It's About Time

OK, if anyone there still reads this blog, no I am not dead, or retired, or moved on to something else.  Believe me, Break the Fast is continually on my mind.  But....it's not my job, and my job, unpaid though it is, takes precedence, so The Blog must wait.  Hurray, that I have time today!

I have a huge backlog of items to post, but today I thought I'd keep it simple.  Not too many weeks ago, I was folding laundry and listening to the Meal Makeover Moms podcast.  Their focus on this particular episode was breakfast.  Yeah!  I love breakfast.  They reaffirmed everything I believe about breakfast and then addressed the conundrum that many of us, including me, find ourselves in: how to make a kid-friendly, tasty, nutritious breakfast in a very short time that will get your children from early morning to school lunchtime without crashing. Yes, we can fry eggs and bacon, but surely not every day?

The key word is protein.  Protein is what is going to get you through the morning.  Let's see: we can have eggs, bacon, sausage, and at this point I run out of ideas for the typical morning sources.  None of these is going to kill us, but a daily dose is not only boring but also not the best for overall well-being.  Don't get me wrong, I looooove bacon, and nothing beats an egg for a quick, satisfying start to the day, but come on, there must be something else out there.

Meal Makeover Moms to the rescue!  How about a peanut butter smoothie?  Well, yes, how about it?  I listened to their recipe, and then just went to my trusty blender and started in.  My beef with smoothies has always been that they don't have staying power.  Cool Guy, in particular, could do a smoothie every day, but I resist because it takes time, cleaning up time, and it isn't enough.  For that same amount of time, I could get something much more substantial on the table.  But, hey, a peanut butter smoothie might work, so I tried.

And yes, one glass of Elvis-inspired smoothie was not only tasty, kid-appealing, and full of good nutrition, but it also kept us happy until lunch.

I didn't really follow the recipe.  I just took the idea and used what I had, which I would encourage you to do, also.

Here it is.  If you try this, hope you're as happy as I.

Elvis Smoothie
1 banana
vanilla yogurt
milk
peanut butter
ice cubes

Place all in the blender.  I usually put in a few serving spoonfuls of yogurt, a splash of milk and a large serving spoon of peanut butter.  Sorry I can't be more specific.  I don't think you can screw this up.  Consistency is what you're working for, not too thick, not too runny.  The ice cubes help thin it out and give a frostiness, which is nice.  A nice touch, if you're feeling indulgent, is to add some chocolate syrup, but the shake is delicious with or without.

Confluence

Some call it zeitgeist, or serendipity.  I'm calling it confluence today.  It's where all of a sudden, ideas start appearing, seemingly randomly, and all are pointing at an idea.

I've been experiencing this lately.

The idea is answering a call, and yes, this does apply to breakfast.

Not to get too personal, let's just say that the call that I am answering is my job as a mother.  Sometimes, usually in the two dark months after Christmas, I tend to get the winter blues.  Part of it could be due to lack of fresh air and sunshine, part of it to the post-holiday letdown, though I would definitely say that has decreased over the years.  And part of it is the prospect of three more months of this weather until things just begin to get better.  Definitely retiring somewhere warm year-round.

Back to the call.  Why am I here?  What is my  purpose in life?  (I am getting to breakfast.  Bear with me.)  What in my life is meaningful?  Purposeful?  Why do I get up every morning?  This is something that each of us, at some stage - if we reflect at all - must face.  And the midst of the winter blues brings this kind of reflection to the fore.  I am here because I have a very big job to do: raise my sons to be healthy, whole, productive, and happy beings.  My job happens to be harder than some other mothers' and not as hard as others.  I have daily challenges.  I can crumple, or I can soldier on.  I choose to soldier on, though it is often by will alone that I do so in January and February.

Confluence: what was that all about?  Things run across my path.  I was at Mass yesterday, and the theme was answering the call.  I have been reading things, and those things point to my call.  Notably, I just finished the book version of Supersize Me, the documentary by Morgan Spurlock about his month of eating only McDonald's food and upping the portion when it is offered.  The upshot is that he gained an enormous amount of weight and did some major damage to his health.  In the book, titled Don't Eat This Book, he tackles many other facets of America's problem with bad eating and overall bad living.

My call is not just to avoid fast food, though I do, despite the whine factor, despite non-stop media bombardment.  My call is, among many other things, to provide food which will be the most beneficial to my family.  It must be nutritious and satisfying on all levels, even if it isn't featured on TV or accompanied by a toy.

My particular job is to make sure that my ADHD child gets a good whallop of protein in the morning to help him focus just a little bit better.  And it has to be appealing and tasty or he'll have none of it.  And it has to be joyous, a tiny morning celebration, or the day will never go in a positive direction.  I have talked before about making the morning breakfast an early version of the Family Dinner Table.  I can carve out time in the morning to at least sip that second cup of coffee while breakfast is going on, and to make pleasant conversation anticipating the events of the day, making a few jokes, and in general easing everyone into a state of mind to take on the world.

It's a tall order, and it occupies a great deal of my brain.  I also need variety, if only to keep my own psyche stimulated.

I was at first reluctant to talk about this, afraid that I would sound preachy or over proud, but then I reckoned that my thoughts might be the bit of information traveling across someone else's path to add to her own confluence.  If you've hung in so far, thank you.  On to the preaching (or motiviation.)  If you are the primary care-giver in your home, ask yourself where your strengths are.  We are all going to excel in some areas and need improvement in others.  Of late, I have been a pretty good home-manager.  I have gotten us fairly organized.  I keep a multitude of appointments each week, and I am on time, pay on schedule, and keep good records.  I get three meals on the table seven days a week.  My grocery bill is high, but not as high as an eating out bill would be.  My family consumes well above the national average in fruits, veggies, and whole grains.

On the minus side, I am not as patient with the delights of a child as some would be.  I get bored playing blocks or legos, or pushing cars and trucks around.  I don't do that as well as I should.  I like to escape to my books as soon as possible.

Whatever your own weakness, are you at all able to make it better?  Are there some tiny steps you can take to make your own home a little easier to live in?  More joyous?  Healthier?  Less stressful?  Are there things you could give up?  Are there things that are non-negotiable?  Baby, it's cold outside.  Take some time to think about this while cooped up indoors.  What is truly important?  If your world crashed on you tomorrow, what would you hold onto?  In ten years, what will you regret?  What will you be proud about?

Are you answering your own call?  Honestly?  Are you striving?

