road leading into Best Buy, so I kept going and drove around to come into the parking lot from the other side.  I drove around front and there were a few cars in line.  I made sure I knew which car was the last one in line when I pulled up, and planned to merge into the line behind it.  Another car came whipping along and no doubt saw me sitting there and decided she was not going to allow me in front of her.  She kept on the tail of the car in front of her so there was absolutely no way I could squeeze in.  Of course my immediate reaction was rage.  I tried staring her down, but she wouldn't even look at me.  I cussed at her.  And then, I realized none of that was helping.  In the meantime, another car pulled in behind her, but she didn't crowd, and graciously let me in front of her.  As I sat in the line thinking about how she didn't have to do that, I decided to pay for her food.  It wasn't much -- she must have been a light eater!  But it wouldn't have mattered.  I just wanted to pay it forward.  First for the nice guy at Best Buy who helped me, and of course for the woman herself.  I got my food, paid for the orders, and headed on down the road.  As always the first thing I went to do is put my straw in my drink.  But guess what -- they didn't give me a straw.  Normally, this would set me off again.  I'd be cussing the drive through worker and Taco Bell in general.  But... BUT, I guess I felt so good about what had just happened, I just thought "oh well -- I'll just drink it without a straw"  That never happens!  I never let things go like that! 

I'm not writing about this so everyone will know I did something nice for a stranger.  I guess I'm just sharing the lesson I learned today; positive behavior begets positive behavior.  But then, you already knew that, didn't you?

It was the search for this song that got this whole ball of positivity rolling...

 



They Call Me Martha Sewer

Cooking.  Never really been a fan.  Or at least I didn't think I was.  But then I realized, it's not the cooking itself I don't like, it's the cleanup.  And when you're trying to create a masterpiece in a tiny area (that would be my kitchen) it's even worse.  So I've never been terribly adventurous when it comes to new recipes.  There 's another reason for that as well.  Greg hates it when I try cook something new.  He'd be happy to eat the same 5 or 6 meals every night for the rest of his life.  Nothing wrong with em, why mess with em?  That would be why I have a pinterest board titled "Stuff Greg Won't Eat".  But every once in a while, I come up with something worth adding to the rotation, as they say.  A while back, I started throwing some stuff together, thought it turned out ok, and tweaked it from there until I had something pretty yummy.  Then I made the mistake of bringing leftovers to work one day.  Now, about once a month, a few of my favorite spoiled rotten brats start whining about how they sure would like me to bring some to work!  I always give them a hard time about having to cook for them, but the truth is I really like making people happy, and if something I cooked does the trick, then I'm all over it.  So without further ado, I present to you my recipe for Hot Sausage and Rice. 

I'd love to be like Robyn and Nance over at dinosaurs can't eat pizza and post a picture of all of the ingredients that go into this dish, but I just made this a couple of nights ago and don't have all of the ingredients on hand right now, so that's just not gonna happen today.  I do have a few pictures taken during different stages of cooking, so that's gonna have to do for now.

The ingredients are:

1 lb. Tennessee Pride Hot Pork Sausage
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped peppers
2 T. Olive Oil
1 box Creamy Four Cheese Rice A Roni
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cups water
1/2 cup Velveeta, chopped
salt and pepper to taste


The first thing I do is chop the onions and peppers.  The peppers I use depends on what I have in the freezer or if I have to buy peppers in store.  We grow all sorts of varieties of hot peppers in the garden and then freeze them, so I that's what I usually use.  The small red, yellow and green peppers that come in a bag in the store work great for this.  They aren't hot, so if I use them I throw a few jalapenos in too.  How many hot peppers you use depends on how hot you like your food.  The hot sausage is pretty spicy, so I usually seed any hot peppers I use.

Saute the onions and peppers in the olive oil. 

Then add sausage and cook until the sausage is done.  

SORRY - NO PICTURE OF THE MEAT AND VEGGIES!!!

Remember I mentioned how much I hate cleaning up?  Well that led me to using the same big skillet for everything in this dish.  When the meat is cooked thoroughly, I dump the rice right into the center of the skillet and brown it a minute or two before adding the chicken soup and water.  Then turn down the heat, cover and let it simmer until the rice is almost done (about 10 minutes)  It's a good idea to check on it frequently and stir so it doesn't burn.  Once most of the liquid is cooked out, I add the Velveeta and let it melt.  Season with salt and pepper. 

If you have a fancy schmancy dishwasher and pots and pan running out of your ass, feel free to cook the rice as directed on the box, then add it to the sausage mixture and add the soup and cheese in without any additional water.  I happen to think MY way is easier. 

