At this cafe there’s a chorizo breakfast burrito that I simply must have on a weekly basis. It has chorizo, eggs, rosemary shredded potatoes, melty cheese, a crispy tortilla, and a side of the most garlicky, cilantro-y salsa. So I of course made it into a breakfast casserole.

A few years ago when I was contributing to a meal train, a message was sent to all of us, reminding us that, while dinners were great, to not forget about breakfast. Providing dinner is only one part of a person’s day, and often, even in the middle of difficult seasons, people have to return to work, have to wake on new schedules, have to make many decisions for multiple people before the sun comes up. I think about that almost every time I contribute to meal trains, and I try to pack something like cinnamon rolls or a freezable breakfast casserole or burritos for easy reheating and distributing or meal planning.

So, in honor of my favorite burrito and the need for more breakfast meals delivered and shared, here’s my chorizo breakfast casserole.

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I want to say first, my friend Elizabeth offered to make Blaine’s requested birthday pies, and we got a watermelon from a man at church for the watermelon salad, as well as fresh basil. Their costs will be listed and totaled for your benefit to see how much it costs for every ingredient. Listed will be the cost of what I bought, not how much I used, and the spices I already had in my cabinet will also not be added to the total. All prices are based off Walmart in Middle Georgia.

What I Served:
- homemade focaccia
- watermelon salad
- broiled skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
- roasted baby potatoes
- roasted carrots
- Kool-aid pies
- frozen chicken nuggets (kids option)
- frozen fries (kids option)

My Grocery List:
- Great Value unbleached bread flour, 5 lbs ($3.93)
- Fleischmann’s active dry yeast, 3 pkts ($1.88)
- Fischer’s Clover Honey Bear, 12oz ($4.97)
- Terra Delyssa extra virgin olive oil, 34 fl oz ($14.97)
- Morton’s flakey kosher salt, 3 lbs ($3.97)
- fresh seeded watermelon ($6.87)
- Athenos 12oz crumbled feta cheese ($6.32)
- fresh basil, .5 oz ($1.78)
- De Nigris balsamic glaze, 8.5 oz ($5.78)
- Sanderson Farms 2 10-thigh packages of chicken thighs with skin on and bones in ($17.84)
- Great Value grated parmesan, 8 oz ($3.12)
- Great Value dijon mustard, 12 oz ($1.72)
- 2 1.5-lbs bags Little Potato Co. baby potato medley ($7.64)
- 2 lbs Marketside organic fresh whole carrots ($2.62)
- 2 8oz tubs Cool Whip ($4.44)
- 2 Keebler 9-inch graham cracker crusts ($5.88)
- Kool-aid lemonade packet ($.47)
- Kool-aid pink lemonade packet ($1.00)
- 2 14oz cans sweetened condensed milk ($4.94)
- Great Value frozen fully cooked chicken nuggets ($5.97)
- Great Value seasoned French fried potatoes, 2lbs ($2.97)

Total: $109.08 before tax, $96.70 for adults ($6.91 per adult) and $12.38 for kids ($1.98 per child) since we shared the watermelon!

Some tricks to making this all possible:
- Make bread first, even the day before.
- While the bread is proofing, chop and separate the watermelon into two large bowls to chill until dinner. Add basil to one. Right before dinner, toss all the feta into the one with basil, and leave the balsamic glaze to the side for your guests to add their own.
- Marinate your chicken thighs for at least 30 minutes before cooking, in whatever you want your chicken to taste like.
- Roast carrots on the bottom rack of your oven. Parboil halved baby potatoes, then toss in olive oil, flour, and whatever seasonings you want to crisp them up. Add them alongside your carrots to roast on the bottom rack.
- When carrots and potatoes are mostly done, turn your oven to broil. Add chicken thighs, skin side down first, and let them broil 8-10 minutes on the top rack, second row from the top. Brush them with a combo of their own fat, dijon mustard, and parmesan. Then flip them over, brush the skin with the same mixture, and broil another 8-10 minutes. A broiler is basically an upside down grill, and your thighs will not dry out like breasts will under 500º+ temperatures. When you pull your thighs out when it’s time to serve dinner, brush one more time with your parm-dijon-fat mixture.

