Breakfast Burritos

Not surprisingly, most of my clients are busy. They know breakfast is important, but they just don’t have time to make a fresh vegetable omelet and fresh squeezed orange juice every morning before work. So, I spend a lot of my time working on solutions for them – breakfasts that they can prepare ahead of time and grab quickly in the morning, without sacrificing nutrition.

One such solution is the premade breakfast burrito. This one seems particularly popular with my male clients, but I think breakfast burritos are great for the whole family.

I am in charge of breakfast at our house most mornings, and when Ed goes to the gym before work, he’s out of the house well before the sun comes up. We’d been doing a lot of hard-boiled eggs and bananas for these early mornings, but he wanted a little more protein after a good workout. So, I decided to take my own advice and give the breakfast burritos a try.

They were really easy to make.

Ingredients

• Tortillas
• Beans
• Salsa
• Serrano peppers
• Eggs*
• Mushrooms
• Kale
• Turkey sausage*
• Cheese
• Tinfoil

*I have mentioned this before, but animal foods should be of the highest quality you feel you can afford. The nutrition found in an egg from a factory farmed chicken is very poor compared to the nutrition in an egg from a pastured chicken, and the same goes for meats. For our burritos, the eggs came from Grant Family Farms (Fort Collins, CO) and the turkey sausage came from heritage turkeys at Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch (sold at In Season Local Market in Denver, CO).

I used a dozen eggs for nine burritos. Ed made a gentle suggestion that next time I use 15 eggs, so I will. Cook the sausage, sauté the kale, peppers and mushrooms together, cook or rinse the beans (depending on if you’re using dry or canned), grate the cheese, and set up an assembly line.

Individually wrap each burrito and stick it in the freezer. These reheat really quickly in the microwave. I can’t remember the exact amount, but I think I spent about $20-$22 total for 9 burritos, which averages out to just over $2 per burrito. Not bad considering all ingredients were organic, and the animal foods were local.

Homemade breakfast burritos save money, time, and are so much healthier than anything you will find in most cafés or coffee shops. Experiment with different veggies and ingredients, and come up with a recipe that your whole family will enjoy!

Business Trips: Hotel Breakfast

Have you ever found yourself in this situation?

You’re on a business trip. In the morning, you walk down from your hotel room feeling a bit groggy from traveling and sleeping in a room with poor circulation and a below-average bed. You have to eat breakfast before you head to your meeting or appointment. Here are your options:

• Omelet bar

• 3-tiered tray of muffins and pastries

• Table with bagels, bread, toaster, butter and jam

• Belgian waffle bar (complete with whipped cream and strawberries floating in a sugary syrup)

• 5 big stainless steel containers of hot food: bacon, hashbrown potatoes, sausage, cheesy grits, scrambled eggs

• Oatmeal bar

• Cold cereal (most of them highly processed and sugary) and milk

• Flavored yogurts with granola

• Hard-boiled eggs

• Fresh fruit – usually apples, oranges and bananas

You could take a couple of different paths here:

Eat an enormous breakfast, try a little of everything and bring a pastry to-go. After all, it’s free right?

OR...

Have a hard-boiled egg and a banana, or some oatmeal with fresh fruit, which are both similar breakfasts to what you’d eat at home.

I’m not saying it’s terrible to go big when you travel, but just be aware of your decisions. Big breakfasts are usually eaten on special occasions, like Christmas morning after you’ve opened your stockings; Easter brunch with friends and family; the day after a wedding when everyone is gathering to rave about the night… but not necessarily before a business meeting. You need energy and fuel for the day, but keep in mind you are traveling, and until you get home, you will have minimal control over your food options and you probably won’t have time to exercise.

It’s sort of human nature to eat more if there is more food to eat. We have this subconscious need to try a little of everything and clean our plate. And when it’s free, we are even more likely to overeat.

But you don’t want to feel uncomfortably full. You want to feel alert and energized. Also, keep in mind that one scrambled egg prepared at the hotel probably has more calories, sodium and fat than one scrambled egg you cook yourself at home. They most likely use an unhealthy oil and add extra salt.

