foldy-eggs/cheese/beans breakfast taco

so yes, we're moving back to austin soon. i graduate in may and we'll be back home before june. it will be hard to leave Beautiful Portland, but i'm extremely excited about being back in austin. it's too bad one can't live in two places at once. on days like today i'm especially in love with portland - it's sunny and flowery and chilly and fresh (the air here is the very freshest ever).

but then i think about friends and family and breakfast tacos and i can't wait to get back to austin. the breakfast taco is probably austin's official dish. if it isn't, it should be. simple, cheap, filling and delicious, it fills the four corners of a square meal perfectly.

i used to make mine with scrambled eggs and refried beans and then put grated cheddar cheese on top. that's cool and all, but now that i have learned the (ridiculously-easy-why-didn't-i-think-of-this) secret to smooth meltylicious cheese inside the eggs, i definitely think it's the way to go.

it isn't really even a secret. it's more like making a little simple omelet and using that instead of regular eggs + the grated cheese that never really melts properly. the original idea is from deb, whose website smitten kitchen is all sorts of inspirational. she makes the eggs into a square, however, so that they are all ready for a tasty breakfast sandwich.

as a good once and future austinite, i of course had to try it with a breakfast taco. this is really more about the mechanics than about a recipe, per se. first, cut some slices of a good cheddar or maybe pepper jack cheese. you don't need very much - maybe two or three thin slices (you could also use grated cheese, but i hate grating cheese). then you want to whisk an egg or two with a little salt and pepper and splosh them in a hot-ish pan (medium heat) with an adequate amount of butter. tilt the pan all over so that the eggs make a nice thin layer. let it cook for a bit until the eggs begin to set up, then put the cheese on top.

then use a spatula (i use a flexible silicon one) to fold the eggs over the cheese and themselves. for a taco, you don't make the square that is shown in the sandwich recipe - just fold the sides in so that it makes a long narrow rectangle-ish thing. i then heat up some (canned. the SHAME.) refried beans in the same pan, although if you're worried about overcooking the eggs you can be heating the beans up separately or put the eggs on your plate while you heat the beans. heat up a nice flour tortilla and you're all set!

spread the beans onto the tortilla, then add the foldy-cheese-eggs and some good salsa and you're good to go for the day.

(incidentally, these days the dogs are all about piling up into a comfort heap and enjoying the sun. i so envy their utter lack of Things to Do)

i have to admit that the picture of the taco above, with its petite line of salsa, does not truly represent my insane salsa predilections. below is a more accurate display of the amount of salsa i actually use. yikes.

*ingredients*

2 eggs

salt & pepper

2-3 thin slices cheese

1 flour tortilla

1/4 - 1/3 cup refried beans (i accidentally used too much in this taco, which made it rather difficult to eat. don't be like me!)

salsa

listening to: a weirdo medley of cruiserweight and grimes.