Most of all, celebrate the people you love with lots of good food and good company!

The tenderloins can be frozen once cooked, and though they may lose some of their moisture in the process of reheating, a brown gravy would definitely help and add an extra level of comfort to this hearty meal.

Here’s how I cook my pork tenderloins:

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When berries are cooked, they release liquid, so it’s helpful to add a couple more steps to ensure that your cookie crust gets baked properly and does not come out watery or separated due to excess liquid. It really needs a thickening agent, and in the recipe I made, I used cornstarch. I also added sugar to my berries when simmering because I like a sweet cobbler. If you want to make your cookie cobbler the way so many others on the internet have, please do! But know this recipe will not totally be faithful to the originals out there.

And, true to the heart of One More Recipe, the below instructions will yield 2 cobblers.

What You’ll Need
- 16oz frozen strawberries
- 16oz frozen blackberries
- 16oz frozen blueberries
- 1.5 C sugar
- 1/3 C cornstarch
- 2 24pk sugar cookie dough
- (optional) red, white, and blue sprinkles

What You’ll Do

1. To a large saucepan or pot, add all your frozen berries and sugar and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

2. While the berry mixture is still very liquidy and simmering, stir in cornstarch and bring the heat to low.

3. Before completely cooling, pour half the berry filling into one 9x13 dish. Do the same with the other half.

4. Preheat your over to 350ºF.

5. Roll out one pack of the sugar cookie dough into a rough 9x13 rectangle between two pieces of parchment paper. Remove one sheet of the parchment paper and flip the dough onto the berry mixture in the first pan. Adjust the dough as needed (especially if you’re like me and missed the mark big time).

6. Add sprinkles if using.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the second cobbler.

8. Bake cobblers at 350 for longer than the package recommends for a browner, crispier crust over your triple berry blend.

9. Serve hot with ice cream and enjoy your holiday!

   One cobbler will make 8 servings, and you are welcome to alter this recipe if you want to make it with all berries in one dish, half it, try with different fruits. The steps will be about the same. The goal is to just enjoy what you want to eat on your holiday! No fussing allowed.

I do my best to make food from recipes that are not generated by AI. I want my food to be tested and enjoyed by people God created, so you can trust that each of these recipes is tried by church members young and old!

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You’ll notice that pizza and chicken tenders do get repeated about once every other month, and that has to do with the youth group. They eat dinner in the teen room once a month, and they have lovingly told me that they are picky eaters, so please do not let a pork tenderloin enter the premises.

Chicken
- marry me chicken (church fave)
- chicken cobbler
- teriyaki chicken and fried rice

Pasta
- baked ziti (church fave)
- chicken alfredo
- spaghetti

Pork
- sausage and rice skillets
- pork tenderloin (church fave)

Pizza

Beef
- hamburger steaks
- tacos/enchiladas
- tater tot casserole (church fave)

Breakfast
- pancake bar
- breakfast casseroles
- biscuits and gravy

Soup
- lasagna soup (church fave)
- chili
- baked potato soup

Chicken Tenders

As far as sides go, I am a big fan of roasted seasonal vegetables, but I also make green beans pretty often, as well as Brussel sprouts. We also have a salad bar every week!

If you want to see what I’ve cooked and will continue to cook this year, my updated list and plans are here, and it includes links to recipes (if it’s an internet recipe).

When I made this during our very busy first week of summer, my young cousin was staying with us and agreed to try anything I made as long as she had a backup option. When I fixed her plate, I had her take a whiff, and she was an instant convert. She ate every bite on her plate and then some, and if a thirteen-year-old girl can try butter chicken for the first time and love this recipe, then I think it’s a whopping success.

A big part of why this is my first paid recipe in this newsletter is that it’s likely not a meal that’s been shared before amongst Southern churchgoers, including myself.

Until one day my friend Elizabeth brought me the leftovers from her own stovetop butter chicken recipe, and I decided it would become part of our rotation. Not everyone loves that cinnamon can be a savory flavor, and not everyone tolerates so much spice (not spicy, just flavorful) in a dish, but I think it’s important to try new things.

