Thursday, February 24, 2011

Answering Your Questions - Breakfast

We buy one to two boxes of Cheerios each week.  This is something we bought our oldest when he was very young and it is still one of the older children's favorites.   I wish we had brought them up on oatmeal, but fortunately, the younger ones do like it and join Mike and I for a bowl of organic oatmeal.  I have organic raisins and molasses in mine.  Mike has brown sugar in his.  So cold or hot cereal is served two or three mornings each week.

The other mornings, except Sundays, I make pancake batter, usually the night before.  Here is what I do ~

I don't measure anything.  I simply take one of our stainless steel pans and fill it with milk, probably about 3 cups.  Then add 5 of our chickens' eggs.  Next I pour in white and wheat flours along with a small amount of cornmeal.  I add about 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 T. of oil, and 3 T. of sweetener.
I then use a whisk and mix it all together.  Put the cover on the pan and then in the refrigerator it goes until the morning. 

We rarely have maple syrup as it is not in our budget.  When company comes or a birthday we do buy some.  Other than that we look forward to our own syrup.  However, the maples here on our homestead were very crowded by others trees and did not get adequate light to grow a solid base, and instead grew tall and skinny.  We have thinned out around them and hope that our sap production will increase each year.  Last year we got about 2 quarts.

When we don't have syrup, we use jelly, yogurt, flax, butter, cinnamon, or a sprinkling of sugar.

On Sundays Mike cooks scrambled eggs and bacon.

I look forward to learning about your breakfasts.

Warm wishes,
Tonya

36 comments:

  1. I have a teenager who will eat anything you put in front of him for breakfast, actually he prefers if there is leftovers from dinner the night before. Our 7-year old is an oats man. Every.Morning. The only time that he will make an exception is on weekends. Then its either pancakes or waffles..all homemade. On his oatmeal is maple syrup, but in our end of Canada, its not hard to come by, the new stuff should be flowing soon. I usually like to put a couple of tablespoons of jam in my oatmeal. Hubby will eat cereal in the morning, he is a grab and go kinda guy.
    I have a pot of tea that I nurse most mornings :-)
    amanda

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  2. We tend to make oatmeal or toast in the morning...the kids live off of blueberries (20 lbs/year)Some mornings we make pancakes or muffins, and once in a blue moon we make waffles.

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  3. Tonya, our breakfasts are much like yours! Simple, hearty. :)

    -homemade granola
    -oatmeal with brown sugar, maple syrup, or raw honey
    -pancakes
    -purely os cereal (sometimes for a treat, not often!)
    -toast, toasted in our oven as we have no toaster.
    -just homemade bread and butter/peanut butter/homemade jam
    -sometimes yogurt or fruit

    -tea, water or organic milk to go with it (coffee for Andy and me)

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  4. I cook most mornings. We buy no cereal (other than the one or two boxes a year of corn flakes or chex cereal for party mix). I make oatmeal two or three mornings a week, pancakes, waffles or french toast other mornings. We also have muffins, toast and fruit, eggs and fried potatoes...that kind of thing. In the summer time, we tend to do more yogurt and granola, though only when we have an abundance of milk. One day a week, we have a BIG family breakfast. That morning we'll have pancakes or waffles, fried potatoes, eggs and often sausage or bacon.

    As far as syrup goes, we don't buy any commercially made syrup. I make a homemade "syrup" using brown sugar, water and maple extract. My kids actually prefer it to store bought. About once a year I'll splurge and buy real maple, but it's far from in our budget on a regular basis. Another syrup that I make is a buttermilk syrup. It is a family favorite with sugar, butter, buttermilk, baking soda and vanilla extract. REALLY tasty! We also use a lot of jams and fruit syrups that I cook on the stove while making breakfast.

    Another addition to our breakfast is kefir smoothie. I freeze berries, bananas and such to use in them. My kids LOVE them!

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  5. Your breakfasts sound yummy. I usually have steel cut oatmeal and an organic apple (usually Pink Lady or Braeburn). Sometimes there is bacon. My husband has been making waffles from Apples for Jam for the kids. They are so naturally sweet, they don't use syrup or anything.
    My oldest daughter loves scrambled eggs with a bit of cheese; she also loves cheese grits. For some reason my oldest is into applesauce right now. I am thinking of trying some crock pot recipes too.

