Breakfast Burritos

Burrito's are awesome. So much goodness crammed into a light tortilla casing and best of all, you can eat it with your hands. Bacon and eggs are also awesome, though a little harder to eat with your hands. You could try, but let's face it, it would be messy. Well the breakfast burrito is the perfect solution to this problem. It's your favourite fry up foods, with Mexican flair and some salad and salsa for good measure. Plus it makes it healthy right? Yes! This has just become a health food. Just... maybe don't eat it every day. 


Ingredients (serves 4):

• 4 flour tortillas
• 1/4 red onion
• 1 small tomato
• 1/2 small green capsicum
• 4 cm of cucumber 
• juice of half a lime 
• 4 rashers of middle eye bacon - the not too fatty kind, it makes it easier to bite through inside the wrap, oh and healthier.  
• 5 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk 
• salt and pepper 
• 1 cup of leftover cooked white rice 
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp tomato sauce
• 1 tsp sriracha sauce (optional) 

• 1 can of baked beans (or chilli beans) 
• 4 slices of cheddar cheese (or 1/2 cup grated cheese)  
• 2 cups of salad greens 
• optional: jalapenos, sriracha sauce, and sour cream to serve

Salsa

Finely dice the onion, tomato, capsicum and cucumber and mix together in a bowl. Add lime juice and season with a little salt. Stir and set aside. 

Bacon 

Heat a tbsp of oil in a heavy based fry pan and on a low heat, cook bacon until lightly browned on each side, then set aside in a warm oven (about 60 degrees) to keep warm while you prepare the rest. 

Red Rice

In the same pan that you cooked the bacon, add the cooked rice, 1/4 cup of water, tomato sauce and sriracha, stir over a low heat till all the tasty bacon flavours are lifted off the pan, the rice is a lovely red colour, and the water has evaporated, it may still be a little wet at this time, but remove into a small bowl and pop in the warm oven while you scramble the eggs.  

Eggs

Use a fork to lightly beat the eggs with the milk, salt and pepper. In a clean pan, heat 1 tbsp oil on a low heat and pour in the beaten eggs. Use a spatula to occasionally scrape the bottom of the pan so that the eggs scramble. Once set remove from the heat. 

To Assemble

Heat the baked beans in a small pot or microwave. 

Heat the tortillas for a couple of minutes in the warm oven, or 10 seconds in the microwave. 

Divide the fillings between the four tortillas centring in the middle a little: bacon, beans, cheese, rice, eggs, then salsa and a handful of greens. Adding jalapenos, sriracha, and sour cream if desired, though it's equally as tasty without. 

Fold the ends of each tortilla in slightly, then roll the tortilla around the filling so the seam is on the bottom, the slice diagonally. 

Christmas spiced pikelets with kiwifruit and strawberry salsa

Every year we do Christmas Brunch with my family, usually a bacon and egg combo with all the sides, mushrooms, spinach, tomato avocado etc. But today I though I would experiment with something new. These pikelets are quick and easy to make, similar to your edmonds recipe, egg flour milk, but with millet flour instead of regular flour, making them gluten free and with a deeper texture and flavour.

Millet is a slightly sweet golden coloured grain, which originated in China. It has many health benefits including being a source of protein, dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals including copper, manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, potassium, and B-complex vitamins (especially niacin and B6). As well as all that it contains amino acid tryptophan, which can help regulate people's appetite, sleep and moods. Millet can be cooked as a grain like rice or barley, or as I used in this recipe, be ground to a flour. It doesn't make a perfect substitute for regular flour in recipes, usually needing to be mixed with other flours, but does make great, slightly crunchy and nutty flavoured pancakes. 

Hence, I came up with this recipe, having some millet flour to use, and not much experience using it in other recipes, I decided to make pikelets. This is my third time making them and I think I'm definitely onto a winner.

