Why is this called "Mel's Breakfast Burrito?"
A woman from Northern Kentucky named Melody Hoppius went on a weight loss journey of her own, which turned into a Godly calling, which turned into a booming small business known as Melody's Bootcamp and Lifestyle Fitness
melodysbootcampfitness.com.
She promotes more movement in your day to day life and a focus on clean eating.
I went though her program 2011 and lost nearly 30 pounds. I am back on the wagon again now to lose that weight again--I put it back on with baby number two. I went back because this has been the only program that has worked for me. I have done other big named programs and have not been successful.
What makes this program different? I really think it is the fact that clean eating is something that my whole family can get behind and do and it does not feel like suffering. We are not devout practicing clean eaters, but I like to make changes where I can. Maybe one day we will be really good at it, but as of now, I really feel that slow and steady will win the race in this regard.
And that is where this recipe (along with two others that I will share here) came from. Melody makes these to have on hand to keep those in the program out of the drive through window. I thought it would be good to make the recipe to have in the freezer for my family. After we made these today, my husband ate two and my 4 and a half year old ate it too and liked it a lot.
I also want to say, that we made these as a family. Anytime you can do this I highly recommend it. Cooking with your family is a great bonding experience. And all are invested in the product. I also find that if my daughter helps with it she is most likely to eat it, which is important.
How Much Does It Cost, In Food Terms?
Mel's Burrito recipe indicates that it makes 50, however, when we made them we got 33. We may have filled more. So I have a nutritional breakdown that is for the filling for the entire batch and what the breakdown was 33 burritos. If you get more or less then you will take the batch numbers and divide it by how many you made. I kept my tortilla value out of the batch numbers.
BATCH
3940 Cal 248 Fat 10500 Sodium 42 Carbs 352 Protein
(Individual) BASED OFF OF MY 33 COUNT
119 Cal 1.5 Fat 318 Sodium 1.3 Carbs 10.6 Protein
TORTILLA VALUE (Individual)
130 Cal 3.5Fat 340 Sodium 23 Carbs 4 Protein
TOTAL FOR 1 BURRITO Per 33 Count
249 Cal 5 Fat 658 Sodium 24.3 Carbs 14.6 Protein
**IMPORTANT, you should always do your own calculations based off of your own ingredients. Unless you use exactly what I used your values will be different. This is just a guideline.
To compare here is the nutritional information for a popular fast food version:
300 Cals 16 Fat 790 Sod 26 Carbs 12 Protein
How Much Does It Cost, In Money Terms?
All the ingredients below cost $30.13
I made 33 burritos and that makes them about 91 cents each.
**This will cut out the myth that eating better at home costs more than the "value menu."
What's In It?
Whole Wheat Tortillas (The original recipe says enough for 50)
2 dozen eggs (I use Egglands Best, Cage Free--Before I used these I would have said there was not a difference. There was.)
2 Packages, Jimmy Dean Turkey Crumbles (You can make them yourself if you can find rolls of turkey sausage but this worked great and I did not have to mess around with the browning and draining. If you are afraid of turkey sausage, my husband liked it and he is pretty critical about all things related to meat)
1 container of FRESH SALSA. (You will find this in the refrigerated section of your ethnic foods section in most cases. I just used the store brand)
2 cups Whole Milk (She calls for organic, I did not use organic milk.)
8 oz of cheese (She indicates Pepper Jack but I used Cheddar Jack since I was feeding my kids with it)
WHAT TO DO:
Grate the cheese if you purchased a block of cheese. It is better than pre shredded, but if you do not want to fool with this step then purchase pre shredded
Crack The Eggs. One at a time in a small bowl then put them in the large bowl.
Why? If you have a bad egg you do not ruin your entire batch of eggs.
Add the rest of the ingredients into the bowl (we did not add the cheese here but you can if you so desire)
Another EGGcellent kid job!
Put the mixture in the skillet and cook it until the eggs are cooked through.
You WILL have extra liquid, just drain it out.
Okay, when I did this I did it in two batches. Just divide the ingredients in half and follow the previous steps. And as you can see, this is a family affair! All hands were helping out for this project!
Per the instructions, put 1/3 cup of mixture in the center of the tortilla (we added cheese here and we had the most adorable little cheese fairy).
We then folded the tortilla like a burrito (tucked sides and rolled up)
(This is our oldest cat, Tigger. He was VERY interested in the goings on in the kitchen.)
You then wrap the burritos individually in saran wrap. I looked at a couple other wrapping ideas but this is the most practical for this item. It will microwave well and it will hold the burrito in place.
I purchased some plastic shoe boxes from the store and placed the wrapped burritos inside. I then put a piece of tape on the lid and wrote what it was and the date it was made.
This made for easier storage and it will help protect the food a bit more in the freezer.
All in all this recipe took no time at all. But, I did have some mighty fine helpers! It was probably an investment of an hour!
I will keep this updated when I make them again in the future.