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  6. I get steel-cut oats with hemp seeds, yogurt and raw honey every morning. My husband and children love eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, french toast or even leftover pizza if by a slim chance there is any.
    Warmly,
    Tracey

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  7. The children eat cold cereal a couple times a week -- cheerios or corn flakes, but we also enjoy oatmeal and cream of wheat, and sometimes just plain toast with jam or cinnamon toast, or pancakes. I also eat homemade yogurt a few times a week with just a little bit of jam. On Saturdays my husband makes French toast or fried mush, and Sundays we sometimes enjoy sweet rolls. I have lots of breakfast recipes on my food blog (see Breakfast in the sidebar at Bless Us O Lord) including Baked Oatmeal -- yum!

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  8. We live in Israel and have a more middle eastern breakfast. In the morning I cut up fruit and vegetables while I cut up a salad the kids make tehina and we eat it with bread olive oil and olives/pickles.
    We buy cereal for special occasions like Saturday morning which is our Sabbath.
    Maple syrup is very expensive here so we buy a few times a year.
    Nice hearing what other families do.
    All the best,
    Michal

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  9. My husband and I love oatmeal, but the children will only eat it if I make baked oatmeal. Well, to be fair my son will eat it, but doesn't care for it. Our daughter (who has always been this way) gags and can't get it down. Often she is my hard one to please with breakfast.
    3 days a week my son has early classes at college and we have quick meals then -- toast, bagels, sausage English muffins, and things like that. The other days are more flexible and we'll do bacon, eggs, waffles, pancakes, muffins, fruit, hot cereals (grits, oatmeal, 9 grain, etc), or some combination of those type items. They also love for me to make breakfast burritos.
    My pancake making sounds similar to yours. I was taught to do it by site. :-) However, I do love to use a blender recipe from Sue Gregg's cookbooks (can't remember which book right now -- maybe the breakfast one?) that uses the whole grain straight into the blender. On the other hand I never seem to do waffles except on weekends because they seem to take longer.

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  10. We do cereal here on Tuesday mornings when we have to leave really early. I stopped beating myself up about it :)
    -We have baked oats using the store-bought rolled oats with maple syrup to cover
    -oats (like oatmeal, but we either roughly grind them, or don't grind them at all
    -pancakes - dh makes them from our fresh-ground
    -boiled eggs with peanut butter
    -as a treat, we will sometimes make cinnamon-sugar toast
    -as a major treat, (only a couple times in 2010!) we made french toast
    -eggs/grits/meat
    -mash-up of eggs and sausage
    -the mister and i like quiche, but the kids don't, so neither of us has made that in a while
    - in the summer, we will make puffed pancake with fresh fruit on top
    -smoothies!

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  11. Hmm Monday-Thursday, hot or cold cereal (hot includes semolina pudding with a tiny amount of grated chocolate(!), cold cereal + milk from WIC).

    Friday my dear husband makes himself and our 3 boys eggs and toast.

    Saturday we have pancakes (if company also eggs and sausage or bacon).

    Sunday we have refrigerator cinnamon buns (I have 'simplicity' issues with this choice, but my desire for 'fun Sabbath' so far over-rule).

    This is not perfect but it is fairly simple and fairly healthy.

    Thanks for your honesty, Tonya, I endeavor to do the same.

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  12. I make a granola type recipe that we use for cereal in the morning. We pour milk over it and once in a while we add a tiny tsp of table sugar to it too but not always. Check it out on my blog....

    http://freedomacresfarm.blogspot.com/2010/10/menu-planning-again.html

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  13. Usually we have cooked bulgur with some milk and frozen berries, or a few eggs with salsa and toast. Last week it was leftovers and crystal lite. LOL

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  14. Oatmeal, cold cereal or toast most mornings... Occasionally we have muffins or scones. Pancakes are usually a supper thing at our house. Eggs and bacon are a special breakfast here (even though we have chickens and our own eggs).

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  15. We make wheat free flour pancakes with oat milk and free range eggs...with lemon and sugar on top. x

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  16. during the week we alternate between either eggs or hearty oatmeal..same deal as yours--and same blueberries as citysister.
    i buy one box of cereal a week. when its gone its gone. comes in handy for mornings that are going less smoothly or kids that are just tired of oatmeal. on saturday i make pancakes or omlettes...sunday dad makes waffles...
    time to get those buckets on the trees!

