Easy Breakfast Burrito - Video Recipe

Got leftovers? Then I have a recipe for you for a simple Breakfast Burrito made with scrambled eggs. If you have some leftover pinto beans, a bit of Mexican rice, and don't forget the jar of cheap salsa - then that's all you need for this cheap$kate recipe. So check out the recipe video below to see how it all comes together.

Easy Breakfast Burrito - VIDEO

Play it here, video runs 35 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Cans of pinto beans are cheap anywhere you shop for them. I get mine from my local 99c only Stores.

Make a fresh pot of pinto beans and you will have leftovers. I like to freeze a few single-serving Ziploc bags for breakfasts that feature this legume. Click here to see my Homemade Mexican Pinto Beans recipe.

You can mash them for Refried Beans, or leave them whole. You can add beans right into the scrambling eggs, or add them separately.

My Mom's Mexican Rice is a standby for me - click here for her recipe. First, saute rice in a couple tablespoons of oil for a few minutes, this gives rice a nice texture and extra nutty flavor.

Add a little onion and garlic and cook until soft. Then finally add water and a tablespoon or two of tomato sauce or paste. Cover it, and when done spoon some on a heated tortilla; the red-hued fluffy rice is the bed your beans and eggs will reside on.

And I always have an opened jar of cheap salsa to spice up the Breakfast Burrito. What's your favorite jarred salsa? I have a few and get them when they are on sale.

If you are flour averse then use smaller corn tortillas for Breakfast Tacos.

I've published a Breakfast Burrito before, but I made it with Mexican Eggs (a combination of chopped tomato, onion, and jalapeno) I often saute veggie Chorizo then scramble in some eggs for a spicy breakfast burrito or tacos.

As you can see, there are a hundred ways to make my easy-to-build Breakfast Burrito. All you need to do is freeze some leftovers and go from there.

Ingredients (about 2 burritos)

• 2 Flour Fortillas - okay to use wheat tortillas. Substitute with corn tortillas for Breakfast Tacos.
• 1/2 cup cooked Pinto Beans - fresh-made or from a can. Okay to use whole beans, or mash for Refried Beans.
• 1/2 cup Mexican Rice - okay to use regular rice, or just leave it out.
• 3 Eggs - I used medium size eggs. Okay to add more eggs or less, to suit your taste.
• Salsa - I used store-bought. Up to you how much to use.
• Salt and Pepper to taste.
• 2 tablespoons Oil - one for refried beans and one for scrambling eggs.

Extra toppings: sauteed chorizo, potato, and cheese.

*Adjust topping amounts, including beans and rice, to suit your tastes.

Directions

Scramble eggs. While eggs scramble, heat up beans and rice in a microwave or in a pan on the stovetop.

If you like chorizo then saute that first, then go to scrambling eggs. You can mix eggs into chorizo, or keep it separate.

You can make Refried Beans by mashing them with a fork in a tablespoon of oil and some bean sauce. Mash until desired creaminess is reached.

While the eggs finish up, heat tortillas for a couple of minutes to soften them and make folding easier. Also, bring salsa to room temperature.

Just make the Breakfast Burrito any way you like. If you like a lot of eggs then load it on. If beans are your thing, then leave out some eggs and stuff the burrito with pinto beans. And don't forget the salsa!

Mushroom Cream Soup - Vegan Recipe Video

Fungus shouldn't taste this good. Almond milk and caramelized mushrooms blend together perfectly. My rich and earthy Mushroom Cream Soup is meant to be shared on a cold wintry day.

I often find four-ounce packages of brown crimini and portabella, along with regular white button mushrooms, at my local 99c only Stores, here in Los Angeles. Sorry to rub it in, but mushrooms are expensive, except in my Cheap$kate Chateau.

Click on any photo to see larger.

The rest of the ingredients are cheap enough. I saute onion along with the mushrooms and sweeten the soup with white wine and almond milk.

You can keep this recipe vegan by substituting cream with almond, cashew, or soy milk. I'm not up on all the milk alternatives, so use what you like. 

I add a couple cups of water to the soup, but you can use a favorite broth for extra flavorful soup.

