The Most Important Meal

I had a friend one day mention to me that she cooks her family a hot breakfast every morning. I thought every morning was a bit ambitious, but I decided to start trying to MAKE MY FAMILY BREAKFAST more. It sounded cozy and fun. I have always loved cooking, but for some reason had never really thought to make breakfasts.

It started as just a small thing... once and a while... I mostly still fed my family cold cereal.

Then it became more frequent...

and then I realized that I hadn't bought cereal in months.

I now quite happily make breakfast for my family every morning. It happens to be the only meal that we can eat together everyday... so I guess it's good we make more of a deal out of it.

Above is a sampling of our most frequent Breakfasts.

#1 on our list? OATMEAL!!! Next time you make it try it with MILK not water, a big dollup of canned pumpkin, a couple spoonfuls of brown sugar, a dash of vanilla, cinnamon and some

ground flax seed. Call it FANCY oatmeal like Jack does.

It's his fave!

#2 Home-made BRAN MUFFINS or a quick bread like Banana or Zucchini (always with WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR and GROUND FLAX SEED of course)

#3 OMELETS Corey started this one. He is REALLY GOOD at making them. In an effort to be healthier we don't make them with cheese, just eggs, spices and FRESH VEGGIES the most frequent of which are tomatoes and green peppers.

#4 NIE NIE WHOLE WHEAT WAFFLES. Click HERE for the recipe. It's my new favorite to make when we have a little extra time to dedicate to breakfast, like on the weekends or for a fast healthy dinner too.

Nie puts her BERRIES on top... I like mine straight in the batter.

#5 CREAMY WHEAT mmmm. That picture up there is the last cream of wheat we will probably have this year with FRESH STRAWBERRIES on top. Sad.

You will also notice a picture of the boys eating goldfish crackers. I had to add that because on some mornings I have a SLOW START and the boys make do until I can start cooking. Even on mornings that I don't have a slow start they always have a sippy cup of WARM MILK before breakfast. Ewww huh?!? Jack still likes it warm...

Also note that I am big on LEFTOVERS.

Making muffins will usually last us for two breakfasts, and waffles re-heated in the toaster are good too... so long as they didn't have berries in them.

ASHLEE'S BREAKFAST GOALS include:

Making the meals with WHOLE GRAINS as much as possible, try and sneak FLAX SEED in to anything I can, and always have at least one serving of FRUIT or VEGGIES to go with.

When I first started cooking breakfast it was hard to do, but now I can't imagine starting the day any other way.