Back to breakfast: In my quest of the Holy Grail (or Grails) of breakfasts, I have stumbled on a few of late.  Stirring vanilla protein powder in a bowl of oatmeal makes Cool Guy happy while adding the protein he needs.  He likes the added vanilla flavor, and I like that it holds him until lunch.  Do I notice any discernible difference in his focus?  Not that I can tell, but then who knows how scattered he'd be without it?

The second uber-breakfast was recently discovered.  This is called a Bird's Nest.  You butter a slice of toast and then tear it up into pieces into a bowl.  Add a 3-minute egg on top, to be the egg in the nest, and then pour a little syrup over it.  When you break the egg, most of yolk soaks into the syrupy toast, and you have an absolutely wonderful taste treat.  It is comfort food at its finest.  The presentation is happy, the taste is sublime.  If the toast is whole wheat, and you include a glass of juice and a fruit, you have a perfect breakfast. Kid-appealing, good for you, better than fast food, and it only takes 5 minutes, start to finish.

If I have inspired you to examine your own calling, I am glad.  I would love to continue this conversation further.  If I have inspired you only to try the Bird's Nest, then that is enough.

Dessert or Breakfast?

Am I cheating?  Justifying?  I don't know.  I just know that it's good.  This morning, we had an apple cobbler with cranberries, complements of King Arthur Whole Grain Baking.  Over the past month, I've been haunting Marietta Farmer's Market, especially Lane's Orchard's Stand, where each week, new varieties of apples are available.  They recognize me now.

We are lucky.  We have a basement, and it has a kitchen (!) complete with a full sized refrigerator.  We don't have a root cellar, but we do have a mostly empty fridge "downstairs," so I decided to get as many apples now, while the gettin's good, and store them there to see us through part of the winter.  We have Grimes Gold, Firm Gold, Macleod, Winesap (tart!), Macs, JonGolds, you name it, we got it.  Have I mentioned that unless it's peach season, my favorite fruit is apples?

So it's apple season, and I have an overflowing refrigerator.  And I wake up at 5:00, while the rest of the household sleeps in since they stayed up late watching Oklahoma football on TV.  May as well do something good with all these apples.  Burt loves pies.  In fact, he always asks for pie for his birthday instead of cake.  I think I've made it known to him that a pie takes about two hours of labor, while a cake takes 20 minutes.  Still, he persists in pie.  I should be happy that birthdays only happen once a year.  And, truly, Burt wants nothing else.  No presents, nothing else.  Just pie.  So it's the least I can do.  But pie at any other time?  Sorry.  It's just too much of a time eater.  Counting the crust, which Burt prefers to be homemade, and we're talking 3 hours total.  But there are other options, and cobbler is one.

I stumbled upon a apple pandowdy recipe, and decided to try it.  The idea behind the pandowdy is that you put the fruit in the pan and then top it with a crust.  After it has baked, you break up the crust and integrate it with the filling, thus soaking the crust in the juice.  The thing that appealed to me was that the crust could be just a wreck, and no one would know.  And it should be a lot quicker than pie.

This particular recipe came from King Arthur, which, very nicely, gave me permission to reprint their recipes as long as I credited them and provided a link to either their store or their cookbook.  Credit and links duly noted.  Let me say right now that this pandowdy is the best apple concoction that I have ever made.  And believe me, I've made a lot, lot, lot of pies, cobblers, etc.  I'm a regular baking machine in the fall when it's apple season.  This is supreme.

The addition of dried cranberries is genius.  It adds a wonderful rosy color to the dish, and provides just the right tart.  For apples, I like to use as wide a variety as I can.  You know, some apples are eating apples, and others are cooking apples.  Some are tart, some are sweet.  I say just take a little of each, and then you don't have to worry about mushiness, tartness, oversweetness, or whatever.  Well, I pulled from six varieties, and it was a wonderful balance.  Let me add that if I only had one variety, I'd plow onward and make this.  I just don't see how  it could not come out good.

So is it a good start to the day?  Honestly, I don't see how anyone could question that.  In 7 cups of apples, only a mere half cup of sugar is used.  The crust is whole grain, so the carbs are not empty.  Yes, there are 6 tablespoons of butter, but come on.  You are getting SO MUCH fruit.  Live with it.

One thing that might be a little off-putting is that the main flour of this dish is barley flour.  I have a really hard time finding it here, and have gotten lucky occasionally at the local health food store.  However, this is a whole grain flour, and it adds a really nice taste, so it is worth taking the time to find it.  If I were determined to make this and I didn't have barley flour, I think I'd use white whole wheat flour instead.

When this baby came out of the oven, and I dug in, I just couldn't believe how good it was.  Cool Guy, who is not really a pie fan, became really hoggish with the crust parts, as in picking them out and taking them for himself, the rascal.

If I were to name a drawback, it would be that I doubt that the crust will retain its integrity over time.  Therefore, I ordered the family to consume the entire dish in one day.  It was going to breakfast, part of lunch,, snacks, and dessert for dinner, but by gosh, we were going to eat it in one day.  No protests.  If any is left, I guess I'll find out if the crust is any good on day 2, but I don't think that's going to be a problem.

*NOTE*  Day 2, there was enough of the pandowdy to make two small bowls for breakfast.  As I feared, the crust just wasn't as good, but overall, the taste was fine.  Certainly eat as much as you can on the first day, but enjoy it on the second, also.

Since eating it fresh is so important, I wouldn't recommend making this unless you have a lazy weekend planned.  Start to finish, it took 2 hours, and an hour of that was labor.  If I had thought to make the crust the night before and refrigerated it, if I had thought to peel and chop the apples ahead of time, it would have all gone together quickly, but I know me, and that doesn't happen often.  By the time dinner is over, this early riser is ready for bed, not another round in the kitchen.  Save this one for when you have time, but if you don't already have a favorite way to enjoy apple baking, be sure you carve out time for this.

Apple Cran-Dowdy
Courtesy of King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book

3/4 cup whole barley flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 TBSP. butter
2-4 TBSP. milk

Combine dry ingredients.  Cut in the butter until it is the size of small peas.  Add enough milk to make the dough hold together.  (For me, that was all 4 tablespoons.)  Shape into a disk, and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

7 cups peeled, cored, chopped apples
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup apple cider or apple juice
2 TBSP butter, cut into small pieces (I forgot to add this, and everything was FINE.)

Toss the apple slices with the cranberries in a large bowl.  Combine the brown sugar, spices, and salt, and add.  Pour the syrup and cider over the fruit and toss.  Put into buttered 9-inch square pan, and dot with butter.

