Good Morning!

It's almost 7 in the morning.  Usually I am still in bed at this point.  I'm not much for getting up but when I have to, at least I can hit the ground running.  My husband, not so much.  We both wish we had the energy levels our kids have, but then again, don’t all parents?  Even with being able to get up and go when needed, breakfast has never been a priority for me.  Now that I have kids, that has had to change.

Breakfasts for me growing up were nothing interesting.  I ate so much Raisin Bran and PBJ's that it took me YEARS to eat a PBJ and I still won't eat Raisin Bran; too many bad memories.  Then there were the hard boiled eggs just still gooy in the middle sliced over buttered bread and lumpy Cream of Wheat from time to time.  I hated breakfast and I HAD to eat it.  I grew up and breakfast became a non-issue; it didn't exist!  But is that how our bodies should really live?  Is it good for us to run on fumes from the meal we ate 12 hours ago?  Simply, no.  Never-the-less, I often go without breakfast because either I sleep as long as I can and then run out of time to eat before I have to leave or my little piranhas eat it all up and I just don't care enough to fix more.  Regardless, I end up crashing and running for the quickest thing which usually is junk.  Today, it was three mini candy bars.  The horror!!!  Thankfully I've not reached an age where my body weight is an issue because no doubt, that can't be a good thing for health or weight.

Carnation Breakfasts have been my life savor for a while.  It got me through all four of my pregnancies when I was too sick or tired to eat.  I don’t feel guilty about drinking it like I do eating a candy bar.  Still not healthy but at least it’s not totally empty and there are lots of ways to spruce it up and make it a bit better for you.  If you’re looking at sugar, you’d die at this thought I guess but sugar doesn’t scare me.  I just try and keep things in moderation.  Bananas are great pureed into the milk chocolate as is peanut butter or both at the same time!  Strawberries are good and pretty much any fruit that goes well with chocolate.  There is vanilla and those made really good fruit smoothie add ins for a creamy touch.  I don’t drink them daily like I used to and part of that comes from learning more breakfast meals and cooking enough for me to have some too. 

Usual breakfasts for us include oatmeal (usually with some fruit and nut added in), Malt-o-Meal (which is amazing with maple syrup and dates) and the quickie Multi-Grain Cherrios.  With three chickens that are laying, we usually have a surplus of eggs, so long as my dog hasn’t had some for a snack.  So, scrambled eggs and grits find their way on the table a lot too.  Then there are pancakes.  I don’t know what it has been about these lil’ treats but they have been my biggest experiment.  Pancakes have always been nothing more than an ok way to eat cake for breakfast.  I’ll never forget my mom flipping out when my dad served me chocolate cake for breakfast one morning.  His response was something along the lines of, it’s ok to eat pancakes covered in syrup but not cake?  I totally understand the confusion!  Being the sweet-o-holic that I have always been and am even more so after having my fourth child, I have been hell-bent on making these blood sugar bombs something healthy and more than good to eat for breakfast.  And by-george I’ve done it!  This has been the recipe to evolve the most over the years and is the most varied in flavor combinations.  Coming across the new hit Trim Healthy Momma has only taken it further for me.  I don’t know much about THM but after looking through many different recipes, I’ve discovered cooking with not just bread flour, whole wheat flour and even flax seed flour, but also how to cook with coconut flour, oat flour and hopefully soon I’ll get to try almond flour.  I’m not interested in a gluten free diet.  Personally, unless you have a legitimate allergy, I think the gluten free diets are just another crazy idea out there to get publicity and a cult-like following.  I am shocked at how hostile moms can get over another mom eating gluten.  My goodness!  Like there are no other major and far more important issues to get all fluffed up over.  What I like about cooking with these other flours are the health benefits that come from them as well as the new flavors.  Coconut flour is like sunflower seed oil; it is going to impart some bit of that flavor to what you are cooking but so far, savory or sweet, it has worked in small amounts.  I’ll get into more detail on those proportions when I start getting these recipes up. 

And to add even more to the list of breakfast foods comes the surplus of eggs I have.  I really don’t like hard boiled eggs unless it is for egg salad.  My grandmomma’s old time chili sauce makes them pretty ok but other than that, there is just only so many scrambled eggs I can enjoy.  Occasionally, I fix fried eggs (in coconut oil and non-stick griddle of course) to go with toast and gravy or over grits leaving the yolks runny to make a nice sauce.  But that is time consuming and by the time I’ve cooked four, my lil’ piranhas are ready for a second round.  Thus we get back to momma not eating breakfast again.  So I discovered egg muffin but got bored with those until I found Trim Healthy Momma and there have been some really yummy ideas to bring those morsels back to the table and healthier than ever.

I have a new casserole to try this week for breakfast this week and am very interested to see how that goes.  I’ve never done a casserole like this before.  I could make this ahead of time and just pop it in the oven when I get up to make eating first thing in the morning even easier.  So a big part of the meal planning is to meal plan for breakfasts so that I take better care of my body, feed my kids better in the morning and raise them up in good habit to carry with them when they grow up.

This week’s recipe experiment is going to be: Omelet Quesadillas from Taste of Home. 

·         1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

·         2 tablespoons chopped onion

·         1/2 cup egg substitute

·         2 tablespoons chopped fresh tomato

·         2 flour tortillas (10 inches)

·         4 thin slices lean ham (1/2 ounce each)

·         1/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

·         1/4 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

·         3 tablespoons salsa

Directions:

In a small nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook mushrooms and onion over medium heat until tender. Add egg substitute and tomato; cook and stir until set.

Place one tortilla in a large nonstick skillet; top with ham, egg mixture, cheeses and remaining tortilla. Cook over medium heat, carefully turning once, until lightly browned on both sides and cheese is melted. Cut into four wedges. Serve with salsa. Yield: 2 servings.

Of course, as with most all of the recipes I use, I’ll modify them to fit our tastes and eventually, recreate it to fit us.  When I do, I’ll update with that!