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  17. I'm a Cheerio lover too! I've been eating them by the handfuls since about birth:) Fortunately, my guys love oatmeal also, with strawberries and homemade granola.

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  18. We have cereal (organic granola from the bulk section of WF) 3-4 mornings a week and occasionally oatmeal. 3-4 mornings a week I either make pancakes, eggs and potatoes or breakfast cookies (oatmeal in a cookie form essentially)

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  19. We love oatmeal! Yummy! The perfect New England winter breakfast. We also eat lots of eggs and toast, yogurt & granola, muffins, pancakes. In the summer we don't eat as much oatmeal and have green smoothies almost every morning. Rarely do we have cold cereal. It is always a special treat at gramma's.

    As for syrup we tap our own trees. I actually prefer jam on my pancakes and the girls don't like much syrup. It is my husband that "drinks" it, luckily not that often.

    Blessings, Elizabeth

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  20. I work as an elementary school teacher and, as such, tend to bake in the evening (it soothes my soul and calms my nerves!). We eat those baked goods for breakfast with fresh fruit. So, it could be blueberry or bran muffins, 4 grain bread, whole wheat or rye rolls or breakfast cake. It makes my mornings tasty and easy and the breakfast crowd happy! Oh, and I freeze lots of stuff for later when, after a particularly hard day, I bake several items...

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  21. We sometimes have "Pirate Treasure" with toast.(Called that so the 3 yo will eat it.) It is a crustless quiche with a ton of sauteed veggies in it. Scramble 8 eggs, 1/2 cup cream, 1 cup shredded cheddar and every leftover veggie in the fridge sauteed. We usually use mushrooms, broccoli, leftover baked potato chunks (not sauteed), onions and tomatoes (raw). 8x 13" pan, 350 degrees 15-20 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. It serves 5 of us.

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  22. We live off the grid and so we have had to learn to do things without consuming alot of power.
    We have found a simple solution for a toaster. We purchased a couple of campstove toaster racks and we put them on our porpane elements and voila we have nice toast in a few minutes.
    When I use the wood cookstove in the winter, I place a cooling rack on the stove and grill alot of toast in a few minutes. We have done this for years and we are happy with the results.
    I also make homemade syrup. I use 2 c. of the best brown sugar, 4 c. water, 2 tblsp of molasses and 1/4 c. cornstarch. I let it come to a boil and then simmer it for about 5 mins. Remove from heat and add pure Maple Extract. My family loves hot syrup on wholewheat pancakes, fresh butter some blueberries and the syrup. If I have syrup leftover I put it into my homemade pork and beans. Delicious !

    Blessings from our homestead.
    Alice

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  23. oatmeal, pancakes/waffles/french toast from left over challah bread on saturdays. and cereal. the kids prefer oatmeal--by a LONG shot, and I've recently become a little convicted about my cereal intake. I blame college ;)
    but, don't forget honey on your pancakes! Or whipped cream--it only needs a tiny bit of sugar to be a special treat. Maple syrup is a treat--particularly if it's from your own homestead!! amazing.

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  24. Tonya...This is interesting, really! As for us, now that my 2 year old has diabetes, it is really so convenient to have the same breakfast on each day of the week so I don't have to think too much about it. The meal prep is so arduous sometimes (we have to count the carbohydrates in everything she eats because it converts to sugar which means she needs insulin injected to assimilate it into her body!). Anyhow...rice cereal, eggs and toast, oats, granola, french toast, pancakes, and eggs on Sunday. Everything is pretty much homemade (bread, granola, yogurts, eggs from our neighbours). The rice cereal has lost some popularity as of late (toddlers!). Oh, and as for the pancakes and waffles and french toast, I have never introduced my children to maple syrup. They don't eat a lot of sweetener, aside from homemade jam with honey. That has changed with the onset of the diabetes, ironically. Anyhow...all these new ideas are exciting! Happy weekend to you:)
    xo Jules

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  25. here in UK our family eat cereal and rice milk a couple of times a week, I buy one box a week and when it's gone thats it till next week. We love porridge especially with honey and nutmeg, I bake lots and have that too, so fruit loaf, muffins, toast and home made jam, we havefull english once a week bacon, eggs, mushrooms, beans, hashbrowns, tomatoes, toast.
    But at the moment my favourite breakfast and lunch is fried mushrooms on ciabatta Mmmmm, I have only started eating mushrooms about 6 months ago as I never liked them before and can't believe what I have been missing. We also too have pancakes sometimes if our chickens have laid enough eggs!

