Let us take a page from Christmas. Don’t panic – we still have a few months to go before we start worrying about that! But summer vacation is over. And school has started. What are you going to serve for breakfast on a busy Monday morning?
I suggest that a little of the planning, just like holiday prep can be applied to our everyday, real life breakfast experience. So easy to natter on about, so difficult to to sustain. Which is why it is a good thing that Christmas comes but once a year. Point of fact, on Christmas morning, we wander groggily into the kitchen, where we always have a couple of favorite breakfast casseroles pre-cooked and sitting in the fridge, waiting to be re-heated. And while you might not want to prepare a casserole or a sheet of sausage rolls every night, you don’t need to panic every single morning about breakfast, now that school is starting, the busses are rolling, and time is not on your side.
You can start off small, with a batch of Scrambled Egg Muffins, courtesy of Food52 that you can bake on Sunday afternoon. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. By Thursday you’ll feel confident enough to toss frozen, homemade pancakes into the microwave. (Emily Peck on Slate’s Money podcast recently extolled the deliciousness of the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes from a recipe in the New York Times – enjoy! Lemon Ricotta Pancakes On Friday you’ll enjoy revving up the blender for a healthy, avocado smoothie. You can make a new playlist for every week, or get some items into a regular rotation.
It will be almost a full year before you will again enjoy leisurely summer vacation breakfasts, spent contentedly scrolling through IG at a picnic table overlooking a lake from your summer rental. You won’t be tasked with documenting the perfect sunrise to humblebrag about any more, either. You are back in the saddle, like it or not. And some of you have young folk who need to be stoked up and filled to the brim with healthy brain food every morning.
There’s a lot going on in those growing brains, and we know that we should be doing better than a bowl of Cap’n Crunch. We want them to concentrate, remember what they are learning, and keep their energy levels up until lunchtime. It is a daunting task, particularly when we are trying to feed everyone good, healthy food, fast and with the fewest morning squabbles.
A lot of the prepared foods are full of sugars, fat and salt; all the deelish things we human beings are naturally drawn to. But they are not very healthy for us, I’m sad to say. And look at that fourth grader, staring moodily at you across the counter. Does he really want a bowl of heart-healthy oatmeal. Not likely. So consider your audience as you peruse my handy dandy sheet of breakfast ideas.
I love repetition. I can eat a turkey sandwich every day for a week. Maybe even two weeks. But you might be a little more normal, and like to shake things up. When you bake a sheet of twelve muffins, that might seem like money in the bank. But only for a couple of days. Don’t plan on foisting off healthy crunchy twiggy muffins on your first grader for the next 5 days in a row. Even if they really seems to like them on Monday, by Tuesday it could get ugly. Maybe you can consult with said child, and see what their take is, and maybe the two of you can make a plan. Rapid rotation is probably key!
Most mornings I have about enough energy and enthusiasm for a slice of cold pizza and the headlines. But given the proper motivation (this list) and a calming trip to the grocery store, even you can have a variety of healthy ingredients on hand to make some tempting make-ahead, back-to-back breakfasts. And then you can devote your worrying to charging the iPhones, signing permission slips, finding the sneakers, getting the laundry out of the dryer, putting the dog in his crate, and finding your car keys.
Maybe the two (or three, four, five) of you can make it a weekly family event. Quality Family Breakfast Prep Time might only last for the first couple of weeks of school before it comes crashing back down on your shoulders, but it could be a pleasant time for you all. Instead of sinking onto the sofa with HGTV after dinner, maybe you can whip up a little batch of granola – which can then be a cereal base, an ingredient in a yogurt parfait, or tossed into a smoothie or made into snack bars.
I have some great memories of times in the kitchen with our children. You can’t expect every minute to go smoothly, and you have to keep in mind that their attention spans can be short (it’s a lasting effect from all that Cap’n Crunch they used to eat). Consider it a moment of triumph when someone learns to measure a cup of whole wheat flour, or remembers to line the muffin pan with paper cups without first being asked. You can teach some life skills, like how to bake bacon, or wash blueberries or peel carrots. And don’t forget about learning first aid!
You are saving time from chaos and tears in the morning, and exercising those potentially sizable and vulnerable little brains. And it is screen-free quality time. Maybe after you figure breakfast out you can all go read a little Harry Potter. Magic!
Muffins
smoothies
eggs
granola and muesli
oatmeal
pancakes
fruits
pizza
bagels and breads
Pizza (I had to include it!)
“My breakfast is usually a wholegrain cereal or porridge, with walnuts sprinkled in it, berries, a tablespoon of honey, and chia seeds. I have coffee and a little cherry juice with seltzer. I have a seat by the window, and I look out at the view.”
—Amy Tan
Jean Dixon Sanders has been a painter and graphic designer for the past thirty years. A graduate of Washington College, where she majored in fine art, Jean started her work in design with the Literary House lecture program. The illustrations she contributes to the Spies are done with watercolor, colored pencil and ink.
