Being a Better Mom: Hot Breakfast

I've always been a fan of cereal. The variety gives me a thrill...there's just so much to choose from! And I love almost every kind. I rarely buy the sugary junk cereals, and these days I personally don't eat that much cereal at all. However, it does make for an easy breakfast for the kids on school days, so that is what we've fallen back on.

A couple weeks ago I made eggs and toast for my kids on a school morning. They were so happy, and I felt a teensy bit bad that I don't cook them breakfast more often. I asked around and realized a lot of parents are feeding their kids a hot breakfast almost every day. And then I felt a little bit guiltier. I think I cooked for them four days in a row, and I was feeling pretty good. They were enjoying things like hot oatmeal and eggs, and I liked knowing they were going off to school with some good, hearty food in their tummies. But pretty soon, we were back to the same old.

The thing is, I'm not exactly jumping spryly out of bed in the mornings. I'm hitting snooze once or twice (or three times...) and dragging my tired butt out of bed. I know I stay up too late, but I relish the quiet house with no children begging for more snacks and more help with homework. My brain and soul need calm, decompressing time. It's the introvert in me that requires time alone to refresh. So it's hard for me to get up 20 or 30 minutes earlier to cook. That doesn't sound like much time, I realize, until the alarm is going off in the morning and you'd kill for just 20 or 30 more minutes of sleep. Plus once I'm out of bed, I'm still not necessarily up yet, you know? I'm more like stumbling around the house with my eyes half open.

But. I'd like to try again. I'm thinking it's probably not a good idea to put too much pressure on myself with unrealistic expectations, and cooking breakfast daily is not going to be happening at this point. But I think I could commit to making the kids breakfast three or four times a week. That sounds do-able.

A few ideas for quick and easy school morning breakfasts:

Oven pancake, before adding the sugar

• Oatmeal. I pour some oatmeal in each bowl and heat the water to boiling in my tea kettle. Then I pour some water in, stir it up, and add some milk. The milk makes it tastier and helps cool it off. Quaker has some good unsweetened flavored oatmeal that comes in a re-sealable bag. It's perfect with a couple spoonfuls of stevia. Otherwise, if I'm using plain oatmeal, I add a little brown sugar and cinnamon. I'd love more oatmeal recipes!
• Eggs. I typically just scramble them and serve them with toast and maybe turkey sausage. Bacon takes too long to cook. Sometimes I serve them up as part of breakfast sandwiches. Just kind of don't scramble the eggs so much, so they form a sort of egg patty. Then you can cut it up into pieces that will fit on a bagel or biscuit. Add a slice of cheese and a turkey sausage patty.
• Oven pancake. I love LOVE oven pancakes. Since I sprinkle mine with powdered sugar, this is a little sweet for a school day, but once in awhile, I think it's fine. The great thing about an oven pancake is that it's easy to mix up with just a few ingredients, and then I can get ready while it's baking.
• French toast. Waffles take forever, and I'm not a competent pancake maker. But I can whip up some French toast pretty quickly. Again, with syrup it's a little sweet for school. Once or twice a month, though, why  not?

That's all I've got. I could definitely use some more ideas! Do you have any great muffin recipes? Someone on the Facebook page suggested making them the night before. Or other ideas?