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  26. We love oatmeal here, too (and even the occasional box of Cheerios - so glad we're not alone in that LOL)

    I've been trying to expand my bread baking into bagels and english muffins, but haven't been terribly successful so far (am hoping that practice makes perfect) because we do enjoy toasted bread with good butter and different jams and jellies, too.

    Chris and I tend to have a first lighter breakfast before the kids get up - usually toast with our coffee. Later, once the kids are awake, we have oatmeal or pancakes or sometimes waffles if the chef is feeling fancy :-)

    thanks for sharing this. I always love reading about the little details of others' days. Best wishes!

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  27. It's really cool what you make for your family. I never had oatmeal as I kid, and I've never really liked it. I live in white suburbia and survive on a steady diet of pop tarts or toast, if I even get breakfast running out the door. (Yay college!) It really makes me glad when I read all these comments about not giving kids maple syrup and sweeteners, cause I grew up on them, and now I think everything that ISN'T sweetened with High Fructose Corn Syrup is bitter. I'm sad because I'll probably never get to enjoy home made cookies, or breads, because I just see them as not sweet enough.

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  28. Each morning at our home, I make English Muffins ahead of time from scratch. Store in refrig--- Then I toast them and cook well done eggs to put on them and a slice of cheese with little butter and maybe a slice of canadian bacon. My husband adds mustaed I do not. I also fix for my family a lot of times a breakfast casserole. Another favorite is oatmeal which I make my own instant. So I have only to boil water add sweetner or jam ,raisins,walnuts or whatever I have on hand we like. Have a blessed day.

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  29. We usually have homeade granola cereal,grits or eggs and toast. I have a cold now so I have been eating buttered toast with raw garlic for breakfast. We also drink raw milk:) Blessings:)

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  30. I will provide about one bag of organic cereal (mesa sunrise) per week; my youngest and her dad eat oatmeal most mornings; the kids can also scrounge for leftovers or baking (ex. muffins/bisuits), fruit, toast with peanut butter, etc. Once in a while I make breakfast for them but rarely (this morning bacon with leftover biscuits, honey and fruit)and each Sunday morning my husband makes us eggs/toast. Pretty casual. Mid morning, when I'm more alive, I often make smoothies for us all and extra healthy snacks.
    Kika

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  31. pancakes are the much demanded breakfast around here. I might have to try your recipe...if I made the batter ahead of time, it would make the morning a bit easier.

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  32. Our menus sound quite similar! We'll do homemade breads, muffins, or rolls (did you know you can form and freeze pans of sweet rolls, pull them to the fridge the day before you need them, then bake fresh in the morning? Just as easy as "pop" rolls, but customized to the family tastes!), or hot cereals, or homemade granola, or eggs/toast, or eggs/potatoes, or even grits and savory bread puddings. I'm always keen on leftover homemade pizza for breakfast, myself--it's a generational divide from my husband. :) In the summer, we're quite likely to have granola, yogurt, and fruit for breakfast, and avoid heating up the house in the cool of the day.

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  33. Hi Tonya - Love to hear your morning routine.
    We eat scrambled, hard boiled or fried eggs once or twice a week. Quiche is good - sometimes with ham or bacon and veggies, but always with cheese. Pancakes, waffles, French toast weekly, and sometimes for a treat, Ablescivers. Toast with pb and jelly or honey is a favorite of one kid, and oatmeal is a favorite of another. The kids like water with their breakfast though I have my tea. Cheerios don't seem to fill them for long but we have those for snacks! Oh and granola with milk and yogurt too... Lots of variety but real meals every day...
    CathyT

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  34. We have recently found these two breakfast which are right up my alley as Im not a fan of super sweet breakfasts. We like apple sauce on pancakes!
    http://www.cookusinterruptus.com/index.php?video_id=169

    and

    http://www.cookusinterruptus.com/index.php?video_id=103

    The videoa are funny too! :)

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  35. We are trying to buy less and produce more for ourselves, but we don't have much land, just a little backyard.
    We have for breakfast almost every day, chopped fruits, mangoes, banana and papaya usually, since this are common, cheap and local, plain yougurt and homemade granola.
    We live in Costa Rica.

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