Breakfast meat for breakfast burritos

[Fayd]

Trying to find a better meat (healthier) than breakfast sausage.

Any suggestions?

 

[Greenman]

Turkey.

Or just eat oatmeal for breakfast, better for you.

 

[Fayd]

Turkey.

Or just eat oatmeal for breakfast, better for you.

no oatmeal.

and how is oatmeal better than eggs, potatos, meat, garlic, onion, and cheese? a ton of protein seems a better way to start the day then a little bit of fiber.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Chorizo or bacon are much better (tasting) in a breakfast burrito.

 

[Fayd]

Chorizo or bacon are much better (tasting) in a breakfast burrito.

Bacon is difficult to do on the scale i intend (around 20 burritos at once, which I then freeze and use 1 per day). I realize I could do bacon in the oven, but since I have a gas oven that seems like a fire hazard...

 

[Greenman]

no oatmeal.

and how is oatmeal better than eggs, potatos, meat, garlic, onion, and cheese? a ton of protein seems a better way to start the day then a little bit of fiber.

Saturated fat and cholesterol are way worse for you than "a little bit of fiber". Been there done that. Doc said change your diet and have a good life, or keep on the diet you like and spend your last ten years sick. It was an easy choice.

 

[Carson Dyle]

If you're looking for something healthier than breakfast sausage or chorizo, then steak, ham or Canadian bacon (smoked ham) are good alternatives. I also skip the cheese on breakfast burritos.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I usually just cook with lean ground beef. Ground turkey/chicken also works.

You can "spice" it like sausage by adding spices by hand. That's basically a nutritional non-thing. Lean meat is still lean meat.

Edit: Typical tortillas are surprisingly high in fat. Look into those "FlatOut" flatbreads; they're about half the calories and low in fat.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

no oatmeal.

and how is oatmeal better than eggs, potatos, meat, garlic, onion, and cheese? a ton of protein seems a better way to start the day then a little bit of fiber.

1) What comes with the protein?
2) Total calories matters.

I use oatmeal as filler in meatballs. Mmm...

 

[marvdmartian]

Nothing wrong with 2% cheese, though it might taste funny at first.

Skim milk cheese would be even healthier. Unless they replace the fat with something else that's worse? :hmm:

For meat, ham is low fat, but more salt, than sausage or chorizo. Have you ever checked out turkey breakfast sausage/chub? I like the flavor of it, and it's definitely less fatty than pork (and other mystery meat) sausage, though I really haven't looked at the numbers to see if it's healthier.

Just so long as you're not eating breakfast as I recall my grandfather did, by eating a half dozen eggs, a pound of sausage or bacon, 3 slices of toast and home fries or other potatoes, with a half pot of coffee, you're probably okay. Did I mention that he died 10 years before I was born??

 

[Fayd]

I usually just cook with lean ground beef. Ground turkey/chicken also works.

You can "spice" it like sausage by adding spices by hand. That's basically a nutritional non-thing. Lean meat is still lean meat.

Edit: Typical tortillas are surprisingly high in fat. Look into those "FlatOut" flatbreads; they're about half the calories and low in fat.

not surprisingly. they're made as flour and lard.

that said, when i tried the first implementation of these burritos (2 generations ago), i tried 2 different brands/styles of tortillas. one 230~ calories per tortilla, one 170 calories per tortilla. (and proportional differences in fat content.) blind test (i couldn't remember which one was which) to see if i could spot a difference. I couldn't. So i buy the 170 calorie ones now. (on the plus side, they're cheaper too)

 

[Carson Dyle]

Whole wheat tortillas. These are just about the only tortillas I buy any more. 170 cal, 35 cal from fat.

 

[Fayd]

Whole wheat tortillas. These are just about the only tortillas I buy any more. 170 cal, 35 cal from fat.

I just checked mine.

173 calories, 15 from fat.

:/

so more carbs than fat relative to yours. not really concerned with fat content so much as any other health aspects of regularly eating sausage.

my lunches are pretty lacking in fat. (lean cuisine entree + a greek yogurt of some kind) and dinners are anything from a smoothie (trying to shift towards this. protein powder + chia or flax seeds + frozen fruits + spinach) to full mexican (chorizo and potato enchiladas, mmmm... trying to shift away from this) or chili (just meat and spices... not the healthiest) or curry (i try to get a bit of use out of my slow-cooker) or a half a burrito from chipotle.

I don't think my diet is necessarily that bad, and I think a full breakfast (in the form of a good quality breakfast burrito) is going to do me a lot better than skimping and being ridiculously hungry all day.

