Breakfast, Importance of. Blah, blah, blah.

In my thinking, the most important meal of day is whichever one I'm eating. Or anticipating. That said, I like breakfast and I function better when I've had it. But doing the Complete Breakfast routine is spotty during the week.

Now that school is back in session, I no longer have the luxury of ambling into the kitchen to scramble a casual egg and enjoy a leisurely repast. These days it's more like shove food in my face while shoving books and files and computer and workout gear into the backpack, then gallop out the door, sprint to the BART station, and puff gently until my heart rate drops back to normal.

So... what to eat Monday through Friday?

The fast-and-easy stuff is always very carb-heavy (cereal, nutrition bars, toast, bagel), which presents two problems: 1) I can eat a wheelbarrowful of carbs and be hungry again in 45 minutes and 2), I'm not crazy about any of that stuff anyway.

So at 9:00 this morning - Saturday - I took action. I made a batch of breakfast burritos, wrapped them for nuking in microwave-safe plastic, tucked them into the fridge for next week, and patted myself on the back for my foresight.

The fruits of my labor lasted until 11:26am. This is what happens when one leaves one's burritos unattended in a house with two other human beings, one of whom is a high school senior recovering from soccer practice.

So I'll repeat the make-ahead process tomorrow, this time disguising the burritos in protective camouflage, perhaps inside a hollowed out eggplant.

Breakfast Burritos (makes 6)

These are high protein, high fiber, low carb, and tip the scales at a mere 300 calories. They're vegetarian, although not vegan. Best of all, they're portable and super tasty - make sure you get good cheese and salsa for best results.

• 3 cups egg whites (the kind in a carton)
  
• 1 -12 ounce package Soyrizo (soy chorizo)
• 3 ounces reduced-fat sharp cheddar, grated
• 6 Tortilla Factory low carb/high fiber whole wheat tortillas
• 6 tablespoons salsa
• 3 green onions
• Microwave-safe plastic wrap (like Press and Seal)
  

Grate the cheese. Chop the green onions. Cut the chorizo into 6, 2-ounce sections. Spread the tortillas out on the counter. Squeeze each soyrizo section out of its casing onto a tortilla. Divvy up the cheese between each, then top each with 1 tablespoon of salsa.

Heat a large skillet to medium, coat with cooking spray, and add the green onions. Saute for a minute, then add the eggwhites. Let the eggs cook, moving them around the pan occasionally with a wooden spoon, until they're cooked through.

Divide the the eggs between the six loaded tortillas.

Tear off a roughly square-shaped piece of plastic wrap. Put the as-yet-unrolled-tortilla on top. Fold up the tortilla, and then wrap it tightly in the plastic wrap. Mark the end of the plastic wrap on the burrito by folding over 1/2 an inch of wrap to make a little easy-grab tab. That way you can find the unwrapping point easily when it's time to eat. (You will thank me for this tip in the pre-coffee dawn, trust me.)

Each burrito has 300 calories, 14g fat, 25g carbs, 35g protein, and 15g fiber.