Now if I'm making this for supper after I get home from work, Greg is probably starving, so we go ahead and eat it at this stage.  If I'm making it to take to work, I put it in a pan and bake it in the oven for 15 minutes or so.  Baking it cooks the rice a little more and just firms it up a bit -- it's really however you prefer to eat it.  There's no right or wrong way to eat this stuff!

 All ready to feed to those bratty kids at work!!!

The beauty of this recipe is you can change anything in it to suit your tastes.  And while I do think the sausage is what makes it so good, you don't have to use hot sausage.

If you're brave enough to try my recipe, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Nothing to Say

I feel like writing a blog post today.  Trouble is, I have no idea what to write about.  Lets see... well the weather sucks.  No, I take that back.  It rained all weekend, and to a farmer, that rain is  better than gold.  Even the snow we got in February was a blessing.  But did you know it takes 12 inches of snow to equal 1 inch of rain?**  That doesn't seem fair!  Wonder if it's partly because some of it evaporates before it can soak into the ground?  Who knows.  I do know it felt much heavier than 1 inch of rain when we shoveled mom's driveway.  Cue whining about my shoulder, and inturn Greg yelling about my whining. 

Everyone's been sick.  Right around the end of January we all got the flu.  I even missed 4 days of work because of it.  I never do that, so you know it was bad.  Greg caught it, but somehow he managed to get over it quickly, even while ignoring my advice to take it easy and rest.  Now, Erin and family have a new virus and are all home sick today.  Ugh.  Will the germs ever go away???

We got meat!  We took two steers to the locker plant last month, and picked up the meat last Wednesday.  Sure is nice to have a freezer full of fresh meat.  It seems like after a year or so, the meat starts tasting old.  Greg doesn't notice it as soon as I do, and Erin notices it before either of us.  Once I notice it, I'm done.  We're planning to butcher a few pigs next month, and we're going to be doing it ourselves in the shop.  There's several of us buying pigs at the same time, so we'll all spend one long day working on it.  That's usually a fun day.  "The women" do the wrapping and labeling, and that's fine by me.  Doesn't matter how much wine I drink that way. (although the more wine we drink the more creative the labeling is, heh heh)   Wine and knives, on the other hand, not such a good idea.  Well neither is  beer and knives for that matter, but that doesn't stop the guys.  Haven't lost any fingers yet... 

Did someone say they wanted to hear a Carter story?  Last week he went to the Caterpillar Dealer in Topeka with Papa.  Greg was busy ordering parts, so he pretty much let Carter have the run of the place.  Well, Carter found someone that knew him.  (One of Brent's best friends' dad works there)  He hung out in Gordon's office playing with toys for a while, and spotted a brand new remote control dump truck in an unopened box.  Of course he wanted to play with it, but since it was new, the easiest thing for Gordon to tell him was that the batteries were dead.  He accepted that and kept playing, BUT, when it was time to leave, Carter told Gordon "next time I come here, I'm gonna want to play with that, so make sure you get new batteries for it".  Sometimes I think he's too smart for his own good.  When Erin took him to the well child screening for preschool, everyone thought he was getting ready to go into Kindergarten.  (And believe me, that's not because of his size)

And because I believe in equality, let's catch up on Miss Chloe!  I had the pleasure of spending most of the weekend with my sweet baby girl.  She's such a loving and happy girl, but she does not like strangers.  Any by strangers I mean anyone who isn't Mommy, Daddy, Meema, Papa or Grandma.  I guess it's not that she doesn't like them, but she won't let anyone else hold her.  Once she warms up a little, she'll smile or laugh at them, but that's about it.  I had to laugh the other day when I took her into the Coop office to see all of my former (notice, I didn't say OLD, ladies!) co-workers and they all came rushing up to see her.  Of course they all wanted to hold her, but I had to tell them that wasn't going to happen.  She did finally let me put her down and she walked around a bit.  It was just killing them (I'm looking at YOU, Laura!!!) not to hold her.  Whenever I took Carter in at that age, he went to everybody.  It's so funny, we could tell almost immediately after she was born that she wasn't going to be as outgoing as Carter, and so far, that's still true.  I think Erin is grateful for that, since she worries so much about Carter being over friendly with strangers.  Chloe has  been walking since January, she'll eat anything you put in front of her, she has 6 teeth I think, with more trying to come in.  She says mama, dada, ma (for Maggie) and tries to say bubba. Oh, and UH OH!   She just started waving bye, and Brent has her giving high fives!  She also loves her blankie, just like her momma.  One improvement over Erin's attachment is Chloe will take any of her blankets, not just one special one.  That means no trips back to Walmart to retreive a lost blanket, which we may have done once or twice!  Like her brother, she loves animals, especially  Maggie of course.  And she wants nothing more than to pet Hoss and Harry, but we all know that will never happen! 