Roll out crust to fit over the fruit.  Place it on top, and stick in a 350 degree oven.  Bake 50-55 minutes.  After it comes out of the oven, let it rest a few minutes, then cut the crust up, kindof turning it into the fruit.  Leave some large chunks, leave the edges alone, and leave some sticking up.

Tweaks

I'm interrupting my 5S series for a bit about tweaks to breakfast.  I've done two lately, and they've been huge successes, so I'm sharing them to inspire you to devise tweaks of your own.

Tweak #1: Mary Poppins says a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, but around here, all it takes is a spoonful of pork, preferably in the bacon or sausage category.  Here's the story.  I had some leftover cooked  sausage in the fridge and wondered what in the heck to do with it.  Sure, I could put it in an omelet, but I don't do omelets.  Lots of other ways to use it, but I ran across an idea from A Real American Breakfast.  This is one of those fantasy cookbooks, where only in my fantasies would I be cooking like this.  After all, I have lots of other things to do, and there are still only 24 hours per day.  However, I was glancing through and saw that they stuffed cooked sausage in the center of baked apples.  Up to this point, boys have refused baked apples.  I've tried stuffing them with brown sugar, raisins, pecans, cinnamon, all of the above, and no dice.  "What the hey," I thought, "can't hurt to try."  Let me tell you, those apples disappeared in nano-seconds.  Wish I'd made more.  Brown sugar won't do it, but sausage does.

This is super easy to make; all you need is to be awake an hour before eating.

1. Have some cooked, crumbled sausage left over.  You don't need much.
2. Peel the apple, just a circle off the top of it.  This helps keep it from splitting open.
3. Take a melon baller if you have one, and use that to scoop out the core.  This makes it so easy.  Be sure to leave the bottom intact.
4. Stuff a little sausage in the middle, up to the top of the apple.
5. Now place apple or apples in a pan with just a little water in the bottom, and bake at 350 covered for 30 minutes.  Then remove the cover and bake another 15 to brown things up.

That's it.  The only real work is coring the apples, which will take you about 5 minutes.  After that, the oven does the work, while you make coffee, and work your crossword puzzle.  And it is so worth it.

Tweak #2: The Mmmelvis.  This is named after the Elvis bagel plus our common first inital.  And you say "Mmmm" after eating it.  Get it?  Here, I was just make the ol' Elvis bagel and on a whim decided to add a few chocolate chips to the mix.  What a hit!  One caveat: you may not want your bagel toasted.  When I tried that, the peanut butter, and banana, and chips all kindof slid off the thing into a puddly mess.  Cool Guy was not amused.  So Mmmelvis is better eaten non-toasted for those who prefer not to get messy hands.

Tweaking is fun, and breakfast is so forgiving, that you should really try it sometime.  And if, as when I tried adding rhubarb to the oatmeal, it turns out a disaster according to the peanut gallery, there's always cold cereal to fall back on.  And life goes on.

The Onslaught Begins

Zucchini, that's what I'm talkin' about.  The zucchini tsunami has begun.  Thankfully (?) I don't grow them, but if I go late enough to the farmers' market, they are practically giving them away.  Late, meaning that the people manning the stands want to dump their wares and get on home and will offer outrageous deals.  So it happens that I have a crisper drawerful of zucchini, yellow squash, pattypan squash, and yellow zucchini.  What's a poor girl to do?

Zucchini bread, of course!  Actually, I was lucky enough to pick up the latest issue of Eating Well magazine, which had lots of ideas for zucchini, but the bread struck my fancy.  It's easy, and good for you, too.

I went ahead and threw in a half cup of chocolate chips, to make it more tempting for Cool Guy, who resists any and all vegetables on principal, and he adored it.  My plan is to gradually decrease chocolate chips (they did nothing for me except add calories) until they disappear and are only a distant memory in Cool Guy's subconscious.

Next time I make this bread, which will be soon, I plan on converting it to muffins, following my muffin conversion strategy.  They stay fresher that way, are much easier to portion out, and any leftovers can be frozen for those bleak winter days when we have no zucchini to complain about.

Cool Guy and the vegetable story:
Last week, a water line broke in our neighborhood.  We had no water for 8 hours.  Come lunchtime, I had nothing to offer.  Oh, we had PBJ and milk, but no way of washing up, and the kitchen was a shambles from breakfast dishes still to be done.  And then there was the toilet issue.  Couldn't flush, and Cool Guy was refusing to go.  So I made a command decision to Go Out for Lunch.  My decision, my choice, so we went to the Indian place in town, which has a lunch buffet.  Lucky us.

We were a bit early, so the buffet was a bit bare at first.  No fritters, no rice pudding, no naan.  So Cool Guy took some tandoori chicken and something that looked like gravy.  Boy, did he dig that gravy.  I made the mistake of asking the waitress about the "gravy," at which she replied, "it's only spinach."  Well, that did it.  Not another bite of gravy passed Cool Guy's lips.

 I reminded him of DW, the Picky Eater, (an excellent, funny book that everyone should read) but still no dice.  Ah, well, it was good while it lasted.  And so you can understand my gilding the zucchini bread with chocolate, which was quite good.  Try some yourself, and throw in some chocolate to convert the natives, if needed.

Toast Series: Toasted. Sweet.

I noticed that my last few posts revolved around the toaster oven and the yummies that we can make in it for breakfast: toasted cheese, toast and pb, Elvis bagel.  I'm finishing this series with one last toaster item, cinnamon toast.

How long has it been since you've made cinnamon toast?  For me, oh about 30 years.  That's not a typo.  Seriously, it's been that long.  I just forgot about it.

I love cinnamon rolls, especially those from my hometown which are dinner plate size and come warm with a big hunk of butter melting on top.  But I don't live there, and I'm not too keen on investing the time and effort to making my own here, especially since I'd only be feeding four of us and not a restaurant.  We'd all be in a super sugar coma after we were unable to stop ourselves from having more.

But I miss those things.  And after brainstorming for a solution, it hit me.  Well, duh.  Cinnamon toast.

Both boys adored them, and Cool Guy has asked for them repeatedly.  Is cinnamon toast healthy?  Not really, but it can be made acceptable, and then, augmented with other good things, can be a nice touch to a good breakfast.

Just in case someone out there doesn't know how to make it, here we go.

Cinnamon Toast

1. Take a slice of bread, preferably whole wheat to get some goodness in you, and butter one side.  As an aside, during the summer, I don't use butter, since I can't store it out of the fridge, and it's too hard to spread when it's cold, and I can never remember to set it out ahead of time.  I like Brummel and Brown yogurt spread.  It tastes OK and doesn't have any trans fats.

