But Have You Read the Label on That?

Our youngest son, Benjamin is in the Electrical Engineering program at McNeese State University in Lake Charles.  Between Covid restrictions and the dormitory where he was living being extensively damaged by Hurricanes Laura and Delta, the college experience has been sub-par.  When Benjamin's dorm did not re-open, Benjamin and a friend moved into an apartment.  Tricia has been very concerned about his eating.

She does not want him subsisting on fast food.  "Have you read the label on that?" is a common refrain.  "Just look at all that sugar!"  "I can't even pronounce this word.  What in the world is in this?  Chemicals?"  Tricia decided this afternoon that Benjamin needed some homemade breakfasts rather that the "heart attack in a sack" you get from local drive-thrus.  Homemade Breakfast Burritos!  Portable.  Delicious.  Healthy.

With the hens' egg production on an upward trajectory, Tricia has all the ingredients at her disposal.  She cracked 18 eggs, seasoned them up and began scrambling them.

Of course you need tortillas to make breakfast burritos, but have you read the label on that?  Filled with all sorts of crazy stuff.  For her boy? - only the best.  Momma won't have him eating enriched white flour tortillas made in New York City.  She whipped together some tortilla dough and began rolling them out.

She heated up the griddle and began making delicious tortillas, flipping them to cook on both sides and pulling them off by hand when they start to brown.

When it comes to filling the burritos, Tricia isn't stingy.  The tortilla is filled with seasoned scrambled eggs.  On most other occasions, she'd add chorizo and cheese, but today they were just egg burritos.

The burritos are rolled tight and packed into a container for safekeeping and storage.  By Tricia's calculation, this will keep Benjamin stocked up with healthy breakfasts until this weekend so that he can re-load his container with fresh supplies.

A quote ascribed to both Napoleon and Frederick the Great says that "an army marches on its belly."  Well, Tricia made darn well sure that Benjamin starts each day with his belly full of healthy food.  Mommas look out after their boys, don't they?

Black Beans For Breakfast

Earlier this summer in THIS POST we talked about experimenting with growing and drying black beans.  We ended up with a large bowl of shiny, beautiful black beans.

So what to do with them?  Tricia recalls growing up in South Texas (Corpus Christi, to be exact) and fondly remembers a meal that her mom would make them for breakfast.  Tricia's mom made this meal with pinto beans, but we're going to make it with black beans, since we grew some in the garden this year.  Pinto beans, Tricia says, are more of a 'South Texas thing,' whereas black beans are more of a Mexico staple dish.  She wanted to prepare it for us.  First she soaked the black beans and cooked them on the stove.

Then, using a stick blender, she pureed the black beans and continued cooking them until a lot of the water evaporated.  They began to really thicken up.

While they were thickening, Tricia began to make homemade tortillas.  You can buy tortillas at the store, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm spoiled to the homemade ones.  It takes more work, but they are far superior to store-bought ones.

Once they're all rolled out you pop them in a heated skillet, flipping them once until they are golden brown.

So now to continue in a walk down memory lane with Tricia and her recollections of comfort food as a kid.  Taking a warm tortilla in your hand, spoon out some black beans onto the tortilla and spread evenly on one side.

Fold the other side over and then place in a skillet with oil and fry the 'black bean quesadilla,' flipping once in the oil until both sides are golden brown.

Now, you are ready to eat!  I added some sliced red and green jalapenos from the garden that I just picked and squeezed a lime over it.

Tricia was interested to see if it tasted like her childhood.  She said it did.  Black bean tacos for breakfast!  Muy bueno!