Back to School Breakfasts - Quick and Easy!

Back to School Breakfasts - Quick and Easy!

It's back-to-school, or home schooling time! Whichever way you are going with your kids, school time means back to a structured schedule and back to the morning routine of gearing up for the day! Get the kids and yourself off to the right start with a cheap, delicious, home-cooked breakfast.

Fruit Shakes
Try to keep some peeled bananas in the freezer (in Ziploc bags.) There are tons of combinations to make. Serve with toast, muffins, cold cereal, or more fruit. Though these are filling, kids will get hungry later on. If they are in school, make sure they have something to go along with these so they don't starve before lunchtime.

Here are a few shakes that go great with breakfast and are fast:

Monkey Milk - blend a banana and 1 cup of milk, add a little yellow food coloring

Purple Cow - grape juice and milk blended together

Julius Shakes
Basic recipe:
1 cup juice
1 cup water
1 egg white
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup ice (crushed is best)
Blend at high speed. Serves 2.
Note: The egg white is to make the drink frothy, which it is famous for. You can omit the white, or use that powdered egg white (I think it's called meringue powder) that is sold in the baking section of most stores.

Variations
Try any juice. Some of my favorites are pineapple, strawberry, lime or cranberry. Try mixing different kinds too. Cranberry and orange would be great together, and there are so many juice blends at the store - experiment to your heart's content!


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Fresh Fruit
They even come in their own wrapper! Slice apples, bananas, and orange sections for slow and/or little kids. Not filling alone, so serve with toast, muffins, instant oatmeal or cold cereal. Our favorite speedy fruits are grapes, bananas and berries.


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Eggs, Bacon and Toast
I can make eggs, bacon and toast in about 5 minutes. I buy the turkey bacon and have one of those microwave bacon trays with the grooves on them to drain the fat. I microwave 5 strips of bacon for 2 1/2 minutes on high, then turn once and microwave for another 2 1/2 minutes. The turkey bacon has very little fat and doesn't shrink. While the bacon is going, I put some toast in the toaster, and scramble up some eggs. Easy and classic!


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Horse Chow
4 cups rolled oats (old-fashioned, not instant)
1/2 cup raisins
juice of 1 lemon
dash of salt
a little vegetable oil to moisten
Mix all together and eat.


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Instant Oatmeal (homemade version)

Per person:
1/2 cup instant or "quick-cooking" oatmeal
1/2 cup water or milk
1/4 cup or less of sugar (to taste)
dried fruits of your choice- raisins, blueberries, cherries, apples, apricots, dates, etc.
fresh fruit if you like- bananas, berries, etc.
spices - cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, depending on what combination you are making
Squirt of honey, jam, or chopped fruit for garnish
1. Combine all, according to taste. Microwave on high 1-2 minutes, until oatmeal is thickened. Garnish as desired (with honey, syrup, chopped bananas, marshmallows, sprinkles, whatever!)
Possible combinations - apples and cinnamon, pumpkin pie (use canned pumpkin or pumpkin pie spice), peaches and cream, strawberries and cream, peanut butter and jelly, tropical (bananas, pineapple, mangoes, dates, coconut, whatever you have), lemon-blueberry, maple syrup and brown sugar, maple syrup and pecans.


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Oatmeal Packets (homemade version)
Serving Size : 8
3 C Quick-Cooking Oats
Salt
8 Plastic Sandwich Bags
Put 1/2 C. oats in a blender and whirl at high speed until powdery; reserve in a small bowl and repeat procedure with an additional 1/2 C. oats. If you're using a food processor, powder the 1 C. of oats in one motion. Into each sandwich bag put 1/4 C. unpowdered oats, 2 T. powdered oats, and a scant 1/4 t. salt. Store in a box or airtight container.
To serve: Empty packet into a bowl. Add 3/4 C. boiling water; stir and let stand for 2 minutes. For thicker oatmeal, use less water; for thinner, use more water. (I microwave for 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 minutes or until done on high)

VARIATIONS
Apple-cinnamon: To each packet add 1 T. sugar, 1/4 t. cinnamon, and 2T. chopped dried apples.
Sweetened: To each packet add 1 T. sugar
Cinnamon spice: To each packet add 1 T. sugar, 1/4 t. cinnamon, and a scant 1/8 t. nutmeg.
Raisins and brown sugar: To each packet add 1 T. packed brown sugar and 1 T. raisins.
Wheat germ: To each packet add 2 T. any kind of wheat germ
Fruit and cream: (This is my own to satisfy the kids) To each packet add 1T. dry milk and 2T dried fruit or fresh fruit after cooking or jam.


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Sandwich Maker Turnovers
If you have a "snackmaster" or "sandwich maker", you can make these really fast. Just butter up to piece of bread, and add a filling. For breakfast, we like to put in a beaten egg and some cheese, with chopped veggies optional. You can use sweet fillings too, such as pie-filling, but I would recommend those as snacks or desserts instead of as breakfasts.

We've even done these as bacon, egg, and toast pockets. These "breakfast sandwiches" are hot and delicious, and only take a few minutes to make. The egg will cook right in between the bread. It usually takes a few minutes. Precook the bacon in the microwave, or use bacon bits. You could also try lunchmeat in these, or make an Italian version with some pepperoni and tomato sauce. Voila! Breakfast Pizza Pockets!

More Yummy Breakfast Ideas...
French Toast Sandwiches with Apple and Cheese

Ingredents:
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup of milk
- Slices of cheese
- 1 granny smith apple, thinly sliced
- 4 slices cinnamon raisin bread
- 2 tbsp butter for frying

Mix the eggs and milk in a shallow bowl. Then make the sandwiches by putting the apples and cheese between the bread slices. Press down on those sandwiches and smoosh ‘em a bit. Then bathe them well in the egg-milk mixture one at a time and bring ‘em to the pan to fry on both sides.


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Bacon Pancakes

I put down strips of pancake batter and then placed bacon which I had prepared earlier on each strip.
Flip and Enjoy!


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Baked Eggs in Maple Syrup Toast Cups

Ingredients:
Maple Syrup
Butter
12 slices of white bread
6 eggs

Fire up the oven at 410 F.
Grab a muffin pan and butter it up.
Combine some butter and maple syrup in a saucepan at low heat.. try 2 tablespoons of each.. just enough to coat the bread.
Un-crust the bread slices. Take two slices and place them diagonally on top of each other. The idea here is to create more area. Flatten them with your hands or rolling device.
Paint some of the maple-butter goodness on to the bread and then work it into a cup of the muffin pan.
Do it again 5 more times.
Then crack eggs into each cup and dress them up with some pepper or whatever floats your boat.
Stick that pan in the oven for 15 minutes or more. cook until eggs are done.

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Apples

Home-made Applesauce Recipe

Make you own home-made applesauce using this recipe.


INGREDIENTS:
1 quart Apples (peeled and sliced)
1 cup Water
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Lemon Juice
Cinnamon (optional)

PREPARATION:
Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Mash the mixture using a potato masher or an electric mixer until it is smooth. Put the applesauce in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator to cool.

Once cool, top with a little cinnamon if you like, and enjoy a bowl of fresh applesauce!