Breakfast, That Neglected Meal

I love breakfast. It's possibly my favorite part of the day, what with me being a morning person and also a...well, a foodie, I guess. Most days we just eat regular oatmeal (with options of nuts and dried fruit to mix in), regular rice with some cinnamon and sugar on top, or Cream of Wheat, but here are some of our favorite special breakfasts that never leave leftovers!

Butterscotch oatmeal -- sort of a custard-based oatmeal, cooked with milk, eggs and sugar instead of just water. Creamy and filling and extra-sweet.

Rice pudding -- great for leftover rice, also a custardy milk/eggs/sugar deal, only baked in the oven and with cinnamon and raisins mixed in.

Cornmeal mush with syrup -- strangely enough, this is very popular with my kids. I use part regular cornmeal and part "polenta", a coarser-ground cornmeal that I get from Goya brand in the Hispanic section. I think I basically use 1 part cornmeal to 4 parts boiling water. Pass the syrup!

Muffins -- 2 dozen is almost not enough nowadays for our family, I don't know what I'll do when I need to make more... The 3 varieties that we use most are whole wheat pumpkin, blueberry, and oatmeal chocolate chip.

Pancake-in-the-Oven -- this is quite similar to a German pancake, only it's self-sweetened so you don't eat any fruit on top. German pancake with fruit is probably delicious, but this is what I grew up eating and so it's being passed on and enjoyed by my kids. Puffy, lightly sweet and buttery.

Granola -- I don't buy it, but I occasionally splurge for the ingredients (see sidebar of past recipes) and make a giant homemade batch. Then we all wonder where it went so fast.

Sourdough pancakes -- we technically don't eat these for breakfast ever, they're our Sunday night supper each week, but I had to include them as a delicious breakfast food. I actually prefer "regular" pancakes just every once in a while, but my husband simply lives for the sourdough flavor. A treat you can't get anywhere else anymore!

I keep hearing that breakfast is a meal that shouldn't be skipped, so go ahead and dig in.

School, week 2

Our camera is inaccessible for the moment, so I can't post the picture I took of last week's featured recipe. But since I never get tired of lists, I'll continue last week's theme and record my upcoming menus (just with less play-by-play).

Monday: Italian sausage with penne and marinara sauce, green beans

Tuesday: Carrot soup*, sourdough bread

Wednesday: Beef stroganoff*, acorn squash

Thursday: Split pea soup, vegetable gratin

Friday: Baked potato wedges, carrot slaw

Saturday: Pizza, zucchini

Sunday: Bacon, pancakes and applesauce

(*yes, I have some sour cream that I HAVE to use up soon or throw out)

Though in terms of menus, I should be explicit that the lack of desserts actually does represent a lack of eating them, with the exception of one Family Home Evening refreshment night per week, usually ice cream or storebought cookies. (I know I have few readers, but at least one of them will be shocked by that word in there, "storebought"...)

Sometime soon I'll probably do breakfasts and trip food. Until then, happy Labor Day!