Can you keep it low-calorie and leave out the rich cream? Hell yeah, it's just as tasty without cream. For my real Cream Mushroom Soup Recipe click here.

But if you are feeling extravagant, and making this for a special occasion, like trying to impress a date, then go all the way...with extra cream!

Mushroom Cream Soup - VIDEO 

Play it here, video runs 3 minutes 14 seconds

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients (about 4-6 servings)
3 packages of Mushrooms - I got 4 to 5-ounce packages of each: crimini, white button, and portabella mushroom. Okay to use one type of mushroom or any you can find on sale.
1 Onion chopped - I used a cheap yellow onion. If you don't like onion then leave it out.
1 cup White Wine - optional. If you leave it out then use broth or water instead.
2 cups Almond Milk - use any favorite milk substitute.
1 cup Water - or a favorite vegetable broth.
1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil - to saute onion and mushrooms.
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Directions
Chop one whole onion. Saute in a pot with a tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Cook and stir onions until soft, about 5-10 minutes. You want onions to caramelize just a little to sweeten and lose that raw onion texture and flavor.

Clean mushrooms if needed. (Wipe off dirt with a soft brush or napkin.)

For crimini or white button mushrooms roughly slice. Okay to use pre-sliced mushrooms.

For larger portabella mushrooms whip off any dirt. Once the portabella mushrooms are cleaned, slice them up. Doesn't matter how small the pieces are, as they will end up in a blender or food processor.

Once onions are softened stir in the mushrooms. Cook them another 5 minutes until the mushroom pieces are soft. 

Salt and pepper to taste any time during sauteing.

Pour in about a cup of white wine. 

Finally, add 1 cup of water or a favorite broth. Mix liquid well. Bring soup up to a low simmer and cover the pot.

Simmer for about 15 minutes. You just want to finish cooking the mushrooms and onions until extra soft.

Now you are ready to finish up the Mushroom Cream Soup. Allow the soup to cool down, so you can add it to a blender or food processor.

Add soup to a blender and pulse/blend until smooth. It goes pretty quickly. I blended all my soup in about a minute. Okay to work in batches. I blended my soup in two batches.

Lastly, add blended soup to a pot. Stir in 2 cups of almond milk. You can use any favorite vegan milk substitute since now all you are doing is a final soup warming up.

Heat Mushroom Cream Soup until hot, about 5 minutes - that's it.

Dos Amigos Tamales - Deal of the Day Review

Plump and pungent in a small package, my latest Latin-style Deal of the Day is worth a second bite.

I unearthed tamales by Dos Amigos from the frozen deli case at my local Dollar Tree. You get two for a buck. Right off the bat, not a bad deal. The tamales are wrapped in corn husks, Mexican-style.

You have to read the fine print under Ingredients on the front of the package to discover if the tamales are cheese, veggie, fruit or meat filled. The tamales I purchased are made with pork.

The cooked pork is halfway between ground and shredded, and you get a good amount. Often tamales are skimpy with the meat, not so here. The pork is steeped in zesty chili pepper spices.

The spice mix is well balanced with a slight tongue-tingling heat that slowly builds. The overall flavor is similar to enchilada sauce, what one would expect. I was not disappointed.

I microwaved these suckers like the label says. Since tamales are normally steamed, I made sure to wrap them in a damp paper towel to keep moist during defrosting.

It only took a couple of minutes for tamales to reach steaming hot.

A tamale rises or falls based on the corn husk-covered steamed masa. And masa can be too dry and crumbly, like eating sawdust, at it's worst.

The ground corn masa coating did not dry out like I expected. While not as moist as the best tamales you would get at a Mexican bakery or grocery, these retained a soft texture, but there were a few dry flaky spots. Next time I would steam these tamales, instead of microwaving. But overall not a bad texture.

The corn masa was not gritty and the flavor was mild to contrast with the intense chili spices in the pork filling. Overall a nice balance of corn and pork flavors.

The two tamales are small, just short of four inches in length, but you get two fat ones for a buck, so no complaints here.

I also like that the ingredient list is short. They seem a little on the oily side, so not a low-calorie meal. But it's a small amount overall, in a  plump package.

So, on my Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being perfection, I give Dos Amigos tamales a tasty 6!