2. Sprinkle your buttered side with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.  I use about 1 Tablespoon of sugar to 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon.  Try that ratio, and get a feel for the shade of brown it is, and then you can just eyeball it.  That is about enough for 4 slices.  If I have any left, I store it in an empty cinnamon can, which I have labelled as cinnamon sugar.

3. Toast your bread in the toaster oven.  Or you can run it under the broiler of a regular oven, but it won't be quite as good.

4. You can serve this with fruit, eggs, and/or a breakfast meat.

5. Get ready for repeated requests.

I've Seen Elvis

That was the slogan on a T-shirt that Burt used to have a long, long time ago.  Burt likes Elvis; I don't.  I credit that to one time when I was about 9 or so, and Elvis was on TV, singing live, and dressed in a white pantsuit, fat (by those days' standards), sweating like all get out, and just totally grossed me out.  Grossed me out so much that I couldn't stand him or anything to do with him.  What a shame.  Whenever I hear him, even now, the first thing in my mind is my revulsion.  Suspicious Minds is the only song that can rise above.

But good ol' Elvis has staying power.  Cool Guy likes a lot of his music, and we all like his peanut butter/banana combo, the star of today's breakfast, which we dub Elvis Bagels.  That's right, toasted whole wheat bagels smeared while warm with peanut butter (or, better yet, toasted in the toaster oven with the pb right on) and then topped with sliced bananas.  Burt and I like it just as much as the boys.  Add a tall glass of milk, and you've got a wonderful start to the day.

No recipe necessary.

Life Without a Microwave

Is it possible?  A non-zapping life?  It seems hard to imagine, yet I am old enough to remember my family getting its first one when I was about 10.  And I remember the warning not to stand too close to it, and I remember our systematically destroying our melmac plates in it.  They aren't microwave safe, BTW.

So basically all my cooking life, I have had and relied on a microwave.  Not really for cooking, per se, but for all those handy things like melting butter, boiling some water, heating up leftovers.

Cool Guy especially loves loves loves the microwave.  He went through a warm milk phase about a year ago where he would heat up a small glass of milk every evening in the microwave.  In fact, he wanted everything heated up.  Perhaps not the ice cream, but basically everything else.

And that's how disaster struck.  Cool Guy, heating up yet another item, forgot that metal bowls do not go in the microwave.  Ka-pow.  Oh, and the smell.  We are unfortunate enough to have a built-in model which came with the house and would cost about $2000 to replace.  And.....we have "kitchen remodel" on our near future to-do list, and so an immediate replacement would not be wise until we know exactly what we want and where we want it.  So.  No microwave.  For about 9 months now.

And guess what?  We're doing fine. 

We did get a toaster oven to help out during this time, taking the place of the microwave and toaster, which also blinked out on us, and it is filling both jobs rather well, thank you.  In fact, today's breakfast comes courtesy of the toaster oven, which does a much better job than anything else could have done.  Today it was Toasted Cheese.  You want something pretty quick, pretty reliable, a nice vehicle for some more dairy and whole grains, you can't miss with this one.  It is one of my favorites.

Toasted Cheese
1 serving

1. For each serving, place a piece of whole wheat bread on rack in the toaster oven.

2. Place a slice of cheese on the bread.  I like cheddar; boys like Muenster.

3. Toast.  Yum.

If you don't have a toaster oven, then you must first toast bread, and then run cheese on bread under the broiler in a regular oven.  The toaster oven method is much easier and turns out a much better product.

Toast and Peanut Butter

If you have a toaster oven, put some peanut butter on bread and toast it.  It comes out perfect.  If you only have a toaster, it's a 2-step process: toast bread, and smear on pb while still warm.  It's fast, easy, nutritious, and very boy-appealing.  Throw on some sliced bananas if you're feeling Elvis-y.

Now for my recommendation:

I did a lot of research before deciding on a toaster oven.  The Breville got very high reviews, and I was extremely impressed with the blender by that company, so I went with it.  It is large, and I seem to do most of my oven stuff in it now.  It has lots of settings, and it has memory.  So, for instance, I find that making a certain frozen pizza does best in 18 minutes rather than the preset 20, the oven will remember that the next time I put it on pizza setting.  It has a frozen setting and a convection setting, which I have found means that I can make things 25% more quickly than in a regular oven.

In addition, I can toast up to 6 slices of toast at a time.  Plus, I can broil, and roast, and there is the pizza setting and the cookie setting.  Both turn out better product than the oven or microwave.

Now for the less than perfect parts:
1. We hear, though we have not experienced, that customer service at Breville stinks.  I'm willing to live with that.  How many times do I ever need customer service for any appliance?  It's a risk I'm willing to take, but I wanted to put it out there.  In fact, our first toaster oven was extremely noisy, as in something must be wrong noisy.  But we got the oven through Amazon, so we just exchanged it, no hassle, and that was the end of that problem.

2. The exterior gets hot.  You would think that with a top line product like this that it would be cool touch on the outside, but it's not.  So I needed to warn the boys about it, and must be careful around it when it's on.  I can live with it, but I'd rather it be otherwise.

We have changed our food storage ways to using glass and foil rather than plastic and saran.  There was an adjustment period involved.  I was OK with it, knowing that if there is any truth to the BPA issues, at least we were getting away from that.  But still an adjustment is needed.  Leftovers warm up in 15 minutes rather than 1.  It takes brain power to remember that.  But after over half a year, I honestly do not miss the microwave at all.

Would I recommend that one have both microwave AND toaster oven?  I think it would depend on how much kitchen space you have.  I don't have much.  They each have their merits and faults, but I must say that if quality rather than speed is your thing, the toaster oven wins out.

Spring Cleaning Finds, and a Bonus

Trying to follow good, healthy practices, I like to cook things when the ingredients are in season, a la farmer's market.  The following is definitely not farmers' market and definitely not seasonal.  However, in a twisted kind of way it is seasonal.

What does Spring make you think of?  Strawberries?  Asparagus?   Eggs?  What about pumpkin?  No?  NO!  Unless, of course, Spring also means Spring Cleaning, and that entails clearing out the pantry and checking expiration dates on canned goods.  Does anyone else always seem to have a can of pumpkin left over after Thanksgiving?  I always do, and unfortunately, it tends to expire before the next Thanksgiving rolls around.  And I need the room.  I do not have a limitless pantry.

Tangent: if you are interested in major pantry reorganization, please visit this Kitchen Stewardship post for a lot of really inspirational links regarding pantries, bulk food storage, and freezer storage.  I've got to get busy!

