How Sara Does Breakfast

I have to say that probably the best skill I learned while being in school the last five years, was time management.  I had little free time, and no time to waste. This was especially true for the last year and a-half. Somewhere along the way, I started worrying that I was sending my girls off to start their day without a decent breakfast. But, with classes that began at 8am I didn't exactly have time to whip up a batch of pancakes, or ham and eggs in the morning. That's where my time management comes into play.

Before each semester would start I had a few weeks of down time. During this break I would cook my heart out, making muffins, and waffles, and pancakes. All kinds of breakfast food. I would make double and triple batches of scones, and the like. I got to where in one day I could whip up six weeks worth of breakfasts for my family and freeze them for later use. I love the convenience of this. I can stumble out of bed in the mornings, to get the kids ready for school, and not have to give a thought to what I'm going to feed them that morning. This was so wonderful while I was in Italy last year. I made a full 30 days of breakfasts for Jason. He loved it!

Here is an example of what a typical week looks like. Keep in mind that I take weekends off. I buy  "healthy" cereals that they can eat on Saturday and Sunday while Jason and I sleep in. (heaven!)


Monday - Blackberry Muffins
Tuesday - Whole Wheat Pancakes
Wednesday - Blackberry Scones
Thursday - Breakfast Burritos
Friday - Waffles

I use whole wheat in all my recipes, and fresh fruit as much as I can.


What baking day is like:
I begin with a baked good. Muffins for example. Lets say for this month there is a killer deal on Blackberries. I'll buy three or four packs of blackberries. I start with making a double batch of muffins (about 24 muffins in a double batch) cutting all the blackberries at once. While those are baking I've got pancakes going on my griddle. I triple the recipe, making about three dozen pancakes.
Once the muffins and pancakes are done, I start on the scones. Again, I double the recipe. I've already cut up all my blackberries from the muffins, so the scones are pretty much ready to go. While those bake, I get my breakfast burritos going. (These usually go the fastest.) Sausage, egg, cheese, roll, wrap done.  Lastly, I work on waffles. These take the longest for me since I can only make two at a time, and I have to watch the waffle iron the entire time. I usually make one more kind of muffin while the waffles cook. If I've already got blackberry or some other kind of berry, I will add in banana or apple cinnamon as well. With my muffins and scones I stick to whatever fruit is in season. For example, I make orange cranberry in the winter, and strawberry in the spring. I don't like using frozen or canned since fresh is usually cheaper in it's season.

Yes, I know this is a long day of cooking. I can expect to be in the kitchen for at least two hours. But the result is wonderful, and so worth the effort.

After the baking is complete, I bag everything up. I have four kids so I put four muffins in a quart size freezer bag. The same with the pancakes, waffles, scones, and burritos. I then place a bag of each food into larger freezer bags. Four bags total for four weeks in a month. If I managed to make more than four weeks worth, I often do, I keep filling gallon bags with five days worth of meals till I run out. Then I stack them all on a shelf in my large freezer and take a week of meals out at a time. I put muffins and scones out on the counter the night before so they reach room temp. by morning, and reheat the rest on the day I need it.

My girls love having breakfast this way. I feel good knowing they got a good home made meal in them before school, and they look forward to having their favorite meals each week. They have even started requesting the muffins and scones they want for the next month. I won't lie, the chocolate chip muffins are huge favorite, but they love the waffles too because they can just throw them in the toaster like an Eggo.

I've had several requests for my recipes. I am going to type them all up and put them in one downloadable file. Look for that in the upcoming week.

Spring Break Camping Excursion

Sunday night we went camping with Shawn and Janet and Company. We headed south to Lake Whitney about an hour or so away. We had fun cooking our dinner over the fire, and telling stories into the night. As always the girls had a wonderful time with their cousins. Callie is a sweetheart who helped keep an eye on Carmella.

I loved hearing Mason and Ivy tell their "scary stories". Those two are so funny together, they make a great little team. Emilie and Adelaide did a lot of exploring and tree climbing together, while Hayden and Jason kept each other entertained with their stories.

It got too cold for us during the night, and everyone in our family except Emilie ended up in the car with the heater blaring. We didn't get a lot of sleep, but we still had a good time on Monday.

After breakfast I had a chance to explore with the girls and shoot some photos around the lake. I had a wonderful time watching how the girls laugh and play together. I can't even tell you the number of rocks they collected and brought home. They were so excited about the rocks, and all the lady bugs we found in the sand. I'll bet the lake is beautiful once everything blooms in the spring. It was still a little barren for us, but we enjoyed it all the same.

And, they had great bathrooms with showers. Clean and nice enough to get an honorable mention. I wouldn't mind going back,  especially when the nights are warmer. I'm such a wimp!

Getting Handy

Today was a gorgeous day! 80 wonderful degrees. Forecast for tomorrow? 60's and rain, with a low of 20, Yuck! 

With weather like that looming, I figured we'd better enjoy today. The girls and I set out early for our local Home Depot. It was kids workshop day, and we made Trojan horse piggy banks. I helped Ella Mae, who mostly wanted to hit things with her hammer. Emilie and Adelaide were the dream team, working very well and fast together. Ivy did it all herself. I showed her how to follow the directions, and she did great. 

After our workshop, we picked up some new sand for our sandbox, and grabbed some Slurpees on the way home. 

We made it back just in time for lunch. The girls spent the rest of the day playing in the backyard. They are covered in sand, and exhausted from playing all day. Is there anything more glorious than that for a mother? I think not. 

We had a lovely day, hopefully the memories of today will keep us warm tomorrow.