I can recommend my latest Deal of the Day from the Dollar Tree. While they won't replace tamales you get from the neighborhood street vendor, they're enough to temporally satisfy an attack of tamale-fever.

The Best Chicken Salad Recipe - Video

I love Chicken Salad as much as Tuna Salad. It has a milder taste compared to tuna, so the crunchy veggies and mayo/mustard come forward in flavor. My Chicken Salad recipe video will come back for seconds and thirds once you've had your first bite.

The ingredient list is small. I like a little fine chopped onion and celery for crunch. And those veggies are about the least expensive ones you can find at any grocery store.

I also include a tablespoon of pickle relish. I found it at my local 99c only Store and Dollar Tree. You can add more or less veggies and relish to suit your taste. You can even leave out the veggies for a more meaty salad.

I add a little mustard with a lot of mayo for extra creamy Chicken Salad. Again, you can adjust the balance to please yourself and the family. If you don't like mustard then leave it out.

Some recipes call for the herb Dill. Again, use it if you like it, or forget about it.

All the ingredients come cheaply these days. I get dark chicken leg quarters for way less than a dollar per pound and white meat for around 99 cents per pound from Superior, my local Latin market. Dark meat is harder to filet than white meat, but after you've done it a few times it does get easier

I lightly boil or poach the chicken pieces so they stay moist. You can use any chicken you have on hand, either fresh-baked or sauteed, too. I've used leftover roasted whole chicken from the deli case of my local grocery chain store when it's on sale, usually at the end of the work week. Leave out the skin and bones. 

Canned chicken is fine to use, too - just drain it, like you would with canned tuna.

Poaching Video

I always can find mayo and mustard on sale. And onion and celery are some of the least expensive veggies around.

Click on any photo to see larger.

Chicken Salad is a versatile recipe that's delish between 2 slices of bread, or as an appetizer and spread on any favorite cracker. Put a big scoop on your favorite green garden salad for extra flavor and heft.

So get out the leftover cooked poultry and mix up my latest video recipe for Chicken Salad.

Chicken Salad - Video

Play it here. Video runs 1 minutes, 38 seconds.

To view or embed from YouTube, click here.

Ingredients

• 1/2 Chicken Breast - cooked and cubed. About 2 cups. Okay to use dark meat leg quarter (leg plus thigh.) Use leftover cooked turkey during the Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays.
• 1/4 cup chopped Onion - okay to add more or less to taste. I fine-chopped 1/4 of a white onion. You can use any type of onion including red and green onion.
• 1/2 cup chopped Celery - okay to add more or less to taste. I used one celery rib.
• 1 tablespoon Pickle Relish - optional.
• 1 teaspoon Mustard - or Dijon mustard. I've made this salad without mustard.
• 3 tablespoons Mayonnaise - any favorite light or whole mayo. Again add a tablespoon at a time to reach your preferred creaminess.
• Salt and Pepper to taste.
• 1/4 teaspoon Dill - herb can be dried or fresh. Optional ingredient.

Directions
Use boneless and skinless cooked chicken. I used leftover breast meat from a roast chicken.

You can boil/simmer chicken pieces for about a half hour in seasoned water. Or, saute chicken in a little oil. Just make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through - no pink or red juices.

While chicken cooks you can chop celery and onion. I like onion in salads (tuna, chicken, turkey, egg) finely chopped. For celery, I like pieces a little larger. Okay to chop veggies any way you like.

Now time to bring it all together. Add chicken and chopped veggies to a bowl.

Mix in a tablespoon of pickle relish. Add 1/4 teaspoon of the herb Dill (optional.)

Stir in a tablespoon of mayo at a  time to reach your desired creaminess. I mixed in about 3 tablespoons. Add a teaspoon of mustard. Okay to add or subtract amounts of mayo and mustard.

Finally salt and pepper to taste. Store Chicken Salad in the refrigerator. If you wait a couple of hours before serving, then all the ingredients will have time to meld and become more intense.

I like to scoop my Chicken Salad onto a toasted onion bagel. You can serve Chicken Salad with crackers as an appetizer. Add a scoop of Chicken Salad to your favorite salad.