Breakfast with the Punks

I mentioned yesterday on my uber-wordy and tedious blog, Med Marg, I have a new meal to incorporate into the day. My kids used to get their breakfast at their childcare center. No more. Mommy has to come up with five more meals every week. I'm picky about said meals, too, because if you're gonna do it, may as well do it right. Unless I've worked like a dog all week, cooked dinner every night without called Cafe Courier even once, then even made pancakes Saturday morning. I have been known to serve the kids a Happy Meal at lunch, but with milk and apple dippers.

A few weeks ago, trying to solicit some buy-in and introduce the kids to the idea of having another thing to accomplish in the morning (where exactly the time for all this is coming from I do not know) I had them make a list of stuff they like. They did really well:

• Yogurt with fruit: I use 2% Greek Yogurt with a mashed up banana and some honey. Cinnamon if they're in the mood. Substitute fruit or in a pinch, fruit preserves.
• Puffins (or other cereal) with paper thin slices of banana: I pretend to be a jeweler slicing up a diamond. The kids think it's quite hilarious because of course I ham it up. It works to get some fruit down their tummies.
• Waffles: I use whole grain Eggos. Boy, I've tried all kinds of frozen waffles at Whole Foods and man, do they taste like curdled dried paste. I take a little fruit--say blueberries--and warm them up in the microwave with a little maple syrup.
• Cheesy eggs and bacon: One slice of precooked bacon, and one egg each with lowfat cheese I cook on the stove with a smidge of olive oil. They also split an English muffin usually.
• Oatmeal: This is a family favorite. On weekdays I make a quickish pot of whole rolled thick organic oats (just because I like the Bob's Red Mill brand a lot). I cook them in 1/3 1% milk and 2/3 water. We usually have it with a smidge of half & half and a little honey or real maple syrup, a handful of no-nut or sugar whole grain cereal or raisins. And cinnamon if the kids are in the mood.

I included in my MedMarg post yesterday a handy little article including some more breakfast ideas. These good ideas include:

• Smoothies
• Breakfast burrito
• Stuff with peanut butter, which unfortunately is verboten in this house.

I got a lot of suggestions from readers with kids over the last 24 hours. Good suggestions. Here goes a few:

From Rain Domino:
"Oatmeal with a few spoonfuls of applesauce. Daughter Susan Lucci loves it."

From Dr. Jardin Green Jeans:
"I am feeling your pain with the early morning schedules. Honestly, we just do cereal most mornings, since we have tons of different cereals and they are nutritious. Add fruit or yogurt and you are good to go. We did French toast this morning since I had 15 extra minutes, but yep- it's usually cereal."

From Dr. Vera Bradley:
"Breakfast casserole is all I can say. And freeze extra pancakes left over from the weekend. Just some of my favs for the morning rush to get kids to school and you to work!!!"

From a fellow Coffee Whack Job:
Two things. One, cottage cheese with any fruit, but mostly good old retro pineapple folded in. Two, yogurt parfaits with fruit and granola layers.

From Frenchie:
Oh, Mon Dieu. Why do you make things so difficile? Hunk of bread, a touch of beurre, a slice of cheese, et l'orange.

Mon Dieu indeed, Frenchie. I'm open to ideas. You know you have 'em. Rules are they can't be gross, they must taste good, and they must take no more than 10 minutes or use more than one hand because the other hand is going to be French pressing coffee or pulling espresso.

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