In that same vein, perhaps you’re new to the idea of making meals with the intention to share with others just because. Perhaps you do not frequently open your home to guests or small groups or friends just over to watch the game. And maybe lots of the reasons you don’t do this are because no one has done it for you, and you’ve yet to find that long sought-after village connection.

I think the art of being a villager has been lost. I can’t tell you the amount of cards I have received in my life, at mostly random times, from various people at church or from family members or friends, written with loving hands—and not a one of them expected a card in return. They wrote to encourage, to show love or thanks, to let me know they were thinking of me just because.

I think a meal has this same potential.

To feed with no expectation to be fed. To sow the seeds of belonging. To choose to take care of a physical need with a holy intention, because don’t you know God can be glorified here!

So I encourage you to love people with through physical expressions. Invite someone over to test this new recipe. Freeze your extras and save them for your neighbor who is pregnant. Provide for the people whom you know live off the generosity of others: librarians, ministerial staff, nurses, the shut-ins at your church, public servants, small business owners, waitstaff.

You can do this! We are all learning how to be better villagers together, and we take it one day at a time! Like I tell my toddler multiple times a day, “Try. That’s all you can do.”

While half this recipe would be plenty for my family of three, the full recipe would be ideal for you if you’re looking for a shareable slow cooker meal that doesn’t contain a can of cream-of-whatever. This is also a gluten-free recipe and could easily be made dairy free as well with the help of dairy-free heavy cream or a yogurt alternative.

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While they are designed to be shareable, there’s nothing wrong with keeping them all for yourself and stocking your own freezer! No matter how you use these burritos, they’re my fave for a reason!

What You’ll Need
- 8 C water
- Heaping Tbsp salt
- 14oz dry beans of choice (I used black beans when making this recipe)
- 2 white onions with outer layer on, halved
- 2 heads of garlic with outer layer on, halved
- 3 additional cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp chicken bouillon (optional)
- 1 diced jalapeno with seeds removed
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 8-pack burrito or extra-large flour tortillas
- 1 Tbsp cumin
- 1 Tbsp oregano
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 8 oz shredded mozzarella
- 4 oz shredded colby jack
- 4 oz shredded pepper jack

Directions

1. In a pot, cook beans according to package with 2 halved onions, 2 halved heads of garlic, 1 Tbsp salt, and chicken bouillon. Add water as needed.

2. After cooking, reserve about 1.5 cups of bean broth.

3. With an immersion blender, blend beans, garlic and onions in the same pot. If you do not have an immersion blender, mash beans with a potato masher until you reach the desired consistency, and then remove any large remaining pieces of onion and garlic. Then remove from heat.

4. In a sauce pan over medium heat, sautee minced garlic and jalapeno in olive oil.

5. Add sauteed pepper and garlic to the bean mixture, and turning the heat to low, add in cumin, oregano, chili powder, salt and pepper. Add in any reserved bean broth to this mixture to bring it to the desired consistency. Beans do not need to be runny but almost moldable, a thick paste of beans.

6. Pour bean mixture onto a quarter sheet pan and let cool completely and place in the fridge. Do not start building your burritos with hot ingredients!

7. In a bowl, toss together mozzarella, colby jack, and pepper jack cheeses—or whatever melty cheeses you would like to use!

8. Once your beans are cool and ready to be rolled into burritos, pull the sheet pan from the fridge and, using a silicone utensil or butter knife, “cut” the flat mixture into 8 evenly sized portions.

9. Add a measured portion of beans to a tortilla, top with cheese, and roll the tortilla, tucking in the sides as you go. Repeat 8 times until all beans, cheese, and tortillas are made into burritos!

10. Wrap each burrito in parchment paper or aluminum foil, add to a gallon freezer bag, and save for later or give away!

To Reheat

1. If using aluminum foil, remove the foil and place the burrito on a microwave-safe plate. If using parchment, you may microwave your burrito still in the parchment paper.

2. Microwave for 2 minutes and enjoy! Or,

3. Add oil or butter to a skillet over medium heat while the burrito is being microwaved.

4. Once the burrito is thawed and warmed through, add the burrito to your hot skillet and crisp all sides.

5. Serve with salsa and/or sour cream (my preference), and enjoy!

Are these your new favorite burritos too? Let me know what you think!