Banda's Breakfast Burritos

Now I won’t lie, when I was a partying youngster I loved to stop at McDonald’s around 3 a.m. to get a few breakfast burritos and hash browns to help me drift off into my alcohol/food induced coma. But, after I wolfed down my first burrito I’d immediately get that sick feeling, blame it on the alcohol(despite the fact that before the food I felt “great” in my drunken state. Can you say “denial”?!) and continue to gobble down another one and a hash brown to boot!

Well it’s some many years later and while my lifestyle has changed, my need for burritos as breakfast and hash browns hasn’t. I still love to eat these things, just minus the grease, cholesterol and saturated fat. Oh and I’m the one to make them now. Oh and I’m not drunk either. I guess that changes a lot of things from my previous encounters with the beloved breakfast burrito.

I use tofu as an egg replacement and it works out great. Tofu makes a great scrambled “egg”, and adding fresh veggies with mock meat makes it that much better. You can add whatever your heart desires; whether it be zucchini, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers. Don’t let my recipe be your strict guideline, most combinations work very well with this recipe. These burritos are full of protein and deliciousness!

 And if you’re wondering why they’re called “Banda’s”, it’s a crazy name my crazy husband calls me. It always makes me laugh and I thought it was fitting for these breakfast burrito, because they too always bring a smile to my face.

                                              Banda’s Breakfast Burrito

1 tube GimmeLean Sausage

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 14 or 16 oz firm tofu, drained and pressed

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

8 oz mushrooms, chopped

1 tomato, chopped ( I usually squeeze out all the juice with my hands, to prevent watery-ness in the scramble)

Olive oil (or oil of your choice)

Salt & Pepper

Whole wheat tortillas

First you want to cut open and peel the package off your GimmeLean. I then just take a large pinch and roll it into a ball, then squish and make a patty. I like to make patties because if you have any leftovers that you don’t want in the scramble you can eat or save the extras for breakfast and/or a snack.

Lightly oil a large skillet, heat over medium-high heat. Arrange the patties in the skillet and cook until brown and crisp on each side. Set aside on a cloth, break however much you desire into small chunks.

Next heat about a tablespoon of oil in your pan and sauté the onion for about 3-5 minutes, until tender and translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook an additional minute or so.

Toss in your diced peppers and mushrooms and continue to cook until tender.

Now grab your pressed tofu and break off about 1/3 of it. Hold it over the pan and squeeze it through your fingers in order to break it up into small bits. Do this with all the tofu and break up any large chunks that fell into the skillet. Add your squeezed tomatoes and sausage and mix very well. Season with salt and pepper or whatever you desire.

Cook the mixture for about 5-8 minutes, until everything is heated through.

You can warm your tortillas in the oven or on stove top, or eat them right out of the package, whatever you prefer. Add some of your scramble, top it with some nutritional yeast or Daiya cheddar, and munch, munch, munch!