Back to School...Breakfasts!

I don't know about you, but our house has some serious issues come school time with getting a healthy, hearty breakfast into ourselves AND packing a lunch that kids are, if not excited, at least interested in eating. So I thought, in an effort to help motivate myself, that a short series dedicated to back-to-school food might be good. We'll start with breakfasts, followed by the always-dreaded school lunches, and finish up with snacks, the during school and after school kind. Sorry no pictures of food this time, just words and links most of which have pictures of their own so you'll get the idea.

Breakfasts...

My kids have always done well with breakfasts of all kinds, I just don't do so well making them anytime but the weekends. So my goal through this winter and school year is to make a hot breakfast for my 2 school age kids as often as possible. {notice I didn't say every day! that would be a recipe for failure on my part} And since we're also no whizzes at giving ourselves ample and leisurely amounts time in the mornings, we obviously need some quick and simple hot homemade breakfast options. Here's a list of my ideas, with explanation and recipe links where appropriate:

Before School Breakfast Ideas:

omelet: a go to and quicker than you think favorite of ours

baked oatmeal: my kids aren't such big fans of the easy make-it-yourself packets of oatmeal, I'm hoping this will be another way to get that hearty classic breakfast into them. Plus it doesn't hurt that I think it looks fabulous!

**Update (8/23/11)-This was as good as it promised to be! and my kids loved the idea that they were practically eating "cake" for breakfast. With strawberries and milk it was over the top good, we all had 2 helpings. I used old-fashioned oats and it was good, but I think texture-wise quick-cooking would be a bit better, that's what I'll be trying next and I'm pretty sure they'll be the way to go.

oatmeal pancake mix: Oh my goodness, we love this so much! The mix is easy to whip together. The batter is even easier to throw together. The pancakes seem relatively healthy to me. And we can't stop eating them! Just a note I recommend grinding the oatmeal as she suggests, and we use regular milk, rather than buttermilk, with much success...we like our pancakes a little thinner and more crepe-like anyhow.

refrigerator bran muffins: I have yet to try these but they're on the menu this week and I've seen more than one version of this concept floating around in numerous places. I love the idea of a batter that stays ready and waiting in the fridge for 30 days. 30 days people! Not to mention, you can make as few or as many at a time as your heart desires. I also imagine that first thing in the morning preheating the oven, scooping some batter into a few muffin liners, and popping it all in the oven while we move on to other morning rituals such as getting dressed and gathering school items, takes virtually no time and then to have hot muffins jam-packed with all kinds of healthy fiber waiting for you at the end might just be brilliant! i hope my kids like them, I'm sure I will.

**Update (8/20/11): We made, we baked, we LOVED! Both my older kids came back asking for more, they had 2 and 2 1/2 respectively. I opted for 1 cup dark brown sugar and 1 cup white, having not made them any other way I see no reason to not keep it that way! Also make a batch of this honey butter for slathering inside and out and you have breakfast or snack muffin perfection (who cares that it's slightly less healthy!)

Yogurt Fruit smoothies & cinnamon sugar toast: Yogurt smoothies are quite possibly the best breakfast option ever. My kids can't get enough and really how long does it take to throw a 1/2 a cup of your favorite yogurt, a fresh or frozen banana, a cup of some kind(s) of frozen fruit, a dash of juice or milk, and possibly some honey into the blender and press "blend"? Not long, I promise! And just FYI, I find that keeping a large container of vanilla yogurt in the fridge and a well-stocked with frozen fruit freezer is a sure-fire way to have smoothie success at the drop of a hat.

Breakfast Burritos: We've been making these for a full decade and still never tire of them. You basically just saute some onions in butter, add eggs and scramble. We usually add some kind of meat to ours once the eggs are mostly set, either bacon or kielbasa sausage that has been cooked and crumbled or browned and chopped. Top the whole yummy mess with grated cheese, slap it on a warmed flour or corn tortilla with some salsa, roll, and eat away. Delicious and potentially self-contained if you're on the run. Those tortillas are way better then plastic wrap!

Homemade Egg McMuffins: McDonald's is gross. There I said it. We occasionally eat at McDonald's. There I said that too. Despite it all a person has to admit that breakfast sandwiches are pretty ingenious. So why not make your own at home and skip the fast-food fat? Here again, this is a pretty basic and very flexible concept-eggs of some kind (scrambled, fried, poached), toasted bread of some kind (we stick with english muffins-and you can even get wheat these days), cheese (because it's yummy), and breakfast meat (sausage patty, bacon, sliced ham). Some spinach, sliced tomato, heck-grilled onions wouldn't hurt either and could easily take the place of meat. Also, we're fans of ketchup or salsa as a condiment. Layer it all together sandwich style and voile, your own homemade mcmuffin that maybe took you 15 minutes tops! Definitely doable before school and you can't tell me those aren't going to keep your kids nice and full till lunch.

And for the days we're just not on the ball and running late, the kids went to bed late, or we're all just too darn tired--there'll always be our well-stocked help yourself cold cereal cupboard and eggo's in the freezer!

Here's hoping we have a successful school year full of many hot and yummy breakfasts!

If you have favorite before school breakfast recipes/ideas, I'd love to hear about them...