During the first few weeks of school, I am absolutely good for nothing when I get home. I know it’s going to be this way. It always is. I mean, I’ve spent an entire summer doing pretty much nothing. Sleeping late – well, 7:30 is extraordinarily late for me! – watching t.v., playing with the kids. You guys want ice cream? Cool! Let’s go! Staying up watching movie marathons. Being lazy.
And now, that’s over. I will be back to getting up early – usually around 5:30. I get dressed and made up and then let Brees out. After that, I pack lunches and prep and/or start dinner. If I’ve thought ahead, I may have actually made the lunches the night before so that all I’m doing is packing it up. Most mornings, I make breakfast. It’s usually not very impressive because I just want to get it made and sit in the quiet for a few minutes before I start waking everybody up.
As a teacher, I’ve been back at school since last Thursday. We’ve been in meetings and training sessions and inservices. We’ve been getting our rooms ready, making copies, decorating bulletin boards. Teachers at our school just got their class rosters on Sunday afternoon and since then, they’ve been personalizing nametags and cutesifying (yes, it’s a word!) everything in their rooms with the kids’ names. We are, quite frankly, exhausted – and we haven’t even gotten our kids yet.
But today is the first day of school in our parish (outside of Louisiana, a “parish” is called a “county.”). So as soon as I wake up the kids, they’ll get dressed and coiffed and then I will force them to go outside the house so that I can shoot first-day-of-school pictures. They tolerate it, but they don’t love it. It’s hard enough to just get them to stand together for a picture.
Somewhere in between getting dressed and taking pictures, they will have to eat breakfast. On the first day of school, I let them tell me what they would like for breakfast. This year, they’ve both chosen pancakes. Easy enough. I don’t mind celebrating the first day with a little extra effort. If I can just drag the griddle out from under the cabinet without dragging everything else out with it!
But in the mornings to come, I need something quick and easy that we can grab and heat up and enjoy. That’s where these recipes come in. Even though the post title is “A Week of Make-Ahead Breakfasts,” these will likely last us a month or more. The recipes make 24 baked oatmeal muffins, 25 breakfast burritos, 12 frittatas (6 bacon and cheese and 6 broccoli and cheese), and a large casserole that can be cut into 12 individual servings. They can all be frozen and then reheated when needed. Here are the recipes:
Mini Frittatas:
- 10 large eggs
- 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
- 1 bag of bacon pieces (or about a cup of chopped, cooked bacon)
- 1 1/2 cups of thawed, chopped broccoli (cut a little smaller)
- 2 cups of shredded cheddar
- Salt & pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with baking spray. Evenly divide the bacon into 6 of the muffin cups. Do the same with the broccoli. (I made half bacon and half broccoli. If you only want one kind, just double the amount of broccoli or bacon)
Place the cheese on top.
In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and whipping cream. Salt and pepper as if you were making scrambled eggs. I used about a teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Use a ladle to divide the eggs equally among the cups.
Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. The frittatas will pop up like crazy, but they will settle back down after a few minutes.
May be eaten immediately or frozen in a large zipper bag. When ready to eat, just microwave for 2 minutes – or until warmed through.
Breakfast Burritos
- 2 pounds of ground breakfast sausage (2 tubes of most kinds)
- 1 bag of frozen seasoning blend (or 1 medium onion, 1-2 stalks of celery, and 1/2 bell pepper, diced)
- 18 eggs
- 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream (or 1/2 cup of milk – even skim will work!)
- 2 cups of shredded Colby Jack
- 25-30 10-inch flour tortillas
In a large skillet, brown the sausage, using a spatula or wooden spoon to break up the clumps. When sausage is mostly done, add the seasoning blend. Continue to cook on high heat until vegetables are tender – about 5-10 minutes. Pour mixture into a colander to drain.
In a large bowl, whisk eggs and cream and add a teaspoon of salt and a 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Using the same skillet, melt 3-4 tablespoons of butter, add the eggs, and scramble. When eggs start to come together, add the cheese, continuing to stir until the eggs are done, but not dry. Add the sausage mixture to the eggs and stir to combine.
Spoon some of the mixture onto a tortilla and roll up. I don’t fold the ends in because the cheese makes everything stick together. Continue until all of the egg mixture is gone. Depending on how much filling you use in each burrito, you should get somewhere between 25-30 burritos. Roll each one in a sheet of waxed paper.
Place wrapped burritos into a gallon-sized zippered bag (or two) and store in the freezer. The night before you plan to eat burritos, take out as many as you’d like and place in the refrigerator. The next morning, microwave them until warmed through. I usually leave them in the waxed paper for this to prevent drying.
Baked Oatmeal Muffins:
- 5 cups of dry oatmeal
- 2 1/2 cups of over-ripe bananas, mashed (I used about 6 bananas. Measure after mashing!)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 cup of Splenda
- 2/3 cup of mini chocolate chips
- 2 2/3 cups of water
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
- 2 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin tins with 24 liners. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and stir very well. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients, including the banana). Mix wet into dry and then pour into the cupcake liners (I use an ice cream scoop for this). Bake for 25 minutes. After baking, I like to broil them for 3-4 minutes to brown the tops a little. After cooling, they will not stick to the liners.
Freeze in gallon-sized zippered bags. When ready to eat, remove a couple from the bag and microwave for 1-2 minutes until warmed through.
*These are NOT muffins! They are baked oatmeal! Expect a very dense texture.
The Best Breakfast Casserole EVER!
- 1 30-ounce bag of shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
- 1 tube of breakfast sausage (I used turkey this time)
- 1 bag of seasoning blend (or 1 medium onion, 1-2 stalks of celery, and 1/2 a bell pepper, diced)
- 10 large eggs
- 1 pint of heavy whipping cream
- 4 cups of shredded mozzarella
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brown the sausage with the seasoning blend until sausage is done. Be sure to use a spatula or wooden spoon to break the sausage into small pieces. Drain and set aside. In a large bowl, pour the hash browns and season with salt and pepper OR 2 teaspoons of Cajun seasoning. Mix together and then stir in the cheese, then the slightly-cooled sausage mixture. Pour evenly into an 11X13 baking dish that you have sprayed with baking spray. Using the same bowl, whisk together the eggs and whipping cream, adding salt and pepper OR Cajun seasoning. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the potato mixture. Bake for 1 hour – or until the middle is completely set. You may need to cook a little longer if the egg is still raw in the middle. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before cutting into squares.
To freeze, allow the casserole to cool and then store squares in small zippered bags in the freezer. To warm, remove from the bag and place on a paper plate. Microwave for 1-2 minutes – or until warmed through.
*You can also make this casserole the night before and place in the refrigerator, waiting until morning to cook it. Add 10-15 minutes of cooking time.
And there you have it! Cook all of these on a Saturday and you’ll have breakfast for a month! Or cook each one separately as you crave them!
Hope these recipes can help make your mornings a little less hectic. I have absolutely no advice for getting your kids to like each other while standing together for pictures!
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