Cathy’s Cooking Corner: Egg Burritos


We recently discovered a wonderful breakfast food to stock up in the freezer – egg burritos. I had decided to make up a bunch of meat and bean burritos and then decided to try some egg burritos. I wasn’t sure how well the scrambled eggs in the burrito would freeze. Would they be good or would they be rubbery or watery? I’m pleased to tell you that they were wonderful. Since I didn’t want to store them in aluminum foil, we wrapped them singly in plastic wrap and then froze them. After they were frozen, we grouped the burritos in gallon Ziploc bags and put them back into the freezer.

Frozen Egg Burritos

Flour Tortillas
Eggs, scrambled
Sausage, fried (or whatever meat you want)
Onion, sauteed
Cheese, grated
Sour cream
Salsa
Mayonnaise

Assemble the burritos, putting on whatever condiments you desire. Some other goodies would be olives, avocado slices, pickled banana pepper slices, ketchup, etc. Close the burritos with a toothpick and wrap in plastic to freeze. To warm, take the plastic off the burritos, place them in a covered pan and heat in a 350 degree oven till they’re hot. If you’ll be eating them on the run, you can wrap them in foil and heat them. I also like to thaw them overnight so they don’t take as long to bake. Delicious!

If you know of something to wrap the burritos in other than foil to heat them to go, I’d love to hear from you. I like to use as little foil as possible because of aluminum’s implication in Alzheimer’s.

UPDATE: I received several replies suggesting I use parchment paper. Thank you!

Turkey Sausage Quiche

 This is a basic no-fail quiche recipe that everyone in our family just loves. The meat, cheese and veggies can be varied to whatever you desire at the time. Yum!

Unbaked 9-inch pie crust
1/2 pound turkey sausage (recipe below)
4 eggs
2 cups light cream
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons mustard
1 cup shredded cheese of your choice
1/3 cup sauteed, chopped onion

Fry turkey sausage. Sprinkle into pie crust. Top with onion and then with cheese. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, mustard, and salt. Add cream and beat. Pour over all in pie crust. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Then reduce temperature to 300 degrees and bake 30 minutes more or until knife comes out clean when inserted in center. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.
Variation: Vegetables of your choice can also be added such as spinach, kale, broccoli, tomatoes, eggplant or zucchini. Serves 4-6.

Turkey Sausage

1 pound ground turkey
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried sage
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Mix thoroughly and fry. (Best if mixed and let set in fridge for at least an hour before frying.) Use half of the sausage for the quiche and save the rest for another use.

How to Make Great Tasting Stuffed Eggs

Have you ever noticed how popular stuffed eggs are at picnics? It seems they are often all eaten. They are a wonderful way to eat eggs.

For the best tasting stuffed eggs you need to begin with eggs that have been raised right; eggs that taste wonderful because of the wonderful grass and nutritious feed the hens ate. Of course, fresh eggs are the best. But you may have noticed that fresh eggs don’t typically peel well. There is an easy remedy for this. If the eggs are less than 2 weeks old, bring the water in your kettle to a boil before you put the eggs into the kettle. When the water is boiling, add the eggs with a slotted spoon into the cooking pot and bring the water to a boil again. Then immediately turn the burner down as low as possible and cook the eggs for 10 minutes. As soon as your 10 minute timer goes off, let the coldest tap water run into the kettle until the eggs are cooled. If you don’t want the water to run that long, run the water for a little and then add ice to cool down the eggs quickly. This also helps to avoid making the eggs in which the outside of the yolks turn gray. There is nothing wrong with an egg like that, but it doesn’t look as appetizing.

When the eggs are cooled, peel them and cut each egg in half lengthwise. Carefully pop the yolks into a pie plate or other flat dish. Use a potato masher or fork to mash the yolks.

Now for the great taste I’m going to give some general instructions rather than exact measurements. It is the cook’s prerogative to taste the food to make sure it is just how you want it.

Add some mayonnaise and a little mustard; enough to make the mashed yolks creamy instead of dry. Add a little onion powder or maybe a little minced onion. Sprinkle on a little salt if it needs it. Stuffed eggs are also wonderful with a little dill weed in the yolks or some curry powder. Be creative and add whatever spices you think you’d like. Just remember that you can always add more, but you can’t take out spices so start with a little.

