Make Ahead Savory Breakfasts

I enjoy savory foods far more than sweet.  It can be a challenge at breakfast to find something delicious and savory that doesn't require cooking in the morning.  I love cooking, but only when it is enjoyable.  This does not tend to be the case in the morning for me while attempting to feed the kids, change them, and potentially trying to get ready to go somewhere.  I have begun cooking items at other times and freezing them.  Here are my favorite recipes:

Breakfast Burritos
12 Medium Tortillas
12 Eggs
splashes of Milk
1 lb. Country Sausage
approximately 1 c. Salsa
approximately 1/2 c. Cheese
1/2 white, yellow or red Onion
Salt & pepper
Directions:
1. Brown the sausage with onion in a medium pan.
2. At the same time scramble the eggs with milk.  Salt and pepper as desired.

I like to scramble the eggs and milk in the pan before I turn it on - one less bowl to clean!

3. Combine the two and add salsa and cheese. 

4. Put your tortillas in between paper towels and microwave for about 10 seconds to make them flexible.
5.  Place a couple spoonfuls of mixture in middle of a tortilla and wrap like a burrito...and you're done.
Freezing instructions are at the end, but from frozen, I usually microwave for about 1 minute and 45 seconds.

Breakfast Quesdillas
12 Medium Tortillas
1 dozen Eggs
splashes of Milk
approximately 1 c. of Salsa
approximately 4 oz. of Ham (or meat of choice)
2 c. of Cheese
Salt & pepper
Directions:
1. Scramble the eggs with milk. Salt and pepper as desired.
2. Add salsa, small handful of cheese and torn up ham to the eggs 

3. Toast each tortilla slightly in a hot pan (no oil needed). 
4. Place a scoop of the egg mixture and a bit more cheese over half the tortilla.
5. Fold over and flatten using spatula.  You can keep it on longer to melt the cheese entirely, but if you are going to freeze them, you just need to melt enough that the cheese doesn't fall off.  I typically microwave from frozen for 90 seconds.  I also cut them in half to freeze so that I can eat half with something else or Chris can eat two halves.

Freezing Strategy:
I cover a jelly pan with wax paper.  I place the warm assembled items in rows on the pan and place it in the freezer (as flat as possible) for a few hours.  Once they are individually mostly frozen, you can wrap each one in plastic wrap and place them in a large freezer bag. 

These photos show white flour, store bought tortillas, but I have recently started using this recipe from 100 Days of Real Food (lots of good suggestions for healthier eating).  I got a little overzealous last week and made this pile of dough

to quadruple the recipe.  I ended up only rolling out a little over half.  I would recommend doubling the recipe to have enough for the two recipes above.  I found these tortillas less flexible for wrapping burritos so I instead froze small baggies of the sausage mix (and I keep the tortillas frozen) to make burrito or breakfast tacos.

Other Go To Savory Breakfasts for Me:
Hard boiled eggs - throw in a baggy and sprinkle a little salt to take it to go
Peanut Butter Toast
Eggs over easy with toast
I'm officially in love with Egg in a Hole (thanks Pioneer Woman)

Happy Breakfast!

Making Tough Decisions

Dearest You (because if you are taking time to read my blog, you are dear to me!),
Chris and I recently went through this How To on Creating a Family Mission Statement. We had done this before we had children using Stephen Covey's How to Develop a Family Mission Statement (there is a newer version available on CD).  It's a good exercise.

Since then, my mind is rather preoccupied by BIG questions...

Are we really pursuing our dreams and seeking our purpose?  Do those things go hand in hand?

Are our big choices consistent with our mission - where we live, what we do, how we live?

Should we be living somewhere else to get the best services possible for Deane?  And would another option be equally good for Kate?

If we didn't live here, where would we want to go?

We don't have to change anything or everything today, but our experiences with Deane's early intervention and the heartache we've witnessed/experienced in recent years remind us the time is sooner, not later.  Part of our mission is "to embrace life fully"; we have to make sure we are doing that.  We recognize that much of the stress and hurt we have seen would not have been felt if others didn't embrace life.  We accept that failure, pain, stress, loss, and frustration are the risks of really living.  We believe the rewards can be overwhelmingly better than the risks.