So I unearthed this can of pumpkin and no way was I making pumpkin pie.  So I did something better: whole grain pumpkin muffins.  Did you know that you can turn any quick bread recipe into a muffin recipe?  Just put the batter into muffin cups (12 muffins for one 9x5 loaf of bread) and bake for about 22-25 minutes.  If ever you have muffins left over, and we don't, you can freeze them and have them some other time.

I used the King Arthur Whole Grain pumpkin bread  recipe (see below) and added dried cranberries to the batter.  I had some of those left over too.  I had some pumpkin seeds, and sprinkled them on top, and it was a flashy, thematic addition.  (Note: I have a picture of these beauties on my camera, which seems to have died.  If it resurrects, I will put the picture up, but for now, just use your imagination.)  These muffins were delicious and loved by all at our breakfast table.  Not hard to make, though I did save it for the weekend, and the boys snacked on pumpkin muffins all weekend long.  I was happy knowing that they were snacking on something that was giving them whole grains, lots of beta carotine, plus other good stuff, rather than, say, Cheetos.

One thing I do not like is when recipes call for something like 1 cup of canned pumpkin.  A can of pumpkin holds more than a cup.  Remember, I'm trying to use up stuff, and be frugal, not throw out nearly half a can.  I decided to save the extra pumpkin and make it into smoothies for the boys.  Honestly, to me a pumpkin smoothie didn't sound that great, but Cool Guy especially liked the idea.

I put into the blender the remaining can of pumpkin, some vanilla yogurt, a pinch of cinnamon, a banana past its prime, and about a Tablespoon of maple syrup.  Whirred it up, and had a very quick, nutritious, and surprisingly good after school snack. 

So this can of pumpkin turned out to be a two-fer winner.  What do you have in your pantry?  Can you put your creativity to work and find some good uses for your orphans?

Pumpkin Muffins
(Reprinted, with permission, from King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book)

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup regular sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 3/4 cup chopped nuts (I didn't include, since boys don't want them)
• 3/4 cup raisins, dried cranberries, or chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 375.  Grease 12 muffin cups.

2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spices in a bowl.

3. Cream together butter, and sugars in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

4. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

5. Beat in vanilla and pumpkin.

6. Add dry ingredients.

7. Stir in nuts and other addition.

8. Fill muffin cups.  They will be pretty full.

9. Sprinkle on pumpkin seeds if you have them.

10. Bake for about 23 minutes.

11. Wait about 10 minutes after taking out of the oven, and then remove from muffin pan.

I'm not going to do the math translating nutrition information between 1/16  of a loaf to 1/12 of the recipe for the muffins, but suffice it to say that you WILL get close to 20 whole grains, a nice bit of fiber, protein, vitamin A, iron, calcium and other stuff that is good for you.


Pumpkin Smoothie

• Vanilla yogurt
• banana
• canned pumpkin
• dash of cinnamon
• Tablespoon of maple syrup
• ice cube, optional

Whir it all in the blender.  Add more yogurt if the pumpkin is too strong.

Variations on a Theme

It has been awhile since I have posted.  Never fear, I am still making breakfast; it is just that I'm not having time to write about it.  Encyclopedia's 6th grade class had their yard sale last weekend to fund their class trip, and I have gotten involved with a music ministry during Lent, that has required much more practice than I am used to doing.  Life ebbs and flows.

Earlier this week, I made "customizable" breakfast burritos.  I once tried a really bang-up breakfast burrito recipe that I loved and the boys hated.  Why?  Everything was all mixed together.  But they were open to the idea of breakfast burritos, "but please, mom, don't put in the stuff I don't like."  Simple enough.

Actually, it is easier to make it all at once in one skillet all mixed up, but if it doesn't get eaten, then it's a waste of time.  So here's what I did.

1. First I fried up 1/2 pound of breakfast sausage, crumbling it up in the skillet.  I removed it to a paper towel-lined plate.
2. Then I threw in the same skillet a diced up baked potato.  I baked an extra potato the night before.  I then removed that to a bowl.
3. Then I added a little butter to the skillet, and scrambled some eggs.
4. While the various things were cooking, I shredded some cheese, diced an avocado, poured out some salsa.
5. Finally, I placed a flour tortilla on each plate, and told the boys to customize their own burritos.  Encyclopedia chose sausage, egg, potato, and cheese.  Cool Guy had sausage, egg, and avocado.  I had it all.  We were all happy and well-fed.

As a bonus, I made another burrito, wrapped in foil and sent it to school in Cool Guy's lunch for the day.  He loved it.

So the theme is Tex Mex, and Variation #1 was the burritos.  Everything got saved and two days later, we had Variation #2, which was quesadillas.  Here's how I did that.

1. Set out the filling ingredients, and asked the boys how they wanted theirs.
2. Put a flour tortilla on the griddle and place chosen toppings on one half of the tortilla.  Fold over the empty side to make a half-moon shape.  Kindof press the top down so it will stay in place.
3. Cook it on one side for a minute or two until the cheese gets a little melty (technical term), so that it will all stick together while you flip.
4. Flip it carefully.  A spatula helps.
5. Cook it on the other side for about a minute and then remove to a plate. 
6. Cut into wedges and top with things like salsa or sour cream.

Cool Guy had cheese and avocado.  Encyclopedia had sausage and cheese.  I had everything.

The burritos took longer, mainly because I was cooking the fillings for the first time.  The quesadillas, only needing to warm everything up, took less time.  You would probably need to budget about 30 minutes for the burritos, and about 5 minutes for the quesadillas.  That's per quesadilla, if you only cook one at a time.

Are they healthy?  More or less.  We used whole wheat tortillas, and lower fat sausage.  We got in some whole grains, protein, dairy, even some good veggies in the avocado and salsa.  There are certainly worse breakfasts out there.

Are they tasty?  Absolutely.  Is it kid friendly?  Are you kiddiing?  It's Customizable!  Mine loved it.  Should you make this?  If you want something not too difficult, something different, something that will take you through the morning, then yes, yes you should.  Seriously, give these a try.

A SNAFU and Blue Eggs

I don't do Daylight Savings Time well.  The older I get, the harder it is for me to recover from that lost hour.  Part of the problem, I know, is my forgetfulness, and I forgot to set some crucial clocks forward.  So not only did I have trouble sleeping because the heater hadn't kicked off, but then my alarm which I NEEDED today due to tossing and turning, chimed in right before the new 7:00 am.  Disaster!  I had a fantastic breakfast planned, and now I only had time to scurry around and pour Rice Crispies.  And exhort the boys to hurry, hurry, hurry.  Yeck.  What a lousy way to start a week.

