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Egg & Sausage Burritos (Freezer Recipe) | Breakfast on the Go

School started for my kids last week and in an effort to alleviate the morning rush, I spent some time in the kitchen making breakfast burritos for our freezer. They were a HUGE hit and saved me so much time. Seriously, from freezer to plate, they take a minute or two to warm in the microwave and that's it for breakfast prep on school mornings or work mornings or any morning when you don't have a lot of time.

Egg & Sausage Burritos

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound breakfast sausage
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 12 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper
• your favorite shredded cheese
• salsa (optional)
• 10-12 medium or fajita sized tortillas

Instructions

1. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Cook the sausage, pepper, and onion, breaking up the sausage into tiny pieces while cooking. Set aside

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper until combined. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat and melt a tablespoon of butter all over the pan. Add the eggs and scramble until cooked through.

3. Warm the tortillas per the package instructions. Layer 1/2 cup scrambled eggs, 1/2 cup cooked sausage, 1-2 Tbsp. shredded cheese, and a little salsa on a warmed medium sized tortilla. Fold up into a burrito. Don't know how to fold a burrito, let wiki-how show you.

4. Place each burrito on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and flash freeze in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Store the burritos in a plastic freezer bag.

5. At breakfast time, wrap a frozen burrito in a paper towel and microwave for about 60 seconds or until warm all the way through.

Side note: I wrap a few in foil to store in the freezer for my husband to take to work. Just remove foil before heating in the microwave. Heat through and wrap back up in the foil to keep the burrito warm.

Print recipe for Egg & Sausage Burritos.

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A New Fall Routine | Week 2 of 10 Weeks to a Half Marathon

My girls headed back to school this week and with that my morning routine has changed too. All summer, after my 6 am run I would come home to a quiet house.  I had about 1-2 hours before the kids would get up. I enjoyed a cup of coffee, ate my breakfast, checked my emails, and planned my day in peace and quiet.

 But no more.

At 7 AM when I'm walking in the house after my run, the girls' alarm is ringing. As the morning reality overcomes my girls, I'm hopping in the shower to get ready for work. They're pleading for an additional 10 minutes of sleep or arguing over who gets to wear the purple headband.

At 8:10 we're running for the bus stop and my coffee is now enjoyed from my to-go cup in my car on the way to the office.

Our new fall routine has begun.

10 Weeks to a Half Marathon

Join me as I journal my training for my fifth half marathon, the Runner's World Half in Bethlehem, PA. This will be the second time I've blogged about my 10 week training--the first time was this past spring as I trained for the Pittsburgh Half Marathon. I achieved my goal of a sub 2 hour time in Pittsburgh and you can read all about it here, Race Day Success.

My Week 2 Workouts:

• Monday: 3 mile run outside, easy pace
• Wednesday: 4 mile run outside, easy pace
• Thursday: 3 mile run outside, easy pace
• Friday: 1 hour of yoga at the YMCA
• Saturday: 5 mile run outside, run at conversational pace

My Training Plan for upcoming week 3:

• Monday: 3 mile run, easy pace
• Wednesday: 4 mile run, easy pace
• Thursday: 3 mile run, easy pace
• Friday: 1 hour of yoga at the YMCA
• Saturday: 6 mile run, run at conversational pace

Are you training for a race? Has your training changed now that the kids are back to school? Tell us about it in the comments.

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Christmas Savings Club | August Meeting

Happy 4 months til Christmas!

On the 25th of every month from January to November in 2013, I'm holding a virtual meeting for the Christmas Savings Club. The goal for this monthly accountability meeting is to give updates on our progress, motivate one another, and help all of us save for a cash Christmas. Today is the eighth meeting, but you can join us at any time.

If you are new, please read more about the Christmas Savings Club in the first post and join us. My offer for a FREE Christmas Gift & Spending Budget excel spreadsheet is still available.

On with the August meeting...

How did I do in August?
Our monthly goal for Christmas savings is $100. That number includes gifts for our kids, extended family members, teachers, friends, neighbors, bus drivers, service people, our Christmas cards, stamps, and our donations towards the Salvation Army's Adopt-a-Family program.

At the beginning of August, I was $100 short from June when we used some of our Christmas savings for gifts that were needed that month. I also needed to come up with August's goal of $100 for a total of $200 for the month. To achieve this, I attempted a pantry challenge in August.

I'm happy to report that I was able to reduce our grocery spending in August by about $50 and I'll put that money in our Christmas savings.

Our grocery spending has crept up over that last several months and it was time to rein it back in. My goal during the pantry challenge was to shop our freezer and pantry to put together my weekly menus instead of only using the Sunday sales flyers.

It pays to take an inventory of what is already in your kitchen before you make a grocery list. You'll avoid all sorts of duplicate purchases and reduce food waste too.

I'm still left with a $50 shortfall for the year, but I have 3 more months to save it before I make the majority of our holiday purchases.

September Assignments:
1. If you have not done so, complete the Christmas Gift & Spending Budget worksheet.

2. If you have not done so, open up a separate checking account specifically for your Christmas Spending Savings.

3. Set aside your monthly savings goal for September.

4. Start looking for Christmas gift ideas. My girls and I were in Target last week shopping for school supplies. They asked to walk through the toy department on our way to the Back-to-School department. I took pictures of a few things that they picked out for reference. They were pricier toys, but I'll start keeping my eye open for when they go on sale.

Let us know how you're doing with your Christmas Savings Account in the comments. You don't need to leave specific numbers if you don't feel comfortable, but let us know if you did anything specific to save your goal.


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Roasted Vegetable Sauce {Fresh from the Garden}

Pin this Recipe
If your garden is overflowing or your neighbors are begging you to take their extras, then you need to make a batch of Roasted Vegetable Sauce.

It is super easy, unbelievably delicious, yet incredibly cheap if everything is from your garden. You can use tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, onions, celery, carrots, and/or eggplant and fresh herbs. Every tray that you roast will taste different, depending on what vegetables you use. Any combination will do, but I recommend that half of the tray is tomatoes.

This sauce freezes really well in reusable containers. Even if you don't have a garden, take advantage of the local summer produce and MAKE THIS SAUCE!

Roasted Vegetable Sauce

Ingredients

• Assorted fresh summer vegetables, cleaned and roughly chopped (You can use tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, onions, celery, carrots, and/or eggplant. Any combination will do, but I recommend that half of the tray is tomatoes)
• 3 garlic whole cloves
• handful of fresh herbs, such as basil, oregano, thyme
• olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Lay the fresh vegetables, garlic, and herbs flat on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill up the baking sheet with the vegetables.

3. Drizzle olive oil to coat all of the vegetables and herbs. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

4. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through. Carefully remove the pan from the oven because the vegetables get juicy.

One tip for roasting tomatoes: I leave the skins on the tomatoes and I just slice them in half and place on the sheet, cut side down. After roasting, use tongs to peel the skins off easily (see below).

5. Allow the vegetables & herbs to cool completely. Once cool, blend in a food processor. This will take several batches to complete. Place each batch in one large bowl and stir well to combine.

6. Stir the blended tomato sauce well. You might need to add additional salt and pepper to your taste.

7. You can use immediately or freeze in containers. One baking sheet will yield about 5 cups, depending on the vegetables that you use. Use the sauce with your favorite pasta dishes. My kids love it as a dip for bread.

Print recipe for Roasted Vegetable Sauce.

This post is linked to Thrifty Thursday and Fabulously Frugal Thursday.

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