There are certain foods we like but even in the smallest size it is impossible to eat them before they go bad.  Here are some freezing tips, courtesy of my husband, Art, as well as a tasty recipe for breakfast burritos, courtesy of moi.

One food we love is breakfast sausage.  I can’t remember the last time we had breakfast for dinner, Boo is a vegetarian and Bud has reflux, so Art and I usually only eat sausage individually, on the occasional breakfast burrito.  Art came up with the idea of precooking the sausage and then freezing the crumbles.

First, cook sausage over medium heat, breaking it up with a spoon, until cooked through.

Next, is Art’s tip for draining the sausage.  Push all the sausage to one side of the pan, then tilt the pan so the empty side is down.  Soak up all the excess grease with paper towels (I personally think this is a little wasteful, but he says he only used two paper towels.)

Allow sausage crumbles to cool, then put in a freezer-safe container and freeze.

Here's what the frozen sausage looks like.

Another food item I love is baby bell peppers.  Bud and I are the only members of the family who like them, so I learned to freeze them.  I buy them at Costco in the fresh produce section.  For one day, we eat raw baby peppers with hummus or ranch dressing.  Then we just pop the whole bag in the freezer.  Whenever I need peppers, I can just thaw them quickly under water and slice them up for whatever I need (if you only like your peppers raw, I don’t recommend freezing them because it changes the texture, but for cooking purposes, this works just fine.)

And now on to the breakfast burritos!!

Ingredients (for one breakfast burrito):

1/4 cup pre-cooked frozen sausage

1 egg, beaten

2 or 3 baby bell peppers, chopped

1/8 cup shredded cheese

1 flour tortilla

Directions:

Combine eggs, sausage and peppers over medium heat.

 Stir constantly until almost done but still slightly wet, then stir in cheese and cook for about a minute more.

Heat a flour tortilla in the microwave for 15-20 seconds, spoon in filling and roll.

Top with your favorite condiments and Enjoy!!

Waffles are a favorite breakfast food at our house.  When the boys were younger we always kept a box of Eggos in the freezer for easy fixings in the morning.  Now that we are all more health-conscious, I love to make this more nutritious version.  They freeze really well, take only a couple minutes to heat up in the toaster (especially if you like a slightly crispy waffle) and taste really good with a little peanut butter spread on top.  Or for a special treat at night I sometimes toast a half a waffle and spread it with about a tablespoon of Nutella.

So without further ado, here is my recipe for Whole Wheat Waffles, adapted from Sparkpeople.

1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. baking powder

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup 1% milk

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (if you buy the little six packs one of those cups is 1/2 cup

2 tsp. honey

1 tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder,  and salt. 
2. Gradually mix in the eggs, milk, vanilla, applesauce and honey.  Stir until well blended.
3. Pour batter onto preheated waffle maker which has been sprayed with non-fat cooking spray.  For my waffle maker, I use about a half cup of batter per waffle.

Keep in mind that if you use a Belgian waffle maker, you will get bigger waffles and the nutrition information below will be different.  (i.e. more calories)

NUTRITION INFORMATION

makes approximately 6 servings on a traditional waffle maker

Calories: 160; Total Fat:3 g; Cholesterol: 64 mg; Sodium: 479 mg; Potassium: 99 mg; Total carbohydrates: 28 g; Dietary Fiber: 4 g; Sugar: 6 g; Protein: 8 g;