Ingredients

• 1 egg, whisked
• 3/4 milk
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 mashed ripe banana (I freeze mine, then thaw them as I need them) 
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cup millet flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 kiwifruit
• 6-8 strawberries
• 6-8 mint leaves
• squeeze of lemon juice
• golden syrup (or any other syrup you like) 
• butter or oil for frying. 

Method

Whisk the egg quickly, add milk, spices, banana and sugar. Mix well. 

Add the flour and baking powder, mix well and put in fridge to chill for 30 mins... Use this time to get the salsa ready and any other morning chores. 

Use a paring knife to peel and dice the kiwifruit. Hull and dice the strawberries. 

Mix together with finely chopped mint leaves and a squeeze of lemon juice. Chill. 

Heat butter or oil (or a combination of both) in a heavy frypan over a medium heat. Drop about 1/4c at a time into the pan. Swirl the pan a little to spread the batter if necessary. Watch as small bubbles appear on the surface, once the bubbles pop, they are ready to flip. Cook for another minute or two on the other side. Place in a warm oven while you cook the rest. 

Serve stacked with salsa and a good drizzle of syrup on top. 

You could also serve with greek yogurt or whipped cream on the side. 

To make these finger food, place a single layer of pikelets on a serving tray. Put a dollop of cream or yogurt on top, followed by a small amount of the salsa. Drizzle with syrup and serve. 

Taste the Rainbow

Taste the Rainbow: Turkey koftas with salad trio, feta and pita breads.

I love colourful food and this seemed like the perfect filling combo for a healthy midweek meal.
The 'rainbow' came from the salad trio, consisting of a shredded spinach, a beetroot slaw, plus a buckwheat and avocado salsa, combined with the healthy turkey koftas, feta and pita, this was a meal to delight all the senses. 












Turkey Koftas
300g turkey mince
1 onion
1 egg
1/4c fresh mint
1/2 breadcrumbs or polenta (for gluten free) 

Method
Peel and finely dice onion, mix all ingredients together. Shape into golf ball sized balls and place on a lined baking tray. Grill on high for 20-30 mins, turning once. 


Buckwheat & Avocado Salsa

1/2c buckwheat groats
1 avocado
1 tomato
juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Method
Soak groats in 1c of boiling water for at least 30mins. Rinse and repeat if required (they should be soft enough to eat, but still a little crunch and a subtle nutty flavour).
Dice avocado and tomato and fold through groats with lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper

Beetroot Slaw 
1 beetroot
2 carrots 
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon 
juice of 1/2 lemon

Method
In your food processor grate beetroot and carrots (you can use a hand grater, but it's messier). Lightly toast seeds in olive oil, stirring as they burn easily. 
Toss through grated beets and carrots with remaining ingredients. Set Aside. 


Shredded Spinach Salad
3 small bunches of spinach
1 tsp oil
squeeze of lemon juice

Method
Rinse in cold water, remove thick stalks and finely shred spinach. Toss through lemon and oil. 


Arrange all items on serving plates including diced feta and toasted pitas. Drizzle with more olive oil and dig in. 

Honeydew melon salsa and prawn salad

This refreshing appetizer was delicious!
After I was given a heap of melons I decided to get creative with how I used them.
In this dish I used diced honeydew melon with ripe peaches, thinly sliced red onion,  and fried chilli prawns. The result: zesty, fresh and mouth watering!

Ingredients  -  Serves 4

1/4 c white wine vinegar
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 honeydew melon, diced
1 peach, diced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 bunch fresh mint
2 tbsp chilli oil (or, 1 tbsp chilli & 2tbsp oil)
12-16 prawns, peeled and deviened

Method

• The first part may be prepared an hour or so in advance.  
• In a heavy pan simmer vinegar and sugar till reduced slightly
• Pour into bowl and chill (do not clean pan, you will cook prawns in it. 
• Prepare fruit,  onion and mint, toss them through the dressing, season with black pepper and return to the fridge.
• When you are ready to eat, heat the chilli oil in the same pan.
• Cook prawns,  turning once till lightly browned and flesh is white.
• Serve on top of melon salsa.