I do, however, have some breafasts from happier mornings on my backlog, so I'm going to step into the blogger's time machine, pull up a draft, and tell you about the blue eggs we had last Friday when that lost hour hadn't lost itself yet.

My friend Marilyn told me not so long ago, that when her kids were growing up, her husband always made scrambled eggs on Saturdays.  That was a given.  The unknown was what COLOR they would be.  I've got to try that, I said to myself.  The boys will love it!

Well, yes and no.  I did try it today (note: last Friday), and it WAS fun.  Just basic scrambled eggs with a little blue liquid food coloring dropped in while I was whisking the eggs.  They were a greenish blue, probably due to mixing with the yellow egg yolks.  And it was certainly a surprise for the boys.  Cool Guy got a big, slow smile on his face as soon as he saw them.  Encyclopedia absolutely refused to eat them.  To be honest, it was hard for me to take that first bite, but the eggs tasted just the same.  It is funny how big a role vision plays in eating our food.

"Close your eyes," I said.
"I'll still know they're blue.  I'm not eating them."

So he didn't, and Scamp had a nice morning treat.  Are dogs colorblind?  I always wondered that and wondered if they are, how do we know?  Dogs can't tell us.

Back to the eggs:  Am I going to color our scrambled eggs again?  Yes I am, sometimes.  There is nothing to be gained in this world by being always serious, always exactly so, always so dead certain straightforward.  Sometimes, and especially toward the end of a grey, wet winter, we should laugh more, do silly things, the unexpected.  Why NOT have blue eggs?

A Great Start to a New Week

What better way to start a week than with waffles?  How about Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Waffles?  Do you think that will put smiles on the boys' faces?  You bet!  Oh, Encyclopedia, who is a little too cool right now to smile for his mom, may not actually smile, but I know he's smiling inside.

Normally, this would be a definite weekend breakfast and something easy would be on tap for Monday, but hey, I was up.  Using a stand mixer makes the batter very easy, and then all I have to do is wait for the boys to get up before starting the waffles.

The recipe, which is from King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book, calls for serving these with a banana cream.  Well, that's just a little too fancy for me any day of the week, so instead, I topped the waffles with banana slices.  We had it that way in lieu of syrup and didn't miss the syrup one bit.

What do I like about these waffles?  First, they are made with whole spelt flour, giving us whole grains and protein.  Second, they have peanut butter, which adds more protein and really appeals to the boys.  Chocolate chips just make them even better.  Finally, the fluffy texture plus the great chocolate/peanut butter combo makes them seem so special, as if I had been slaving all morning in the kitchen, when in fact, I haven't at all.

After eating one waffle with the banana, I was so full, I had to put off my morning walk for awhile.  I am sure it will hold the boys until lunchtime.

The peanut butter flavor is not overwhelming, and the chocolate chips just come in a little bit, but the whole is a quiet pb and a quiet choc, and together, it is very nice.  The Elvis banana touch really appealed to the boys.  I guess if I go ahead and SLICE the bananas instead of just handing one to them, they get eaten.  OK, fine.  I'll slice them.

Making these, I used a 3/4 cup of batter for my iron.  I think that was too much.  2/3 would be better.  My iron let that larger amount spill all over the iron and made cleanup a mess.  Hey, less batter means more waffles.  And Cool Guy just couldn't get enough of these today.  More waffles, more bananas.

Each waffle will give you

• 8 whole grains
• 12 grams fat
• 6 grams protein
• 3 grams fiber

OK, so there's more fat than I would like, but I rationalize this by telling myself that I am aware and that I just need to cut back on lunch and dinner.  The whole grains are good, and the protein is good, and adding in the bananas, I'm sure we're still way better than my pop tart measuring stick.  Is this better for you than a pop tart?  If yes, then proceed.  We can proceed.

Please, if you aren't scared off by (a) waffle iron or (b) spelt flour, try this waffle.  Everyone in your family, young or old, will LOVE it.  You've got to trust me on this.  And also, I want you to let me know after you have tried it and loved it yourself, that you know that I was right.  Please.

My Third Favorite Coffeecake

My first favorite is rhubarb.  My second is blueberry buckle.  And third place goes to (drumroll) Peach - recipe is here.  In truth, peaches are my favorite fruit of all time, but, sadly, a little something is lost between the fresh peach picked from the tree and frozen peaches that I must use at this time of the year.  Also, though the peaches are dandy in this coffeecake, don't get me wrong, nothing, nothing can compare with a peach off the tree.

We are very lucky to be living in a part of the country where fresh peaches grow well.  We have two trees in our backyard, and last summer, I was on-the-ball enough to put bird netting over the trees before the squirrels stole all my peaches.  One variety is white and clingstone, and the other is orange and freestone.  Both are equally delicious.

Peaches give you lots of vitamins, like A, and some fiber, and not much in calories.  And this coffeecake combines the good of peaches with the good of whole grains and it is tasty, crumbly, cinnamony, moist.  There's nothing not to like.  It's just not fresh peaches, so of course I'm disappointed.

My boys, though, any morning that they get out of bed and find out that coffee cake is cooling on the counter, are NOT disappointed.  They very much enjoyed this two days in a row, especially when accompanied by some bacon or fried smoked sausages.  Add some milk, maybe some juice, or even coffee, and your morning is set for success.

Another thing about the peach coffee cake is that I had the final slice on the third day of its existence, and it was still just as moist as on the first day.  I think that, more than anything, is what the peaches do for the coffee cake.

What I especially like about this recipe is that it makes two cakes.  So we eat one, and I double wrap the other and freeze it so that I have a super easy breakfast sometime in the near future.

Full disclosure: I began making this at 5:45, and the boys ate it at 7:15.  This is not a quick meal - probably better for the weekend.  But sometimes weekends around here are even more hectic, so I decided to do this on one of those early-rising mornings.  Don't regret it at all.

Warning: Not a Healthy Breakfast

If you are interested only in healthy breakfasts, read no further today.  This morning's feast is one I have been making since I was 10, and its two ingredients cannot be called healthy.

Anyone reading this blog for any length of time will wonder why I've posted this warning now.  After all, biscuits and gravy is not a healthy dish either.  I've decided to take a moment and define my slippery definition of "relatively healthy," which I use so often.  Here is what I strive for:

• Real food - meaning as close to its original form as possible.  Butter, therefore, is healthier in my book than margarine.
• Non-processed foods - similar to above.  If I don't know what the ingredients are, I don't want to have them.
• Whole grains - even if that means in a coffee cake
• Using fruits and vegetables
• Containing protein and/or fiber
• No disgusting amounts of sugar and/or fat

My general, though very low-reaching, yardstick is to ask myself if it is healthier than a PopTart.  Most of the time, I can say "yes."  And then there are times, like today, that I honestly don't know.  Today's breakfast fails on all the above categories, save the protein one.