 

[slag]

Bacon is difficult to do on the scale i intend (around 20 burritos at once, which I then freeze and use 1 per day). I realize I could do bacon in the oven, but since I have a gas oven that seems like a fire hazard...

We cook bacon in our oven once or twice a week. We have a gas oven. Never had any issues with fire or flare up. Just put it on a large texas sheetcake pan (we use two), and cook it at 400 for however long it takes.. 10-14 minutes i think.

 

[smackababy]

For what it's worth turkey chorizo is actually not bad and a hell of a lot less fatty.

 

[CPA]

Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Crumbles

 

[Carson Dyle]

70 lousy calories in two ounces? Man, that ain't sausage!

 

[Carson Dyle]

Coincidentally, I just cooked up a pound of ground turkey for tacos. Similar calorie density as that sausage - about 1 calorie per gram.

 

[Muse]

no oatmeal.

and how is oatmeal better than eggs, potatoes, meat, garlic, onion, and cheese? a ton of protein seems a better way to start the day then a little bit of fiber.

I made oatmeal this AM, made it with non fat dry milk added to water, a bit of salt, served with ~1/2 teaspoon brown sugar and a bit of butter. Delicious, and the milk has protein.

 

[Carson Dyle]

The only reason to ever eat oatmeal is if you're backpacking. Or maybe if there's been a major snowstorm and you're all but out of fresh food. Then you reach way into the back of the cupboard for those crusty old packets of instant apple & cinnamon oatmeal (best use by: Aug 8 2007) and choke a couple down.

 

[slag]

I can't have milk.. Well, I can, but I'm lactose intolerant and even if I take 2-3 of those lactaid pills, its no guarantee that I won't have.... issues. I can eat a bowl of ice cream one night and have no issues. Try a slice of pizza a week later and be in the can for an hour. No rhyme or reason. I wish I could eat breakfast cereal again or oatmeal with milk.

 

[Kaido]

Yeah, chorizo is the key to good breakfast burrito flavor. I like the idea of bacon, but it just doesn't taste as good as chorizo does. Lately I've been using Spam (which is actually a pretty "clean" food, only six ingredients!) - slice it into thin rectangles, fry it up, and chop it up with the scrambled eggs.

Barring the good stuff, you can get away with healthier stuff like turkey or ground chicken if you use a lot of seasonings or mask it with stuff like salsa or hot sauce. Sriracha is pretty good, if you can handle it in the morning. Rice & bean burritos are also a good way to get some protein in, if you don't mind eating that for breakfast.

 

[Kaido]

I can't have milk.. Well, I can, but I'm lactose intolerant and even if I take 2-3 of those lactaid pills, its no guarantee that I won't have.... issues. I can eat a bowl of ice cream one night and have no issues. Try a slice of pizza a week later and be in the can for an hour. No rhyme or reason. I wish I could eat breakfast cereal again or oatmeal with milk.

Some people react to the different processing. Like, my brother can't have milk straight up, but he can handle ice cream & cheese pretty well.

Try the fake milks (vanilla sweetened - not unsweetened & not vanilla unsweeteend). They take a bit to get used to, but they're pretty good. Rice milk & almond milk are probably the best. Flax milk is fairly new to the market & has a nice thickness to it.

 

[MongGrel]

Have some taco/burrito meat on the stove atm I stole from the wife, she was making stuffed peppers, and all ready had some rice made and I dumped the leftover chili on there and peppers and my ground red and black pepper mix with friends etc.

I imagine pork mixed with beef might not be that healthy, but pork is pretty lean ...

It's tasty, making some tacos in a bit.

Usually just use these, but it varies, we have some whole wheat ones in the fridge too.

Chorizo is always good :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Fayd]

Yeah, chorizo is the key to good breakfast burrito flavor. I like the idea of bacon, but it just doesn't taste as good as chorizo does. Lately I've been using Spam (which is actually a pretty "clean" food, only six ingredients!) - slice it into thin rectangles, fry it up, and chop it up with the scrambled eggs.

Barring the good stuff, you can get away with healthier stuff like turkey or ground chicken if you use a lot of seasonings or mask it with stuff like salsa or hot sauce. Sriracha is pretty good, if you can handle it in the morning. Rice & bean burritos are also a good way to get some protein in, if you don't mind eating that for breakfast.

The burritos are going to have beans in them anyways.. last generation I made with 6 lbs of potatos (for 20 burritos), but the peeling and slicing of potatos was way too much to repeat. So 3 lbs of potatos, and replacing the rest with beans.

as far as salsa goes, i make a red sauce with chile de arbol peppers among other things, so it's not lacking for spiciness.