I like plenty of yolk mixture in my stuffed eggs so I always get rid of a few misshapen egg whites. Fill the egg whites with the yolk mixture so that it is mounded a little over the egg white shell and so that you can’t tell which end of the egg white the yolk was. When the eggs are all stuffed, you can sprinkle some dill or paprika or some other spice on top of the eggs if you so desire.

Happy Egging!

Pulled Chicken

This recipe is a form of BBQ chicken, but has a unique flavor because of the orange juice and lots of cayenne pepper sauce. Yes, 1/3 cup is the right amount of hot sauce. Cayenne pepper sauce is a milder variety of hot sauce that adds tang and flavor, not just heat. If your chicken is large, just double the amount of sauce you prepare. This recipe is delicious served with mashed potatoes.

2 tablespoons oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 whole chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds), cut into quarters
1/3 cup cayenne pepper sauce*
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

In a 5-quart Dutch oven or sauce pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and green pepper and cook until tender and browned, about 20 minutes. When vegetables are tender, add chicken quarters, cayenne pepper sauce, orange juice, brown sugar, ketchup, and vinegar. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 1 hour or until chicken is very tender.

With a slotted spoon, transfer chicken to large plate, cool slightly. Skim fat from sauce in Dutch oven. Remove meat from bones; discard bones and skin. With two forks, pull meat into large shreds. Return meat to Dutch oven. Cook, uncovered, over medium-high heat until heated through.

From Good Housekeeping Best Chicken Dishes.

Sunday Fried Chicken

This chicken recipe is a little more involved, but always worth it. There’s always extra coating left after I’ve coated the chicken pieces. I put the extra coating in a ziploc bag in the freezer and label it. Then I use it for a coating for any meat I want to fry.

2 cups flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons dry mustard
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons garlic salt
1 tablespoon celery salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon pepper (optional)
Chicken pieces from Jehovah-Jireh Farm
Cooking oil (I recommend coconut oil)

Combine all ingredients except chicken and oil. Place about 1 cup flour mixture in a paper or plastic  bag. Shake a few chicken pieces in the bag at a time, coating well. On medium-high, heat 1/4 inch of oil in a large skillet. Brown chicken on all sides; remove to a shallow baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes or until done. Recipe makes enough coating for three chickens. Store unused mixture in an airtight container.

Cathy’s Cooking Corner: Saucy Apricot Chicken

This recipe doesn’t keep you in the kitchen very long, but it is simply delicious.

8 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)
2 to 3 tablespoons butter
1 cup apricot jam
1 cup Catalina or French salad dressing
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1 teaspoon salt

In a large skillet, brown chicken in butter over medium heat for 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Combine the apricot jam, salad dressing, minced onion and salt; pour over the chicken. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until juices run clear. Delicious served over rice. Yield 8 servings.

Cathy’s Cooking Corner: The Well Equipped Kitchen Workshop

I, Myron, am writing Cathy’s Cooking Corner this month for the husband or wife that is not doing the cooking, or that does not do most of the cooking.

You have kicked the cheap food and prepared foods mentality of our American culture and are eating real foods. In the cheap food culture, all that is needed is a coffeemaker, a microwave, a stove and oven and a few pots and pans. The kitchen is not a very important workshop. Most of the cooking is done in a big factory somewhere.

In changing to a real foods diet, your kitchen needs to be properly equipped to quickly and efficiently prepare real foods and health giving meals. View the kitchen as a very important workshop that needs to be properly equipped with quality tools and equipment. The tools and equipment do not need to be expensive, just good quality.

I have tried to make it a priority to make sure that Cathy’s kitchen is properly equipped with the tools that she needs. We keep adding things as we can afford them and when we can find them. Unfortunately, most kitchen stores such as Bed, Bath, and Beyond are filled with electronic gadgets and cheaply made small appliances that are not designed for real cooking with real foods. You can find quality made items, but it takes some looking around.

The take home message this month is: If you want to be healthy and eat right, equip your kitchen workshop so that you can eat right and be healthy.


After burning up several expensive homeowner type mixers, we bought this used 20 quart commercial mixer at an auction. It takes a lot of work out of making bread or large batches of cookies. Cathy can now make seven loaves of bread at a time. She puts some of the bread in the freezer to keep it fresh.

For more on this subject, read the article from last year: Selecting Pots and Pans.