Sometimes you've just got to let your hair down, throw caution to the wind and make Crescent Rolls with Devilled Ham.  There I said it.  It has canned crescent rolls made with white flour and God know what all preservatives, and canned devilled ham.  Don't even WANT to know the fat content of that.  And it is so good, so easy, and loved by all.

My friend Pam introduced me to this treat when I spent the night with her once.  I remember being so excited about this fabulous breakfast, that I raved about it at home, and my parents, God bless them, actually listened to me and bought what I needed to make it.  After that, it was a regular weekend feature at our house. 

Even after I got married, whenever Burt and I would come home to visit, this was what we were served for breakfast.  This would be an Easter morning treat, a special Sunday breakfast.

I don't CARE that it lacks anything good for me, it's MY SPECIAL BREAKFAST.  And now, I'm going to share it with you so that your arteries can harden right along with mine. 

Just kidding.  Another part of my healthy philosophy is that if I get it right 75% of the time, I'm ahead of the game.  I'll never bat 1000, and I don't want to. 

Crescent Rolls with Devilled Ham
makes 8

• 1 can of crescent rolls
• 1 4oz. can devilled ham

1. Preheat your oven to 375.

2. Separate the crescent rolls into 8 triangles.

3. Spread each triangle with devilled ham.  If you don't want it too thick, you don't have to use the whole can, but I do.

4. Roll up the crescent rolls starting at the large end of the triangle.

5. Bake for about 13 minutes.

Egg in a Hole

I wish I could say that I had this dish growing up, but even if I had been given it, I probably wouldn't have eaten it.  Somehow, this one completely missed my radar until about two years ago.  I was at my hairdresser's shop, as I am every 6th Saturday morning, and her husband, Bob, brought her breakfast.

He had fixed her a tray of an amazing breakfast that he made from home, and this was one of the items.  I thought that was one of the nicest, most loving things I had ever witnessed.  Seriously.  It made quite an impression.

I don't remember what all was on that tray, but I do remember seeing the egg-in-a-hole, and marvelling at his ingenuity.  He is clever and considerate!  Later, I found out that all the rest of the world knew about this dish and calls it by a million different names. 

The first time I made it for the boys, it was love at first sight for them.  In fact, I'd say that this was what brought Encyclopedia into the world of eggs.  He asks for this one often.  I think it's the fried bread part that he hankers for, but the egg is also consumed.

We especially have this for breakfast on mornings that I have leftover homemade bread.  (Really, that's bread machine made, but still better than boughten.)  Our bread this morning was whole wheat sandwich-type bread that I cut fairly thick because we looooove that crispy, browned-buttery exterior and squishy interior of thick-cut fried bread.  Served with some bacon and oranges, this breakfast is just what we need on a cold, humpday morning.

Please don't think you need homemade bread to make this.  We often have it with regular boughten bread, and it's good, just not as good.  One egg-in-the-hole takes as long to make as just frying an egg.  Flipping can be tricky, but really, this is one dish that is hard to ruin.  Hope you try it!

Egg-in-a-Hole

For each serving:

• 1 slice whole grain bread
• 1 egg
• 1 or 2 Tablespoons butter

1. Use a biscuit cutter, glass, or something like that to cut a hole in the center of the bread.

2. Melt the butter in a skillet.

3. Fry one side of the bread and the hole in the skillet.

4. As the bread is frying, crack the egg into the hole.  Cook it some, as you would any fried egg.

5. Flip it all over carefully.

6. Cook to how you like it.  Over easy takes advantage of the yolk/bread thing, but some kids (Encyclopedia) will only eat eggs hard.

Banana Oat Pancakes

I already have a favorite pancake recipe, Spelt Pancakes, but these run a close second.  You like banana bread?  You like pancakes?  Then you'll love these.  They are quick and easy to mix up, and just take a few minutes to cook.  They are also Cool Guy's favorite pancake.

If you've ever smashed up a banana and stirred it into your pancakes, you know how good that can be, but using the oat flour (you can just whiz some oatmeal in a blender if you don't have oat flour) and the cinnamon and nutmeg elevates these to a higher level.  Seriously, they will melt in your mouth.  These pancakes (recipe is here) rise higher and have an almost cakelike texture compared with most pancakes.  Since they do pour out thick, I spread the batter out a bit, and I have to be careful not to have the heat on too high or else the insides won't cook all the way before the outsides burn.  But then, pancakes have always been a challenge for me.

Please don't let that or the oat flour scare you away from trying these.  They are definitely delicious, and taste almost dessert-like, while also being good for you.  Two pancakes will give you

• 18 grams whole grains
• 203 calories
• 8 grams fat
• 6 grams protein
• 3 grams fiber
• And potassium, iron, calcium, and other good things.

I could only eat one, though the boys each had two.  We served it today with some stick sausage, oranges, juice, and coffee for me.

Roughy

The name for my new fruit salad: Roughy.  It's like a Smoothie, but it's not smooth - get it? 

The point is that sometimes it takes clever marketing to make things appealing to the Younger Generation.  "Fruit Salad" just doesn't stir excitement in my boys' souls.  I guess I could have called it "Wookie yum-yums," or some such, but I've got a little dignity left.  After making this salad, I realized that what I put into the bowl was exactly what I would have put into the blender if we were having smoothies.

And under the guise of Roughy, this salad got eaten.  Not that is wasn't delicious on its own, but it looked suspicious, being an amalgamation of things all mixed up together.

I served this fruit salad with oatmeal (again) for the boys and with a leftover scone for me.  Here's how I made it.

Roughy

1. Take whatever fresh fruit you have on hand (I had oranges, apples, and bananas) and cut them into bite-sized chunks.  I didn't peel the apple, and no one protested.

2. Throw in some dried fruit.  I used a handful of dried cherries and a handful of dried cranberries.

3. Stir in enough vanilla yogurt to cover all the fruit well.

That's it!  And it got eaten and requested again.

If I had had some canned pineapple, I would have used it.  I only used one of each fruit, but this could be infinitely expanded.  Total time was minimal.  I started the salad while the oatmeal was cooking, and while the boys were putting on their oatmeal toppings, I finished up the salad.  It could also be made ahead, thus allowing the dried fruit to soften a little.

