Make Me a Mimosa, Kronk!!!

It’s back to school time! Have your kids started yet? Mine will next Wednesday. As much as I will miss him during the day, I will be glad to have a little me time. One thing I am NOT looking forward to is the hectic rush that most school mornings seem to become, at least at my house. Last year I spent time on a Saturday every month or so preparing healthy, freezable, and mostly car friendly breakfasts that could be heated and served in minutes. I cannot tell you how much this helped us get out the door with a minimum of fuss and his teachers actually thanked me for sending him well fed and not on a sugar high. Have you read the ingredients on cereal boxes? Probably 95% have sugar as one of the top 3 ingredients, “Enjoy your sugar crash, Sweetie!!”.

One of my favorite recipes is Denver Biscuits and I’ll share it with you tomorrow. My family makes them every Thanksgiving and they are delicious! I use the dough for plenty of make ahead recipes like biscuit sandwiches, empanadas, and pizza rolls. It can be rolled out very thin for tortillas or fried for sopapillas. You see why it’s one of my favorites?

One more hint, make extra when you’re cooking dinner. If you already have the food processor out, why not grate potatoes, toss them with flour and bake in the oven for burritos? It takes almost no extra time to scramble some eggs, grate cheese in that warmed up food processor, and roll a few breakfast burritos to freeze. If you are making beans in the crockpot, make extra and throw those in too. If you’re making quinoa, make alot and use the extra for quinoa muffins. Steam extra rice and use it to make delicious and filling rice milk for breakfast smoothies the next day. Spending 10 extra minutes in the evening is not a big deal, but those same 10 minutes can cause grey hairs on school mornings.

Here are just a few make ahead breakfast ideas and if you have some to share, please do!!

Whole grain waffles or pancakes. I make a ton, and freeze them separated with deli wrap (you can buy a huge box at Costco, its even pre cut) in freezer bags. I make savory waffles with cheddar and chopped chives, or cinnamon and berries. If you add plenty of flavor to the ingredients, you don’t even need syrup. Take a few out of the freezer, pop them in the toaster, and go!

Breakfast burritos. Egg and hashbrowns, beans and rice, quinoa and veggies. They can be wrapped in the deli paper I mentioned above and frozen for a quick, hearty breakfast.

Smoothie chunks. This one doesn’t save all that much time but does simplify things. The berries are prewashed and cut and you only need to take one thing out of the fridge. Buy one of the huge tubs of unsweetened yogurt, I love Mountain High or plain greek. Chop up your kids favorite fruits and berries and add them to muffin cups with the yogurt. Cover and freeze, then pop out the frozen yogurt and store in freezer bags. In the morning, throw a few smoothie chunks into the blender with coconut water, that rice milk you made the night before or orange juice. Healthy and delicious breakfast smoothies are always a hit at my house.

Crock pot oatmeal. Before you go to bed put the ingredients for oatmeal in the crockpot. It cooks for around 4 hours and is perfect in the morning! If you have a fancy crockpot, you can set it to come on during the night or if not, use one of those lamp timers. Ah ha!!!! Add dried fruit or nuts, spices, and if desired, stevia or agave nectar for sweetness. How easy is that?

Granola or homemade granola bars. Have you seen how expensive these items are? And read the ingredient labels? Ouch. It’s so easy to make your own and you know exactly what you are feeding your kids. Pinterest has more recipes than you will ever use and I’ll be posting a few soon.

Mom McMuffins. That delicious Denver Biscuit dough? Yep. Make a big pan of muffins one night, serve some with dinner and use the rest for breakfast sandwiches. Scrambled eggs, sliced cheese, sausage patties (we use Morningstar), maybe sliced tomatoes? You can add whatever sounds good, wrap in deli paper and freeze.

The possibilities are endless and if you need some inspiration, check Pinterest! I can’t get over how clever people are.

Cheers to calm mornings and well fed kids!