So stick with the basics and focus on whole foods. Some well-rounded hotel breakfast buffet combinations include:

• A bowl of oatmeal with some fruit and nuts; water and tea/coffee

• 2 eggs, scrambled or hard-boiled, a piece of whole wheat toast with peanut butter, a banana, water and tea/coffee

• 2-egg omelet with lots of veggies; 1 piece of sausage or ham; apple; water and tea/coffee

• Yogurt with nuts and fruit; 1 piece of toast with butter or peanut butter; water and tea/coffee

Try to stay away from the same things you’d normally avoid at home on a regular workday: pastries, muffins (unless homemade!), donuts, sugary juices, enormous waffles, a huge serving of sausage, etc.

The PWN reader who gave me the idea for this blog post was recently in a hotel where the options included things like white bread toast, powdered eggs, and lots of sugary pastries and muffins. This reader ended up having 2 hard-boiled eggs, a couple bites of sausage, a piece of toast with peanut butter and a banana. Sometimes you’ll be at a place where you don’t have as many choices as the full spread I mentioned above – in these situations, do what you need to do. Either eat whatever you think is best from the hotel options, or go to a coffee shop or deli where you can get something better. I know the hotel breakfast is free, but spending a few extra bucks on something that will give you more energy and make you feel better all day long is totally worth it, in my opinion. When I used to travel for work I would always spend my own money on good coffee, because I typically don’t like hotel coffee.

Again, it’s okay to enjoy the hotel breakfast buffet, but just be aware. If you have a team lunch, happy hour and dinner lined up for the day, you may want to take it easy on breakfast to avoid feeling awful when you return from your trip. It’s the mindless eating that gets us into trouble, and hotel breakfast bars are just one more place where we can work on being more conscious of the foods we are choosing to put into our bodies.

Breakfast

Breakfast is even more important than the lunches I talked about yesterday. All the old sayings are true – it really is the most important meal of the day, and you really should eat “breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.”

If you are someone who gets hungry mid-morning, craves sweet things throughout the day, or feels drowsy around 2:00 pm, you may not be getting enough protein at breakfast. I aim for 20 grams of protein with each breakfast, and that lasts me a full four hours easily. It was an adjustment at first, because I wasn’t used to eating large breakfasts, but now I depend on it. Breakfast can set the tone for the rest of your day – what you crave, what you choose to eat, your energy levels, motivation and mood.

Some ideas for high-protein breakfasts:

• Plain yogurt topped with nuts, berries, kiwi, banana, raw honey, cinnamon (1 cup of plain lowfat Greek yogurt has 19 grams of protein)

• 2-3 eggs, hard-boiled, fried, scrambled (1 egg has about 6 grams) and topped with veggies and/or a little cheese

• Any type of meat, added to eggs, on a piece of toast, or plain with some sautéed veggies

• Protein shakes work well when you’re in a hurry, but make sure you are using a high quality protein powder that is not too sugary

• Whole grain toast with a nut or seed butter (almonds, cashews and pumpkin seeds are very high in protein; walnuts and chestnuts are lower)

• Smoothie with fresh veggies, banana, nuts, flax powder, yogurt, milk, etc. – make sure you aren’t just doing a fruit or fruit & veggie smoothie, because the sugars in the fruit will be metabolized very quickly and you’ll feel hungry again sooner - add some fat and protein to keep you full

• Gluten-free grain hot cereal – each of these grains contains protein, and this cereal keeps you extremely full all morning long

As I said with homemade lunches, homemade breakfasts take some effort. You can do some prep work the night before when you’re making your lunch – boil an extra couple of eggs to grab for breakfast, or pack your blender and put it in the fridge so in the morning you just have to turn it on. Try increasing the protein in your breakfast and see how you feel all morning. I really am amazed at how much more focused I am when I eat a nutritious breakfast, and I don’t even think about food again until lunchtime.

Some breakfast foods to avoid:

• Pastries and donuts (especially for children or if you are someone who craves sweets and/or reacts to sugar)

• Too much caffeine – a cup or two of coffee are sometimes necessary but try to choose tea some mornings

• Fruit juices – they are fine in smoothies and in moderation, but a huge glass of juice each morning is a big dose of sugar; for kids, I recommend skipping the juice altogether and giving them fresh fruit and water or milk

• Boxed cereals – some of the high-fiber and high-protein cereals are fine, but check the sugar content. You may be surprised.