I always wanted to have hot breakfasts for our children and it always seemed like such a hassle, especially for such a non-morning person like me. What I have found is that long cooking cereals actually saved me time, because I could start them while doing other morning preparations, and have them ready at breakfast time. Also, if that isn't a possibility, they hold up to long cooking in the crockpot overnight, for a hearty breakfast in the morning whenever you are ready for it. We generally stock steel cut oats for our breakfasts which cook at a 4:1 ratio of water to dry cereal. However, in the crockpot, it takes a little more liquid, I do a 6:1 ratio. Cook on low, starting it right before you go to bed, and you have a healthful, tasty breakfast. It is really important to include a dash of salt, though, it seems to keep them from being too bland.

Something else we do is to cook up lots of extra scrambled eggs when we make them, and the next day we use the leftovers with a little cheese, salsa and maybe guacamole or sour cream in egg burritos. Our family, at least, does not enjoy reheated eggs, but when it is remade and rolled in a tortilla, all of a sudden it's tasty. And quick. When we make pancakes or waffles we make four times the batch and freeze the extras (between waxed paper or parchment in freezer bags) and pull the out to toast in the toaster for busy mornings.

The major thing, though, is to plan for a hot cooked breakfast, and stock up on the foods you will need. We always have tons of eggs, and we always keep steel cut oats in the cupboard (I buy them in bulk and store them in an airtight container), I buy bacon when it is on sale, as much as we can afford, and store it in the freezer, same thing with breakfast sausage, though more often I buy ground pork and we season it with salt, pepper, paprika, sage (lots), brown sugar, red pepper flakes and a touch of nutmeg because it is cheaper and we know what is going into our sausage. We make a bread pretty much every night, so there is something for toast, and we keep loads of tortillas in the house. Breakfast is our house is largely eggs or oatmeal, yogurt and fruit.

I do keep grits around and we occasionally have that. Yesterday, for instance, we had cheddar grits with diced ham, jalapenos and shallots (scallions are great in this, also) that I sauteed and mixed in, and fried eggs to serve on top. Creamed eggs are simple, quick and tasty with toast to dip into the egg yolk (grease a ramekin or custard cup well, drop an egg in it, sprinkle with salt, pepper, chopped herbs like chives, drizzle with cream and bake until done to your liking, roughly 10 minutes). Those eggs fried in the toast, with the fried toast cut outs on the side are lovely also. We eat Arabic breakfasts as well, like diced up feta and tomatoes, sprinkled with za'atar, drizzled with olive oil and eaten with warm khoubz Araby, ful with warm bread and herbed egg omelets ('ijja) and other foods like that.

As the mornings are getting cooler, we also frequently have cocoa, cafe au lait or milky tea to warm up little bellies. The key, though, is planning. Just as I plan our dinners for the week, I make a rough outline of our breakfasts for the week. Since I have children who could eat oatmeal every day of their lives, if I can't think of anything else, we always fall back on that.

Easier hot breakfasts for my family works for me!

Labels: Family, Frugality, Homemaking, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen, Works for Me Wednesday