Knowing our time is limited, how can we wait for later to dream big, dive in, aim high (feel free to insert your favorite cliches here)?  But the question remains, how do you know in which direction to take your next step?

If you have discovered fail proof, efficient methods for making life's tough decisions, please feel free to comment below.  I tease, but I also know that some of my readers are people who have taken a BIG risks - I have learned much from you and will continue to watch you, Embracer of Life.

Best Regards,
Annie

P.S.
I'm also wondering a lot lately....How in the world do you effectively discipline a 3 year old, let alone a 3 year old on the autism spectrum?
Slightly less monumental, but equally encompassing for me :)

P.P.S.
If you enjoy thinking about crazy places you might go to embrace life, I recommend Cup of Jo's Travel Fantasy posts.  Photos of crazy waterslides and restaurant islands seem to lighten up my days.

Anniversary Gift

Chris and I don't typically buy each other gifts, but this year for our anniversary, I wanted to make him something.   I came across Minimoz's awesome idea, but wanted to work with what I had and make it slightly more masculine for Chris.  Here is what I did:

1. I had this frame that I wasn't using so I decided to use the matting as the base for my creation.

2. I also had burlap (how I "manned" this up) in my possession so I just laid out a piece to wrap around the matting and cut.

3.  I just taped the burlap with packing tap around the matting.  You could certainly hot glue or use another adhesive.

4. I cut a heart using my Cricut, but you could also just cut out a shape using Autoshapes in your Microsoft Office programs or just by searching for a Google image to copy and resize.  I printed it on cardstock for a little sturdiness when tracing.  I just laid it over the frame to determine if I liked the size.

5.  I also happened to have a few atlases that I don't use (obsolete due to map app on my phone) so I just traced the heart I cut in an effort to make the destination in the center for each of my locations (where we met, where we married and where we live).

6.  I didn't have a map where I liked the layout for our "married" city (Iowa City), so I just searched for a Google image, printed it on card stock and cut it out.  It also gave a little more color (albeit pink) to my finished product.

7.  I used dafont.com (because it's amazing!) to find the font called Dutch Harley.  I just formatted to the size I wanted in Word and printed it on cardstock and used my paper cutter to trim it as much as possible.  I didn't measure anything; just eyed the layout.  I used removable double sided table because it was handy.

8.  It was tight to frame with the burlap, but the frame has those fold down thingys so I was able to tighten it appropriately...and that's it.  Sorry for the glare in the photos.

Another idea:  If your locations overlap (i.e. you were married where you met), you could do "We became a family" or "We became 3", etc. if that were another location.

You can see more homemade gift ideas on my pinterest board.  Feel free to put in requests if you are on my Christmas list :)

8 years together

Today I've been married to Chris for 8 years, which is somewhat surreal to me when I consider everything that has happened in 8 years. 

Wedding Day 9/27/03

Summer 2011 Family Photos

We have lived in 4 Homes

Coralville Duplex

Muscatine apartments

Muscatine house

Our house now (picture Aug 2010)

We have had two 2 children

Chris & Deane Sept 2008

Chris & Kate Oct 2010

and 1 Dog

Roxie our soon to be 8 year old dachshund

We have been on countless adventures like drinking Margaritas made from unmarked bottles on the street,

Rosarito Beach daytrip during our honeymoon

 ridiculously long bus rides,

NYC Bus Trip 2000 with Ecumenical Singers

 weeks of pure relaxation with ocean views,

our ocean "view" room at Hotel Del Coronado on our honeymoon

 luaus,

Maui with Grandpa & Grandma Frye 2000

 posing for goofy photos,

Jungle Island South Beach Miami on Orange Bowl Trip 2010

 kissing the Blarney Stone,

Blarney Castle 2007

 posing for more goofy photos,

NYC 2009

Savannah Trip 2007

and dinner on the beach with Rambo shot guy

The Office, Cabo San Lucas 2009

We have seen many heartbreaks, successes, joys, life lessons, and SO much love.

