Everything on the internet and in stores is throwing it in my face that fall is approaching. I love the fall, but can’t believe the summer has flown by so fast. (Note to self: must go to the beach this weekend!) As we all start the sometimes dreaded gearing up for fall, or just need some more ideas for breakfasts, I thought I would post some of my ideas and some links to other peoples ideas.
These need to be quick but yet enough to fill the kids up. When I do my menu plan, I add breakfasts, so my husband can just look at the board and know what to give the kids if I’m in the shower and if I am getting breakfast together, it is one last thing to think about! Here is an example:
Monday: Cheerios and Fruit. I had a proud mom moment on Sunday. These don’t happen all to often, but when they do, shout it from the roof tops! I took Karina (almost 5 years old) with me to the grocery store. We were in the cereal aisle to get Cheerios, the kids’ cereal of choice. Karina saw all the choices of different flavors of Cheerios, Dulce de Leche, Chocolate, Fruit (kind of like Fruit loops) and more. I don’t know how I managed to avoid this until now, but she for the first time, was in awe and wanted all the sugary cereals. I then pointed to the purple and white box of Cheerios, the Multigrain ones, and said how about this one? and she said Ok! Its purple! No one else witnessed this to my dismay, but now I share it with you because I want documentation before she gets wiser 🙂 She even excitedly ate her “special” Cheerios the next morning. We usually serve it with bananas or apples or whatever fruit is on hand.
Tuesday: Oatmeal and fruit. We use the Quaker Maple and Brown sugar, Low sugar version, for ease (probably not the healthiest), but I have been pinning all sorts of oatmeal recipes and just need to try some out. Like this blueberry and raspberry baked oatmeal one from So, how’s it taste? or this one from Weelicious for an overnight oatmeal that cooks in the crockpot.
Wednesday: Toast and fruit. Whole wheat bread, toasted with peanut butter or jelly or for fun some days, Nutella 🙂 Serve with strawberries, pineapple or whatever fruit is on hand.
Thursday: Eggs and Fruit. This can be as simple as just putting one egg per child in a microwaveable bowl that has been sprayed with Pam. Whisk egg and add a little cheese, salt and pepper. Microwave for about 1 minute, flip and microwave again for about 30 sec (time will depend on your microwave and how many eggs you have). Then cool and cut into pieces and serve. I (or my husband, who mainly takes care of breakfast) also sometimes add cottage cheese instead of shredded cheese or ricotta.
Friday: Cereal and Fruit again 🙂
Saturday: Eggs or toast, depending on what we have planned. If we are not rushing out of the house, I make a frittata or egg hash, which are great ways to use up leftovers. Last weekend I had a little bacon left from all my Julia Child cooking, so I diced it up and sauteed it in a non stick pan (about 4 strips). Then once the fat had rendered out and bacon started to get crispy, I added about 1/2 a palmful of sliced green onions and 1 minced clove of garlic and cooked for a few more minutes. Then I added about 1/4 cup of some of the leftover mashed sweet potato from the gnocchi I made on Julia’s Birthday and let that heat through. Season with salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, I whisked 4 eggs (for our family of 5) with about 1/4 cup milk (whatever kind you have, cream is always tastier, but not as healthy), salt, pepper and a handful of shredded cheddar. When whisked, I poured it into the sweet potato, bacon and onion mixture and cooked until eggs were ready, stirring and flipping occasionally. Served with strawberries. It was a big hit!
Sunday: Pancakes. You can serve them plain with syrup and fruit or make blueberry pancakes, apple pancakes, whatever your imagination can come up with. You can make them circles or cut out with cookie cutters to make shapes or if you have the special pancake molds (like these) you can eliminate the waste. I have Mickey Mouse shaped molds that were a gift. They are very fun easy to use. You can use them for eggs as well.
I usually buy Aunt Jemima’s Whole Wheat pancake mix and then add in fruit, either mashed bananas or blueberries. Sometimes I experiment a little more, like a few weeks ago when I added about 1/4 cup of ricotta cheese and the zest of one lemon to my regular blueberry pancakes. It was delicious! I also made some colored pancakes in honor of the Olympics from scratch, but the recipe made pancakes that were too dense. I’m back to my boxed mix for now, until I find the right recipe from scratch.
Tips for quick breakfasts:
(1) I always make extra pancakes and freeze them to be pulled out one morning for breakfast and cooked in the toaster or microwaved.
(2) I save the ends of our loaves of bread each week and put them in the freezer. Once I have enough, I pull them out on a Saturday night and put them in the fridge. Sunday morning I make French toast with them. Again make extra and freeze for easy meals during the week.
(3) Make breakfast for dinner one night a frittata or quiche and freeze the leftovers to take out and heat up for breakfast.
(4) yogurt with cereal and fruit parfaits. 1 scoop yogurt, next granola or cereal, next blueberries or raspberries, then repeat.
Other breakfast ideas: Smoothies, Waffles (frozen or in your waffle maker if you have one), muffins (whatever your favorite are blueberry, zucchini, sweet potato, sky is the limit!), or breakfast quesadillas.
Where I find breakfast ideas:
Pinterest Breakfast Recipes to Try
Weelicious
Our Best Bites (who just posted an overnight oatmeal recipe this morning!)
The Kitchn
Here are some photos from my week of celebrating Julia Child’s birthday. Fun but exhausting!
Roast chicken with potatoes and carrots (not exactly Julia’s recipe, but a “Julia-like” version)
Quiche Lorraine. Delicious! Next time I would not blanche the bacon as she suggests. It took all the bacon flavor out of it.
Potato Leek Soup. Delicious! So simple! Just potatoes, leeks, salt, water and parsley for garnish.
