Well this (pardon my French) shit storm of economy finally caught up with me in the form of being laid off last week. At first I could really see the silver lining to the whole situation because I loved my job and Im one of those weirdos that actually enjoys working. But as the days have gone on Ive started to be okay with this whole unemployment thing. Ok of course Id prefer to be gainfully employed, but my former company gave me a nice severance which allows me the time to take a look at my career and take my time finding new employment. Its also giving me some time to get back to doing some things that I love and havent had much time for lately…like exercise, photography and of course, cooking.
Right after I got laid off I saw an interesting article on Divine Caroline called Can Unemployment Be the Healthiest Time of Your Life? all about another professional woman who was laid off and found time to cook and enjoy life more. Now I do cook almost every day, unless my boyfriend and I are going out, I make dinner every night. Breakfast and lunch, however, were always grabbed on the go or at the office. But now Im realizing “hey theres two more meals I can make in a day!”
So here I am embarking on a journey of unemployment..of course this wont last forever…as much as I enjoy having some free time financial woes will begin to bear down. But for now Im going to take my former boss’ advice and take a few weeks of personal vacation. I really want to use this time to explore new money saving ideas around the house that I can continue to use when I find a new job. Thankfully my fellow domestic geek Katie is a pro at maximizing home cooked meals so I got a good guide to go off of. In fact, yesterday I used one of her ideas to make a tasty money saving breakfast/snack!
A few days before my boyfriend and I had some friends over to our house and we had some salsa and bean dip. The bean dip was made simply by mashing some chili beans (not canned premade chili, but spiced chili beans) with some garlic, dried onion and cumin. So I decided instead of tossing out the leftovers, I would make mini breakfast burritos!
Mini Breakfast Burritos
Ingredients
Bean dip or black beans or re-fried beans
8 eggs
1 red or yellow pepper
1/2 yellow onion
salsa
soy milk or regular milk
corn tortillas
cheese
Crack 4 eggs open on a bowl and add 4 egg whites to the mixture and beat with a fork. Add a splash of either soy milk or regular milk, dont add too much though, you dont want the eggs to become runny. Add a bit of salt and pepper and set aside. Preheat a skillet or cast iron pan and add a bit of oil and add the egg mixture. Dice the onions and pepper and add them to the eggs and slowly cook the whole mixture so as not to burn the eggs. Once the eggs are nice and fluffy remove from heat and set them aside.
Next take the corn tortillas and lightly wet them and throw them on an oiled skillet for a few seconds to soften them up. This is a little trick my boyfriend’s mother taught me for making nice soft corn tortillas that are easy to fold. Dont cook them too long or they will get crispy!
To assemble the burritos take a spoonful of the bean dip or whatever canned bean you have on hand (pinto or black, make sure to drain them!) and spread it in a line on the tortilla. Add a spoonful of eggs, salsa and a bit of whatever leftover cheese you have available. Now these tortillas are small so you wont be able to roll them like normal burritos but rater like a taquito. It might take a try to two to figure out the ratio of the ingredients…you dont want too much or you wont be able to roll the burritos.
After you roll each burrito wrap it in plastic wrap and throw it in the freezer. Now you should have a nice little fleet of breakfast burritos ready for a quick breakfast or snack! Just pop them in the microwave for about a minute and a half and youre good to go!
<3 seanalyn
over the weekend, i picked up some seasoned steaks from Trader Joes. i tossed two potatoes in the microwave to cook while my boyfriend headed to the grill to cook the steaks. meanwhile, i tossed the green beans and cabbage in some olive oil, minced garlic, and a little balsamic vinaigrette. when my bf came back with the cooked steaks, my portion of the dinner was ready! overall, it took roughly 15 minutes!