We've started a tradition of writing letters to each other and to our kids for their birthdays versus just cards because I think we've already given each other everything Hallmark had to say.  So, I'll keep the gushy stuff for Chris's personal letter, but it's important to me to tell the world what an amazing man I married. 

Wrestling photo from high school; I didn't actually meet him until after high school and the long hair was gone ;)

I thought he looked like trouble and I'm so glad I was wrong.  He couldn't be much more dependable and easy in his approach.  I love that there is a little part of him that occasionally shocks me with an opinion about something I thought he didn't care about.  He loves manly things like fires, beer, the great outdoors, wrestling, grilling, the Cardinals and the Hawkeyes, being a dad, and this stupid hat (below).

Chris & my brother, Andy, in Cabo

Deane's first Cardinals game

but he lets me temper that with button up shirts (he always rolls up the sleeves; it's his thing), dinner at fancy restaurants (much less frequently these days), laboriously planned outings, and hair product.  He does not hold purses (unless his mother-in-law would ask), doesn't understand little girls' outfits, and kills all the bugs and spiders in our house.  God made him to love me veraciously and intensely and be a father to his children naturally and adoringly.

Christmas 2009

I'm a lucky gal!  Happy Anniversary to my partner in this crazy life!

Fall Home Updates

I haven't been inspired to decorate for seasons other than Christmas for the last few years.  Maybe it's always having a little baby or being pregnant, but this year (even though the kids are still a handful), I wanted to make an effort.  I knew I didn't want to spend much to decorate so I shopped my old decorations and took my Google Reader full of creative blogs for inspiration.  Here are a few little Fall updates I did with decorations or materials I had in my possession.

Entry
Before:

 After: not substantial, but subtle with some bright colors that I enjoy each time I pull in the driveway.

Half Bath

I used these mini gourds to create another use for my olive tray. I am super proud of finding another purpose for the tray since I rarely get them out.

I ended up placing it in my half bath. 

TV Cabinet
Before:

After:

I used a wreath and candelabra from our wedding on the right side.  On the left (and shown up close) is a pumpkin I already had with some faux hypericum berries (also from our wedding) with a free printable from While I Was Napping that I just stuck in a frame I already had.

Mantle:

Before:

After:

I again used a pumpkin that I had on the left.  I switched out the plate for a taller metal vase that offset the painting after I moved it down.  The part I'm most excited about are the FALL bottles.  I found the inspiration for this here.  I don't have a Silhouette as she used and again wanted to stick with what was available for free to me.  My awesome cousin Zack made his own beer and shared some with Chris.  Chris has been storing the bottles to return to Zack so I borrowed them (thanks Zack!).  Here's how I made them:

1. I cleaned the bottles because apparently Chris doesn't do this after he drinks them...ewww.

2. I used my Cricut to cut the letters from this Fall shaded scrapbook paper.  I cut a letter from each area.  If you don't have a Cricut or Silhouette, you could find the letters in a Google image search and cut them out or make them in Word (or whatever similar program you use) even.

 3.  I didn't want to ruin the bottles so I affixed the letters with these foam square adhesives.

 It's not perfect as you can see the square when you are upclose, but the goal is accomplished.  If you weren't worried about saving the bottles, I would use Modge Podge to permanently adhere the letters.

4. I had the below decoration from Target from several years ago, but I think you could use any kind of filler flower, tall grasses, etc. I just cut it apart and sorted bundles to put into each bottle.

 5. There was some rafia in a natural shade tied around the wheat decoration, so I tied a couple pieces around each bottle and trimmed them somewhat short.

This was fun and very satisfying since I didn't have to spend a dollar to get this little Fall update.  What do you have lying around that could be re-purposed into decor?  Happy Autumn!

To look at a few of my other favorite Fall decoration ideas, you can visit my Autumn Pinterest board.