As I am sure all moms do, I find myself thinking about food non-stop out of necessity. Feeding a family is a full time job and when it involves a toddler it only gets more complicated. In these next three posts I'll be covering breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a glimpse into how and what we eat.
When baby E gets up early (our 'early' is 8:30) we eat two breakfasts - a light one with just me and her and a full breakfast once daddy is up. Our light breakfast is more like a snack and most often ends up with E on her potty because that's the first thing she does in the morning. She asks to nurse when she wakes up, and since I am slowly weaning her, that's the time I have to distract her with something else to put in her mouth instead of me! So our light morning snack is usually one or two of these, organic if available:
- Yogurt (always organic)
- Organic Os or other cereal (Rice Milk on the side, otherwise she plays with it)
- Dried mango (Just Mango from TJs)
- Dried Cranberries (no sugar added)
- An apple
- Cheese (TJs Raw Milk Cheddar)
- Raisins
Once daddy wakes up around 10, I have breakfast ready on the table. In case you're wondering what baby E is eating in the photo, it is cooked cauliflower, baked in the oven with heavy cream, cheese, butter, and flour. That was actually the first time I made and fell in love, I'll share the recipe with you another time. We have a few favorites that we've grown accustomed to eating for breakfast and that are easy to prepare or require almost no preparation. Our rule, no identical breakfasts two days in a row - unless it involves homemade bread.
- If I made bread the night before, we always have it for breakfast the next morning. Nothing like fresh homemade bread with some Kate's butter from Maine and TJs Raw Milk Cheddar! This is perhaps our favorite breakfast and we eat it 2 to 3 times a week. I also like the bread and butter with honey on top. Served with chamomile, peppermint, or black tea. Baby E likes this breakfast as well.
- I bake ready made hash browns from TJs in our toaster oven (15 mins) while the eggs are cooking on the stove (almost hard boiled). Usually served with juice or a smoothie that I quickly whip up in a blender (organic rice milk, frozen strawberries or mixed berries, cream or kefir, any fresh fruit we may have). This breakfast we eat 1-2 times a week. Baby E loves eating the egg whites (she gives me the yolk for some reason), hash browns, and drinking the smoothie!
- Stove top cream of wheat made with rice milk. I add a little bit of honey and frozen berries, it is definitely a favorite. Takes about 10-15 minutes to make and we eat it once a week. It requires constant stirring, so I make it when I know I can be at the stove for 10 minutes straight. Sometimes I make it with oatmeal instead of cream of wheat. Baby E loves it then hates it, it's a hit or miss with her. Though if there are berries or raisins she'll be happily fishing them out.
- On our early mornings after a snack I sometimes mix up an omelette and throw it in the oven so that it is ready by the time dad wakes up. I usually do this once a week. If I don't have time to make it in the oven, I make a stove top one. The Bodhi's Favorite English Broccoli and Cheese Quick Quiche has recently become our favorite. I make it without the crust and I don't add wheat germ since I don't have any yet. I first tried making it when I reviewed Organically Raised: Conscious Cooking for Babies and Toddlers
. Here is the recipe below.
- The old stand by, cereal. It is not the most nutritious or filling breakfast, we usually have it once a week when we need to leave somewhere in the morning and need a quick breakfast. I enjoy the organic mango cereal from TJs and I also love anything with maple/walnut/pecan. Baby E likes her Envirokidz Organic Gorilla Munch (if you're Russian, this is just like kukuruznie palochki) or organic Os. She likes raisins in her cereal, it's a must.
- Every once in a while we make crepes or pancakes, try a new recipe, or have something store bought, like waffles or ready-to-bake biscuits. I'm also dreaming of buying a waffle maker and making my own waffles!
BROCCOLI & CHEESE QUICK QUICHE (from the Organically Raised website)
Makes 4 servings
- Splash of olive oil
- 2 cups finely chopped fresh broccoli
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 pinches of ground red pepper [I don't use any]
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 eggs, well beaten
- 1 cup organic milk (or soy milk or rice milk) [we use rice milk]
- 1⁄2 cup heavy cream
- 1 unbaked pie crust (9-inch diameter), [optional according to me]
- 1 teaspoon wheat germ
- 1 cup Cheddar cheese [I just use 1 cup of raw milk shredded cheese, turns out too expensive to use more]
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
- Pour a little olive oil into a heated skillet. Add the broccoli, onion, garlic, salt, and red and black peppers. Cook, stirring frequently, until the broccoli is tender and the onion is browning and beginning to caramelize. Set aside.
- Beat together the eggs, milk, and cream in a mixing bowl. When well mixed, add the wheat germ.
- Place the broccoli mixture in the pie shell. Evenly sprinkle the Cheddar and mozzarella on top. Pour the egg mixture over vegetables and cheeses.
- Bake for 40 minutes.
I am always looking for new breakfast ideas! Especially things made from scratch. Please do share what you have for your first meal of the day!
If you haven't yet, check out numbers 1 through 5 of our Glimpse into Eco-Babyz:
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Wow looks good. Can you adopt me +2 :) Where do you get Envirokidz Organic Gorilla Munch? My favorite for breakfast are pancakes that are really easy to make. 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup egg whites, 1/2 of oatmeal flakes and 1/8 baking powder. makes about 3 pancakes. And they are healthy too.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your great ideas! I'm going to borrow some if you don't mind :))
ReplyDeleteHere is a breakfast idea that I have been planning to make for a long time and I just saw this one on TV, which looks so easy! Homemade granola bars http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/homemade-granola-bars-recipe/index.html
Hope you find them easy and tasty!
this is the way a blog should be! thanks!
ReplyDeleteHere is few ideas what we eat.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby eat oatmeal every single breakfast, eggs upset his stomach so every morning i cook oatmeal with rice milk topping it with butter, flaxseed, and depending on what fruits i have, chopped sometimes apples. Amazingly he never gets tired of it. He might have a toast also.
I don't like oatmeal sometimes maybe, but i like cream wheat and most of all 8 grain kasha. The one that have good texture. Pretty much every other day i will have that or eggs on a bread with spinach, sometimes smoked salmon in between =)
French toast with applesauce and berries if my favorite too. Sometimes pancakes from TJ from the box (whole grain) but daddy don't like pancakes kids love it. So i cook those occasionally.
Milkshakes for kids almost every morning, they enjoy kefir also.
sometimes im into making shakes with raw weggies and fruits.