Breakfast

I cook breakfast every morning. 

Every. Morning.

Sometimes the Hubs does it, sometimes he helps me, sometimes I help him.  But we eat a cooked breakfast in this house every single morning.

We don't go out to eat breakfast, to me that's the biggest money waster ever.  $5 for 2 eggs and a piece of toast?  No way.  I could buy stinking organic local eggs for that price! 

Not that local organic eggs stink.

Actually, I've never been able to pay that price for them so I really wouldn't know if they stink or not, but I'm going to assume not.

I was never a breakfast eater before, apart from a bowl of cereal or maybe a Poptart.  Breakfast was not my favorite meal.  Lunch, great!  Dinner, fantastic!  Breakfast, nah.  But something changed while I was pregnant with the Kid.  As soon as my feet hit the floor I had to eat.  But even then I still stuck to cereal, specifically Crispex with cut up banana and sugar.  I went to great lengths to make sure I had the supplies for this breakfast on hand at all times.  I didn't just eat this concoction at breakfast either, but anytime during the day when the HUNGER struck.  And when you're PG, that HUNGER can strike at any time. 

After the Kid was born and old enough to not be eating just mush anymore, she would mostly have cereal or a  Poptart for her breakfast.  Sometimes we'd get crazy up in here and she would have a frozen pancake or waffle.  Then we started on the frozen turkey sausages.  She gave up cereal altogether, Poptarts were just an occasional item, and she started demanding a hot breakfast every morning.

Can't you just put that Poptart in the toaster?

Ah, no.  That wasn't exactly what she had in mind.  Hot breakfast as in cooked, by Mommy, to include a turkey sausage, a pancake or waffle, and a scrambled egg.  Sometimes with cheese.

And then one day I came to my senses.  WHY am I buying these things when I can make them myself?  Why am I loading my Kid up with all of this fake food, when I could just learn to cook it myself and it will be cheaper, better, and healthier? 

Why is it so hard to find a turkey sausage that isn't already cooked?

And that's how the whole breakfast journey began.  I now make my own turkey sausage about once a month.  It takes 2-3 packages of ground turkey, lots of OO, salt, pepper, Montreal seasoning, and a bit of Thyme.  I mix it all up, then form it into patties and lay them out in layers on a cookie sheet to freeze.  Then I throw them in a baggie, and pull out 2 for breakfast every morning.  A bit of OO in the pan, cook thoroughly because it is turkey after all, and Bob's your uncle.  For about $6-9 we have enough turkey sausage to last about a month.  The Kid is the main one who eats the sausage, but we've been known to use it to top our pizza as well.

And I have no idea who Bob is.  We once had a dog named Bob, but he's a completely different story.

On a weekend morning, I make enough pancakes to hopefully last about 2 weeks.  Mostly plain, but some blueberry as well.  Same system as the sausages, I lay them out on a cookie sheet with pieces of parchment in between, freeze until they're solid, them transfer to a baggie.  I heat them up in the toaster oven every morning.  We all enjoy those, I like mine especially topped with Nutella!

Eggs of course have to be cooked to order.  The good thing is they only take a minute or two.  The Kid will only eat scrambled eggs.  I will only eat over easy eggs.  The Hubs flip flops between the two, and even gets a wild hair sometimes and has an omelette or scrambled eggs with veg mixed in.  I like that sometimes as well, but not for breakfast.  But, again, eggs only take a minute or two, so even if I'm making 3 different kinds of eggs, it still takes less than 10 minutes. 

A lot of people think I'm crazy for doing all of this.  I wake up every weekday morning between 5:30 and 6 to cook breakfast.  But, and while I never thought I would be this way, and certainly the Hubs NEVER thought I'd be up and not only cooking but eating breakfast every morning, I have to say I enjoy it.  I take pride in knowing that my child is off on her day with a good breakfast in her belly, ready to take on the day. 

After this journey started (but before we eliminated processed foods from our lives), when she had a break from school, and I said, hooray, now you can go back to Poptarts in the morning and I won't have to cook for a while!

She cried, and said, I want my cooked breakfast!

And I have to completely agree with her.  I want MY cooked breakfast as well!



**This post sponsered by the really super yummy breakfast we had this morning, which consisted of bacon (from Trader Joe's, some of the smokiest, sweetest bacon I've ever had), eggs (3 ways), grits (I heart grits), and homemade cinnamon rolls (thank you, Pioneer Woman!!) from the freezer.  **