Make Ahead Breakfasts

Breakfast is the busiest meal for most people. Trying to get your hubby or kids to eat something healthy and filling to get them through till lunch or trying to feed yourself while getting ready. I would much rather my husband eat a home cooked breakfast every morning than running to the drive-thru on his way to work. It's generally healthier, faster, and cheaper. I, on the other hand, just don't want to eat a pile of carbs known as pancakes even though I make them for the kids. Here's some tricks and recipes to having a healthy fast breakfast every morning.

Breakfast Burritos

     This is not a new concept but it's a great one. When Bountiful Baskets has their tortillas I always order them and then stock the freezer with breakfast burritos. You get 3 dozen huge flour tortillas, 2 dozen small flour and 2 dozen small corn tortillas. You can do this with any large tortilla but I find that I really like the ones from my baskets. You can customize these with any veggies, meats or cheeses that you like. Here's a couple tips with these:

• When in doubt, overcook the eggs. I usually put milk in my scrambled eggs but not when making these burritos. As they freeze the extra moisture will make everything soggy. I have also read somewhere of making them in the oven and that helps but I have never tried it.
• Spinach is great in these but squeeze out ALL of the water. Spinach is the worst culprit for moisture.
• Any potatoes/hashbrowns work but I love these from Our Best Bites. They take more time though. Most times, when I know I'm going to be doing breakfast burritos, I serve baked potatoes the night before and I just bake up 4-6 extra and make them into hashbrowns. Just shred, toss in a skillet with butter, salt and pepper (may need to work in batches) and let them hang out, flipping once or twice until golden and a bit crispy.
• Make them for dinner! I always make breakfast burritos for dinner the day I'm going to freeze them. Why go through all that effort and then need to make a separate dinner as well? 

Breakfast Burritos

 LargeTortillas

Scrambled eggs (I make a bunch so I use about 24)

Breakfast potatoes or hashbrowns (4-6 potatoes worth)

Veggies (I like to saute red, green, and orange bell peppers, zucchini and onions)

Shredded cheese

Breakfast meats (Sausage, bacon, ham)

To assemble: Make an assembly line but having everything in order set out. I do potatoes, eggs, meat, veggies, then cheese. Microwave tortillas covered with a damp paper towel for about 10 seconds. Then pile on the goodies. When folding, first fold over each side and then hold those in while you fold over the bottom. Finish rolling and wrap in plastic wrap. Then just pop them in the freezer. If you have freezer paper, that works the best but I just use plastic wrap. When you're ready to microwave, take off plastic wrap, wrap in napkin or paper towel, and microwave for 1-3 minutes depending on the size. Enjoy! My husband loves these for breakfast or lunch.

Smoothies

   Pretty easy and a lot of people do these but I do mine a little different. Most people make little baggies of cut up fruit and put those in the freezer and that works great. Really. As long as you don't mind washing the blender everyday. I already do enough dishes so I don't do that. I make a big batch of smoothies and pour then into mason jars or these from Tupperware (I love them because they have fitted lids, my hubby loves them because it doesn't look like he's drinking a jar of jam like it does when he's drinking out of mason jars.) and freeze them that way. You can pop one in the fridge the night before to help thaw or just grab one in the morning and drink as it defrosts. My husband prefers just grabbing one in the morning because he's not usually hungry for a couple hours. That way it just sits on his desk at work until he's ready for it. 

For my smoothies I just use whatever fruit I have on hand (I'm not a big fan of frozen berries for this because you'll just be refreezing them and it makes them taste freezer burnt sometimes). I always have over ripe bananas to throw in, that gives the smoothie a good base. Then work from there. I do peaches, blueberries, strawberries, apples, even grapes. Then I throw in a peeled carrot or two to add some veggie power since you can't taste it. Fill up the blender to half way with juice or milk and blend away. If I'm using frozen juice concentrate then I don't mix the apple juice before hand, I just scoop out some concentrate and then fill the blender with water.

 If you're doing hard fruits and veggies, having a good blender is a must. After I've made 2 or 3 blenders worth of smoothies I keep about a cup of smoothie in the blender, toss in some baby spinach, kale, zucchini or crookneck and ice and whip up a green smoothie for me. Just so you know, the flavor of the green smoothie gets more potent in the freezer so I hardly ever freeze my green smoothies.

Bagel Sandwiches

  Ok, I've never frozen these before because I only make up six at a time and they'll keep in the fridge the whole week. These are pretty basic. I fry up six eggs, breaking the yolk so it gets hard. I put those on the bagel bottoms then add a slice of cheese. Take some Canadian bacon, ham, regular or turkey bacon and fry that up (optional) and place on top of the cheese. Put each sandwich in a little ziploc bag and your done! Easy peasy and very filling. I've also done this with those multi-grain sandwich thins for those that are watching their carbs.

Baked Veggie Frittata

   This one is mostly just for me because it's so healthy. At the beginning of the week I will saute up some veggies (I love red and green peppers, onion, and zucchini but use whatever suites your fancy) with some olive oil, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp basil and salt and pepper to taste. You could also put some diced ham in there. Divide it into oven-safe ramekins, I use 5 (picture #1). Put the lids on or wrap in plastic wrap and pop in the fridge (picture #2). Each day while I'm getting kids ready and making their breakfasts I turn on the oven to 350°. Pour an egg or two in depending on the size of your dish (picture #3). I actually just use 1/3 cup of egg whites. You can top if with a bit of shredded cheese after it's baked. I don't always, depending on the day. After your oven has heated up, put the dish in there for 20 minutes (picture #4). It's the perfect amount of time to get the kids dressed and make their breakfast, maybe even get ready before the timer goes off.

Muffins

  Any type of muffin will freeze well. I make banana, pumpkin, and apple muffins pretty routinely. I usually don't freeze mine because we eat them so fast. Here's a couple recipes that I really love!

 Lightened Up Pumpkin Muffins

Cranberry Oatmeal Muffins

Bran Flax Muffins (sorry no pic)

Pancakes (and French Toast)

I make these A LOT. Pancakes are a staple at my house. On Saturday mornings I go do Bountiful Baskets though and just don't have time to cook up a stack. That's why I love to freeze my leftover pancakes or French toast and then my hubby can just pop them in the toaster or microwave and they are ready for the kids. Try these Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes, or these Whole Wheat Gingerbread Pancakes, or these Banana Oatmeal Pancakes or these Carrot Cake Pancakes.

 

Breakfast Pockets

I love these Breakfast Pockets from Our Best Bites. The recipe says Homemade Hot Pockets but if you read through her post she tells you how to make them breakfast pockets. She also has freezer instruction but I've learned that if you microwave them for 5 minutes on 50% power they turn out way better. This is another one that we eat for dinner when I'm going through the trouble of making it.

Any other ideas? I would love to hear it!