Kaki, I’ve got to ask you for help: I am in a breakfast rut.

I make the same breakfast almost every day.  I take 1/3 to 1/2 cup of rolled oats to work in a sandwich baggie, put them in a large coffee mug with some hot water and nuke that for 30 seconds to a minute.  Add a sugar packet and vanilla creamer from the coffee set-up, some cinnamon and raisins and a spoonful of peanut butter from your desk, stir it up, and it’s pretty darn good.

But man, does it get old.  And I’m hungry less than two hours later, so… I need some new options.

I made this last weekend and it’s pretty darn good as well.  It is much softer than I typically like for egg dishes; with so much milk to so few eggs, the texture bakes up to a sort of really soft, fluffy quiche texture.  But it was the oddest thing, I’d take three or four bites thinking, “This is too soft, huh, weird,”  and the next three or four bites I’d be going, “But actually it’s pretty tasty, and the softness isn’t bad, you know.”  So, although next time I make these I’ll up the number of eggs and lower the amount of milk, it’s by no means bad as it stands below.

I had leftovers for breakfast this morning (nuked at the office and eaten in my cube, ah, the life) and they were still tasty and it’s been five days since I made it, so it basically passes the “keeps for a work-week in the fridge” test.  And it kept me full for hours, it was amazing.  And such a flexible recipe!  I added in leftover fajita veggies, and one could add any number of leftovers or new ingredients.  This is the frittata of Tex-Mex, a catch-all, tasty, egg-y casserole.  I will certainly make it again.

Breakfast Enchiladas

1 3/4 cup ham, diced
Fajita onions and peppers, diced (about 1.5 cups)
3/4 cup black beans
2 cups cheese, shredded, divided (I used white cheddar)
16 corn tortillas
1 3/4 cup whole milk
6 eggs
1 T flour
1/2 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper

Grease a 9×13 dish and set aside for a mo’.*

In a medium bowl, combine the black beans, ham, diced veggies, and 1 cup of the shredded cheese.  (The second cup of cheese will be used tomorrow, so you can put it in a baggie or container and back into the fridge.)

Microwave your tortillas for 30 seconds, covered in a wet paper towel, to get them a little more pliable.**

Scoop a heaping tablespoon or so of filling onto each tortilla, rolling them up and placing seam-side down in the dish as you go.  (Need a hand holding them in place as you roll the next one?  Heavy-ish condiment bottle to the rescue!)

I had to tear my last tortillas in half and fill (to use the term “roll” would be laughable) them and then stuff them in the last little corner of the dish.  Then I just scooped the little bit of leftover filling into some of the cracks in the tortillas and around the corners and edges.

Wipe out the bowl you had the filling in, and pour in the milk, eggs, flour, salt and pepper.  Whisk to combine, making sure to break up as many flour lumps as possible.***

Pour egg mixture evenly over the enchiladas.

Breakfast: Assembled!

Cover and place in refrigerator overnight.  (I bet you could bake it right away, but I haven’t tried it, and the recipes I consulted for this all say to let it sit overnight, so… that’s what I did.)

In the morning, pre-heat the oven to 350*F.  Take the enchiladas out of the fridge and cover them in foil if they aren’t already.  Bake, covered in foil, for 35 minutes.  Then remove the foil, sprinkle the reserved 1 cup of shredded cheese evenly over the top, and return to the oven for an additional 15-20 minutes, until the cheese on top is bubbly and even beginning to crisp around the edges a bit, and the eggs are set all the way into the middle.

Then dig in!  Or, you know, carefully transport a blazingly hot dish to your friend’s house, because you’re meeting there super early in the morning to go garage-saleing and there wasn’t going to be time to bake it at her house.  I *do not* recommend this, nor have I *ever* done this, or anything as foolish as that, for that matter.

*See? I can use abbreviations! 😉

**You can tell from my pictures that “pliable” is not the favorite state of the corn tortillas, and they will crack and mock you as you try to roll them.  Persist with the rolling anyway!  You are the master of the tortilla, it will bow to your will!  And if/when it doesn’t, it’s still darn tasty, so who cares?

***Yeah, you could sift it to keep the lumps down… but 1 tablespoon of flour?  I am not dirtying my strainer over that.

So Kaki, I’m going to keep trying new breakfast dishes, but man, if you’ve got any ideas, please send them my way.  I’ve got to get some coconut flour to try your Car- Safe Carrot Cake Protein Bars.  Oh, and a coffee grinder to grind up those flax seeds.  I knew there was something else on the list.

Thanks Kaki!
–Caitlin

P.S.  Bummed you’ve been feeling sickly lately, my dear.  I’m pretty sure this is a great time to tell Andrew you just don’t have any appetite for anything except for homemade gnocchi or something.  He’d totally make it for you, and then boom, homemade gnocchi, no actual work done yourself!  Don’t tell him I told you to try this, though, okay?