Coffee Breakfast

Disclaimer: These breakfast burritos are not fancy. These breakfast burritos are not gourmet. These breakfast burritos are not haute Tex-Mex cuisine. These breakfast burritos are exactly that: breakfast burritos, and I often make them for my husband and kids when they’re at the pens working cattle at breakfast time. They’re as simple as it gets…and you know what? SO AM I! Yep, that’s me—simple. Just give me a remote control, a laptop, a pedicure, a manicure, a deep tissue massage, a pint of Coffee Haagen Dazs, an unlimited shopping spree at B & H, a Toni Collette movie, and a stack of Archie comic books and I’ll stay out of your hair for at least eight minutes. See? I’m as simple as they come.

My point is, if you’re looking for fancy chipotle-asiago-chorizo-poblano-fancy-o breakfast burritos this morning…you’ve come to the wrong wife and mother. And I’ve tried that route; believe me, I’ve tried it. The problem is, my family—my husband and four spawn—aren’t jiggy wit’ chipotle-asiago-chirozo-poblano-fancy-o stuff. They want it straight up and Middle-Americano, without a lot of adornment. But the great thing about this recipe is, it’s basic. And you can use the basic method to create whatever degree of amped-up breakfast burrito you’re in the mood for. As the recipe proceeds, I’ll let you know the things I’d add to the mix if I were living in a tiny apartment in Chicago by myself, just to give you some more ideas.

Let’s hurry this along—they’ve got to be horseback by dawn!

The Cast of Characters: Flour Tortillas, Browned Breakfast Sausage, Breakfast Potatoes, Monterey Jack Cheese, Eggs, Chives, Seasoned Salt, Pepper, and whatever else you want to throw in there.

Let’s rewind for just a second; we need to make the make some breakfast potatoes. Follow my basic recipe for those, except this time we’re going to add in some red and green bell peppers. (You can also use frozen diced potatoes if you’d like, but I never have things like that in my freezer when I need ’em.)

Basically, I sautee coarsely chopped red and green bell pepper over high heat…

…Until the peppers get a tiny bit black.

Remove them from the pan, then dice some cooked (I boil them until tender but still a bit firm) red or russet potatoes. Throw those in the same pan and cook until brown…

Then add in the peppers and onions. Cook for about ten minutes, or until nice and golden brown, then set aside.