Now and Later

I love chocolate-covered cherries, and I love Black Forest chocolate cake, and I love the even easier take on it, a moist chocolate cake with a can of cherry pie filling mixed in.  I simply cannot think of any better combo than chocolate and cherries.

Another thing I love is scones.  Here's why:

• They're easier than biscuits
• They seem so much fancier
• I can make a whole batch and freeze half for later and it will be just as good.

When I found a recipe for chocolate-cherry scones, I thought "what's not to love?"  Even better, these are not terribly bad for you, being made with whole grains.  At least, while having the melty chocolate and dried cherries surrounded by a rich crumb, I know that I'm getting in some protein, fiber, antioxidants.

This recipe makes 16 scones, way more than we can or should eat in a morning. (Note: the recipe I linked to is not exactly the one I used, but very similar.  Mine came from King Arthur.  My batch of scones used barley flour instead of whole wheat, and I used almond extract instead of vanilla.  I was out of vanilla.  Almond worked just fine.)  What I do for scones and also biscuits is go ahead and roll out the dough and cut it, and then take what I'm not going to eat right away and put that on a baking sheet.  I put the baking sheet in the freezer until the dough is frozen and then I bag the scones up for the freezer.  Whenever I want them, I just pull out what I want and bake it just like normal, maybe adding a minute or two.

Scones are easier than biscuits mainly because you just pat out the dough rather than roll it, and you just cut wedges rather than use a biscuit cutter.  But easier isn't the same as easy.  They do take some time, and you've got to use a pastry cutter and get your hands dirty - unless you have a food processor, which I don't.  But the hour that I invested this weekend makes a pretty special breakfast treat for three breakfasts around here.  I'm definitely serving these on Valentine's Day.  My love letter to my family.

If this weren't my favorite combination, I think I'd find some version of scones that was irresistable to moi, and bake some/freeze some.  We have some dark winter mornings ahead, and this can be just sort of thing to make a day more special.

A Bagel Story

We had bagels this morning, but not just any bagels.  No, these bagels come with a story, which I hope you will be patient with as I indulge in a little nostalgia.

In the mid-1980's, I was a pledge at a social sorority at Oklahoma State University.  Every Monday evening, while the members of the sorority had their chapter meeting, the pledges of all the houses participated in an institution known as "Coke Date."  All the pledges  in my house - and we were dressed in church clothes - lined up shortest to tallest, meaning that I was first in line.  Then the pledges from a fraternity (it rotated week by week) would be lined up the same way, shortest to tallest, at our front door.  We paired off, me with the first (shortest) boy in line, and so on.  I have no idea what happened if there were more girls than boys or vice versa.  That problem fell to the tall ones.  Then we would walk, two by two, on a Coke Date, to keep ourselves occupied while our elders took care of the important business of the house.

Many, many times, our Coke Date was a trip to a bagel place on the main drag in Stillwater.  At that time, bagels were not common fare in Oklahoma.  I cannot remember ever having one until the Coke Dates.  Monday at this bagel place was 2 for 1 night, a promotion ploy I imagine that was concocted with the Coke Dates in mind.  Anyway, we would line up, and proceed conveyer-line style through the place, getting a foil-wrapped bagel shoved at us, and then on to the Dr. Pepper station.  (Yes, it's called Coke Date, but Dr. Pepper reigned.)

Monday night, therefore, would find us, in a strict, formulaic ritual, partnered with a total stranger of the opposite sex, who paired well according to height,  munching our bagels, sipping our DP's, and being with Everyone at this bagel joint, having a memorable time of it.  It was fun, and I met some very nice, short, young men during that time, but it also seems so quaint, even foreign to me now.  Really, what a bizarre thing it was!

The bagels, though, were fantastic.  Remember, I had never had one before.  These were just your basic white (who at that time had even heard of an Everything Bagel?), with cream cheese and very thin slices of ham sandwiched in the middle.  They were wrapped in foil and kept warm, and the combination of the chewy bread, the melty, messy cheese, and the salty ham was just unforgettable.  And I've never forgotten, though I don't think I can remember one boy who provided me with these beauties.

When I make bagels for breakfast, I like to replicate my college treat and remember that very exciting, world-expanding, eye-opening period of my life.

Stillwater Bagels

1. For each bagel, spread both halves with cream cheese.  I like to use Neufchatel, as it's lower in fat.  And nowadays, I use whole wheat bagels.

2. Place 3 or so slices of thin, deli ham on one half and top with the other half.

3. Wrap in foil, and put in a 300 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

4. Have lots of napkins handy, unwrap, and enjoy!

You could get the bagels assembled the night before, wrap them and refrigerate, although assembly is very quick the morning of.  But if you're pressed for time, it works fine.  Then it's only a 10-minute breakfast.

Carpe Piem

(Note: no picture today, due to operator error.  I shot a movie of a pie sitting on the counter on accident, and then deleted it, again, on accident.)

Yes!  We had apple pie for breakfast, and I'd do it again.  Not that it happens much around here, but Monday was a holiday.  I ran the boys all over town getting errands done, had Cool Guy do some reading for me, sent the boys outside to have their Nerf Gun war outside, and finally, it was mid-afternoon, and each boy had settled in for some cave time: Encyclopedia to the computer for one of his empire-building computer games, and Cool Guy to watch some of the 20 or so Tom and Jerrys that he DVR-ed.  (The kid has a love-affair with the DVR button.)  We were having leftovers for dinner so no cooking to be done in that department, and there was no basketball practice or gymnastics as per usual on Monday afternoons and evenings.  In short, I had time.

Burt loves, loves pie.  He has pie for his birthday cake.  If we go to a fancy restaurant, he orders pie for dessert.  And he would get it more at home except that I rarely make dessert, and he asked me once if I could please, please make homemade crust when I make pie.  It's a lot of work, and there's rarely time.

But today, there was time.  I put on a podcast, heard just above the T & J on the TV, and started rolling crust.  These pies of mine are never pretty, always a bit lopsided with jagged edges.  But inside, a pile of diced apples mixed with spices, vanilla and a little cream, and the crust - oh, my, it was so perfect and crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth, if I do say so myself.  The filling recipe was much like this one, but I used a double crust.

I don't even want to think what the calories were or the fat in that crust.  So, we're livin' high.  But I can rationalize pie in the morning this way.

• It has fruit in it, so there's got to be a healthy element.
• The whole pie only had 1/2 cup of sugar.  Surely a slice has less than a bowl of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs.
• Served with a slice of cheddar or some meat, it works for keeping us going in the morning.
• It's super-fast in the morning.  Slice and eat.

We'll only have it today because it will be gone by tomorrow.  Carpe Piem.