I am probably a bit old fashioned in that I love to feed my family homemade breakfasts. It makes me feel happy to provide them with home cooked goodness before I send them off into the world. I hope that starting their day this way helps them feel loved and cherished. That is my goal, but with 5 boys and busy schedules mornings are hectic and finding time for a good breakfast can be tricky. Over the years, I have found "shortcuts" and "do aheads" so I can still provide a nutritious and delicious meal every morning without too much work or mess on our early and busy week day mornings.
Here are some of our favorites:
*Hearty Oatmeal Pancake Mix
Using this homemade mix, I can have warm and healthy pancakes in minutes. You simply mix one cup of mix, with one cup of milk and an egg. By the time the pan or griddle is hot the batter is ready.
Recipe for Oatmeal pancake mix here.
*Fabulous Granola
I have two recipes that I love to make and keep on hand for my family. Both granolas are great with milk, sprinkled on yogurt, or even scooped into a baggie for those mornings that you got up late and need to take something on the run.
Favorite Granola
Coconut and Cashew Granola
*Freezer Biscuits
I like to keep a gallon size freezer bag full of these frozen biscuits. They go from the freezer straight into the oven. So you can have fresh, warm biscuits in minutes. I like to serve them with butter and jam or make a breakfast sandwich with eggs and bacon. ( FYI you can get the precooked bacon strips that just require a few seconds of heating in the microwave.) Recipe for Freezer Biscuits here.
*Wholegrain Muffins
Most muffins freeze beautifully and can be thawed at room temperature overnight or quickly reheated in the morning using your microwave. Here are a couple of our favorites:
Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Sweet Potato (or Pumpkin) Muffins
And there are so many more on Sisters Cafe that I love, just look under the muffin label for lots of choices!
(it may not look green but there are lots of greens in there:)*Green Smoothie
Last, but not least... I try to serve a green smoothie every morning with whatever we eat. I make it the night before and leave it in the blender container and put it in the fridge. In the morning I put the container of smoothie back on the blender base and pulse it a couple of times and serve it up. Yum!
I have found that the secret to a homemade breakfast on crazy weekday mornings is planning ahead. I hope these ideas work for you as well as they have for us. I want you to know, that although my goal is homemade, my boys get (and enjoy) plenty of bowls filled with plain old cold cereal too!
I have found that the secret to a homemade breakfast on crazy weekday mornings is planning ahead. I hope these ideas work for you as well as they have for us. I want you to know, that although my goal is homemade, my boys get (and enjoy) plenty of bowls filled with plain old cold cereal too!
What really matters is the love that a meal is served with!
Here is to a happy new school year with stress free and yummy mornings!
PS
I got excited about this post and forgot about Menu Monday--But I will post our menu tomorrow for sure:)
I love this!! I've been wanting to do something "better" than cereal for awhile now so this is awesome! Thanks:) OH and hey I have 5 too-2 girls and 3 boys!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Mel! I'm so glad you moved here. I know you miss your family but getting to know you has been too fun. I'm on your recipe blog ALL THE TIME!
ReplyDeleteI always get great ideas from you! I'm so thankful for your blog! I was wondering if you have any good lunch ideas for picky eaters...we are stuck in the grilled cheese, PB&J, quesadillas rut. Thanks! Love, Emily
ReplyDeleteOnce again, SO inspirational. I need to do MUCH better in this arena. We have oatmeal/cold cereal/green smoothies and toast nearly every morning. I'm sure my kids would like me to mix it up a bit.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your ideas! I LOVE your blog.
Thanks for the inspiration! I needed to make ww bread this morning and next thing you know I had 4 loaves of ww bread, a new batch of Oatmeal Pancake Mix (which is awesome! We love it!), freezer biscuits, granola and a batch of oat blueberry muffins. I seriously spent 3 hours baking this morning! It was therapuetic! Your the best! Thanks for all the time you put into inspiring the rest of us!
ReplyDeleteThis post really inspired me, mel! And it looks like it inspired lots of others too! :) I really am excited to make the pancake mix, the granola and the freezer biscuits... to start! you are such a wonderful mother. Your kids really are the most important thing to you and you show them in so many "little" ways - like at breakfast! You work so hard at it - you remind me of Mom and Grandma! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas! I have 4 kids with 3 different schedules, one with early morning seminary. And my kids feel like they're entitled to a homemade breakfast, and turn their noses up at cold cereal. ;D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pancake mix recipe, I'm going to give that a try! I usually make extra pancakes and put the leftovers in the freezer to heat in the toaster or microwave when I don't have time to make fresh. We sometimes do smoothies and a muffin or scrambled eggs in the microwave for breakfast.