Chef Laura Goes Snowboarding

I fed a crowd this weekend at Tahoe in exchange for snowboarding lessons. I'm gonna say this was a pretty fair deal, since I spent about 7 hrs preparing dinner, and Kevin spent 7 hours teaching me.

Side tracking from the meal a bit, yes, yes, I know. It's a bit late considering I've lived in Michigan & California for the past 7 years, and it's now spring.... but, better late then never right?

All things considering, I definitely was the model student. After all, following the first run down the bunny slopes, I was able to go down the slopes without falling (yes, still on the board, not walking). And by mid day, they took me up to the top where I had to come down on the blue slopes. Although completely terrified, I made it down without falling! I'm not a speed-monger, so slow and steady is really, good enough for me.

Oh, and did I mention, I can do 180 turns (on occasion), but usually it turns out to be 360, since I can't stop.

Yeah. Modesty isn't my best quality.

Anyway - I had been warned by friends prior that I really would not be in the mood to make food during the trip, especially if I was learning to snowboard! (As if that would make me back down) I knew i had to make things easy for myself, so I planned a menu that could be prepared ahead of time, and was mostly heating stuff up. The verdict? A success of course!

Here's the menu:

1. Saturday Breakfast - Breakfast Burritos with Sausage, Egg, Spanish Rice, Salsa & Cheese

2. Saturday Dinner - Vegetable Miso Soup, Sausage & Mushroom Pasta, Garlic & Herb Roast Chicken

3. Sunday Breakfast - Toasted Bagel Sandwiches with Spinach Omelette, Deli Chicken & Cheese

While everything was a hit, I'd say that the breakfast burritos really made #1, So here's the recipe!

Breakfast Burritos

Makes 4

8 ea Sausage Links or 4 Bratwursts
4 ea Eggs
1 cup Spanish Rice, recipe below
1 cup Easy Salsa, recipe below
4 slices Jack Cheese
4 ea Jumbo Tortillas

1 tsp oil

Bake sausages in a 375F oven for about 20 minutes
Whisk eggs well, in a medium frying pan, heat the oil.
When oil is hot, add the eggs stirring until bottom is set, flip to cook on the other side.
Slice omelet into 4 strips
Place a tortilla on a plate
Spread 1/4 cup rice on the bottom third of the tortilla
Line 2 sausage links or 1 bratwurst on the rice, then the egg and cheese
Top with about 1/4 cup salsa salsa
Starting from the bottom edge, roll the tortilla over the filling once, the fold the sides in and continue to roll the tortilla





Repeat with the remianing 3 tortillas

At this point, you can freeze the burritos, or heat it up in a 400F oven for 20 minutes before eating. If you are planning to freeze the burritos, make all the ingredients ahead of time to chill before rolling. It's best if your thaw the burritos in the fridge before eating, but if you can't wait, heat it up for 40 minutes from frozen at 400F.

Spanish Rice

Make 2 cups

1/2 ea Onion, diced
4 ea Garlic cloves, sliced
1 cup White rice
1 tbsp Tomato paste
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 cup water

In a large sauce pan, heat the olive oil
Add the onions and garlic, sautee till translucent
Add the rice and stir to coat with oil
Add the tomato paste & water, stir to mix
Bring to a boil, and then cover saucepan with lid
Simmer for 15 minutes before serving


Easy Salsa

1 can Diced tomatoes
1 tbsp Hot sauce

In a blender, combine ingredients and puree