Oatmeal and Toast

Today we had oatmeal. Believe it or not, this is a breakfast we love. :)  I first introduced it to the kids about 1 1/2 years ago. I hadn't really made it for them before that. They whined and whined and whined about how GROSS it was! After about 3 or 4 times of making it, they finally developed a taste for it. Now they look forward to me making it. I dress it up with sugar, milk. Athena and Samantha like a bit of cinnamon in their oatmeal and I put nutmeg in mine, Nathan's and Alex's. Then I make toast and have a glass of milk. YUM!

To make it, I use 2 parts water to 1 part oatmeal and add some salt. Today Dad wasn't home for breakfast, so I boiled 4 cups of water with 1/2 tsp of salt. Then I added 2 cups of quick oats to the boiling water and let it cook for 1 minute. Perfect!

Coffee Cake

This is a struesel cake that we have sometimes for breakfast. I completely forgot to take a picture of this one until we had already started eating it! I guess that means I'll just have to make it again for a better picture.

 

I made it early, then jumped in the shower while it cooked. By the time I got out of the shower, breakfast was ready. :) I really like this recipe better than others I've had because it always turns out so moist and it uses brown sugar instead of white. Of course, I used 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white flour, but I'll post the recipe with all white flour.

Coffee Cake
2 c. flour
4 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 c. milk
6 T. vegetable oil

Topping
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. margarine
1 T. cinnamon
1 c. quick cooking oats

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar in the mixing bowl. Add eggs, milk and oil and mix well. Pour into greased 9x13 inch baking pan. For topping, melt butter and mix all ingredients together in medium bowl. Sprinkle topping on top of cake batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

What I did differently:
I like to melt the butter in a saucepan on the stove. While it's melting I start mixing the cake. Then I add the other topping ingredients into the saucepan and by the time I'm done mixing the cake, the topping is all ready to go. It is much easier to drop onto the cake when I melt it all together like that first.

Banana Bread

What to do with those last few bananas sitting on the counter that no one will touch because there are too many dark spots? Banana bread!!! This is for sure a favorite at our house. The last batch I made lasted just 2 days and the first loaf was gone within about 20 minutes - hot out of the oven.

I love to make banana bread because it's a great after-school snack, breakfast, or anytime snack. It never goes to waste at our house. I usually have to ward off the kids from the time I take it out of the oven until it is cool enough to go into their mouths. This recipe is the only one I use for banana bread. No other is worthy. :)

Banana Bread
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
4 mashed bananas
3 eggs
2 3/4 - 3 c. flour
3/4 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1/2 c. coarsely chopped nuts
1 c. chocolate chips

Mix sugar, oil, bananas (mashed with fork), and eggs together with fork in large mixing bowl. Add flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix well with fork. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Pour batter into buttered 3x6 inch loaf pans (two pans). Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Check bread before removing from oven by inserting knife in center of bread. If it comes out clean, bread is done. Remove bread from pans and cool for 3 minutes on wire rack. Put in bags while bread is still warm to preserve moistness.

What I do different: I use about 1 3/4 cups of my home ground wheat flour and 1 cup of white flour. I usually don't add the nuts because I rarely have them on hand, and I throw in a little extra chocolate chips.

We love it!

Wheat Pancakes

This pancake recipe is really basic and is the one I use whenever it's a pancake day. I really like them. They take just a few minutes to whip together (before cooking) and are SO MUCH better than using a mix. I use my wheat grinder to make my own wheat flour and then I freeze the flour and make sure I always have some on hand. Notice Nathan peeking in? He thinks it is so cool to watch the wheat slowly disappear into the grinder. :)

Here are the pancakes. I had a little leftover bacon in the fridge from another meal, so I heated it up in the microwave, broke it into small pieces, and added the bacon into the pancake mix. Everyone LOVED it. By the way, if you don't have wheat flour, this recipe originally calls for just white flour. I add the wheat because I like it and it seems to give the pancakes more substance and flavor. I also double this recipe for my family so there is enough.

Wheat Pancakes

1/2 c. wheat flour

1/2 c. white flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 beaten egg

1 c. milk

2 Tbsp. cooking oil

In a mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add egg, milk, and oil to flour mixture all at once. Mix well.

Pour about 1/4 c. batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet. Cook till pancakes are golden brown, turning to cook second sides when pancakes have bubbly surfaces and slightly dry edges. Makes about 8-10 standard sized pancakes.

Breakfast Burritos for Dinner

I love having breakfast foods for dinner. They are so good and I rarely have time in the mornings to make them. Last night was crazy for us because Athena and Samantha had dance and choir in the afternoon and we got home right at dinner time. This was a very easy to make, one-skillet meal. I didn't follow a specific recipe, I just threw it all together. So, for this recipe, feel free to add or take away whatever your family may or may not like. The whole thing took me about 25 minutes to make. It would take longer if you don't use precooked bacon. It was my first time trying it because it was on sale. :) Sometimes I throw in ham, or just omit the meat.

Breakfast Burritos
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 green pepper, chopped
10 strips of bacon (precooked)
2 mushrooms, chopped small
3 cloves fresh garlic, pressed
12 eggs
milk
salt and pepper to taste
grated cheese

Prepare the onion, green pepper, mushrooms, garlic, and bacon. Put it all into the skillet and cook on medium heat until it the onions and green peppers are soft. While those are cooking, mix the eggs together, pour abt 1/4 c. milk into the egg mixture and salt and pepper. When the veggies in the skillet are mostly cooked, pour in the egg mixture and cook it like scrambled eggs. Cook this all together until the eggs are done. Then top with cheese and cover until the cheese is melted. Serve with tortillas, sour cream, and ketchup or salsa.

This is the finished product. It smelled so good!

To put it together on my plate, I used a whole wheat tortilla.

Then I put the sour cream and ketchup on my tortilla. A lot of people prefer salsa, but I like ketchup.

Add the egg mixture to the tortilla.

Wrap it up and eat.

For our drink we had homemade grape juice.

I enjoyed making this dinner because 1) everyone in the family likes it and 2) Athena stayed with me in the kitchen and helped me cook. I've noticed that when I allow the kids to help me cook, they eat their dinner better and appreciate more the work that goes into it. She got to see every step of the dinner-making process and had some one-on-one time with mom. :)