It isn't always so smooth around here. My daughter busted me with my mother in law recently by responding to her question, "What do you eat for breakfast?" with "We eat waffles in the car on the way to school." I was mortified. Even though that happens, but is not the norm, I vowed to make a different impression on my children this year. Also, my husband was threatening divorce if we didn't tighten up the morning routine around here. He was in charge of giving the five and six year olds their morning "to-do's": brush teeth and hair, make beds, get dressed, clothes in laundry hamper, pull up in trash, beds made, lights off, downstairs at their stools by 7:20 am and the get to put their initial on the calendar. (Lots of initials in one month=pennies!) I would never have implemented this system (I'm not the systems person, he is!), but I'm reaping the benefits. We are having smoother mornings, and I'm getting to make breakfast with a reasonable amount of time. Here are the favorites so far this year:
I've outlawed strawberries in our house, unless they are organic or seasonal and it is not too often that you can find them in the grocery stores or farmer's markets. My solution is strawberry smoothies made with frozen, organic strawberries, which are very easy to find.
Smoothies:
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 bag frozen strawberries
splash of apple or orange juice
tablespoon of flax seed (optional)
Pulse in blender and serve!
Options: My way of preserving bananas is to keep a plastic container in the fridge and add sliced bananas at the first sight of brown skin. If I have bananas I add a handful of those and cut down on the strawberries. My friend Elizabeth Smyth adds a handful of spinach or chopped carrot for more nutrients!
Waffle options: I purchased a waffle maker and have been making my own. It really isn't hard and I make the wheat version. Pro: You save on the boxes upon boxes of waffles required to feed a family of five waffles 2x/week. Good for the environment, trips to your backyard recycling bin, and your control of ingredients. If we have waffles for breakfast--the deal is a protein comes with it: smoothie, yogurt, scrambled eggs, organic sausage, or peanut or soy nut butter.
Special breakfasts (usually on the weekends) are pancakes and cinnamon toast. See other blog postings for methods/recipes. The Deal: if the kids are treated to this during the week then there is that protein requirement again. Best with soft scrambled eggs or a quick "juice egg." Coined by our Aunt Liz, "juice egg" means a runny yolk; so over-easy or sunny-side-up fried eggs qualify.
And, we often have the non-original cereal and oatmeal...but when we do, we try and stuff a spoonful of some kind of nut butter or a piece of stick cheese in their mouth before they run to carpool! And, always use unsweetened oats. Even if you use cinnamon-sugar (as we do) and raisins or cranberries to dress it up. Again, you control how much sugar is going in...I've recently been using agave nectar in place of sugar with a touch of cinnamon.
Fruit, fruit, fruit. In our house breakfast is (almost) always served with seasonal fruit. It's apples and pears around here these days and the girls are now old enough to use the slicer and can help with breakfast. Sprinkle with cinnamon for variety.
Finally, one last family law that has been key to our smoother mornings is no individual service. Over the past year I've switched my role from short order cook to head chef. Breakfast is breakfast and if it is not your cup of tea than there is always fruit. The end! It has worked wonders around here--I should have done it when my kids were younger.