Last, but certainly not least, our family suffered a terrible loss in January.  Brent's dad, Richard passed away after fighting lung cancer since August.  Brent and his family have the same tight bond as our family does, so this has been very difficult.  We worried so about how Carter would handle it, but after his momma so carefully and lovingly explained to him what happened, he seemed to understand better than anyone expected.  Other than not wanting to go in to the funeral home (after the first visitation) he did great.  He still talks about Grandpa Gibby, and he gets that he's gone forever, but it's only been a little over a month, so we'll have to see how things go. I know he misses him terribly.  He's spent the last few Saturday nights with Grandma Gibby, which I know gives Mildred great comfort.  Please keep Brent and his family in your prayers as they adjust to life without such an important person in their family.

Sharing a few pictures too :)

The Birthday Boy on his new bike



Just bein' goofy :)

doesn't every 4 year old watch TV like this?

He was SUPPOSED to be helping us shovel snow...

If you love Forest Gump as much as we do, this should require no explanation!

Ready for Cake!!!

Hamming it up, just like big brother

Happy First Birthday Chloe Janette!

He loves carrying her around -- wonder how much longer he'll be able to!

They love playing together :)

big  brother sharing his ice cream cone!

they even hunt together! (shhh- don't tell Chloe that's not a gun)

Huh!  Guess I had more to say that I thought!  Doubt that really surprises anyone :)

**source:  the hubby, so take it for what it's worth

Mothers Day

I love my Mom.  Well really, who doesn't love their Mom?  And for that matter, who doesn't love MY Mom?  She's such a character.  While both of my parents had a wicked sense of humor, I think my own brand of humor is more like my Moms.  Particularly our tendency towards self-deprecating jokes.  And she's just as quick witted at 88 as she ever was.  When I look in the mirror, I don't see much of her, but when I look inside myself, she's right there.  We've all uttered those famous words "oh my God, I sound just like my mother", but in my case, it's happening more and more with each passing day.  I know my Mom wasn't a saint (she reminds me all the time), but I choose to remember all the good and put anything unpleasant in the distant past.  Growing up the baby in the family, I was the lucky one.  I had my mom all to myself for almost 10 years, so I think we share a tighter bond than she does with my brother or sister.  I know that was not a conscious choice on any one's part, but simply the way our lives played out.

As one would expect, now that she's almost 89 years old, her health has deteriorated.  But, how many 88 year olds do you know who still live in their own home, drive their own car, and cook their own meals?  Did I mention how stubborn she is?  She did finally agree not to drive outside of Burlingame, but I think that had more to do with the reliability of her car than anything.  

Anyone that knows my mom very well knows one thing.  She has an aversion to staying on her feet.  I can't count the number of times she's fallen.  Shoot, even when she was younger she broke her foot a number of times.  She likes to say she's a klutz.  I would never say that.  I might say she's gravity challenged.  If you were at Erin's wedding, you might have seen this first hand.  

The day before yesterday, I got a phone call from Mom's cleaning lady, Pam,  telling me she had fallen at the Senior Center.  The wonderful Burlingame Rescue Squad checked her out, and suggested she go to the emergency room.  Remember that stubborn streak?  She had Pam take her home.  Another friend joined them and helped get her situated at home until I could get there.  When I arrived, I could see a few bruises and some cuts on her face.  It seems she tripped over a brick on the edge of the sidewalk and landed face first.  Within an hour or two, the bruising and swelling had worsened, and she was starting to look like she'd lost a fight with Muhammad Ali.  The fall broke her glasses, and judging by the cement skid marks on the lens, it's a good thing she was wearing them.   After experiencing several dizzy spells, she finally conceded to going to see her Dr. the next day.  Not surprisingly, the Dr. said they were the result of a concussion.  I also took her to her Eye Dr. and got new glasses ordered.  By the time we got all our running around done, she was exhausted.  This morning she reported to me that she slept well last night (no doubt helped out by the pain meds the Dr. prescribed) and was feeling much better.  Maybe, just maybe now, she'll start using that cane we bought a couple of years ago.  Oh who am I kidding?  I know she's going to recover just fine from this little mishap, but when I let myself think about how differently things could have turned out, it scares me to death.  I've only had my momma for 53 years, and I'm not done with her yet! 

at Erin's Bridal Shower 2005