Oh to be Caroline Ingalls...

So, it's quite humorous really. I was actually going to post about this yesterday but ran out of time spent my time wiping noses, cleaning house, and answering emails. And then this morning I head over to this funny lady's blog and find that she's aspeakin' my language today. So at the risk of being dubbed "Copy Cat Blogger" I'll continue on with said planned post...


When the kids were young (um, not that they still aren't.) we fell into the rut of cold cereal for breakfast. I, of course, tried to relieve mommy guilt by pairing it with the ever present banana, but still we've struggled to break free from the addiction which recently was only made worse by my couponing ways. Because seriously, I couldn't pass up cereal that I paid 10 cents a box for, or got for free, or actually made money on, now could I?!

(Shameful, really. And that was only the half of it...)

Of course, they don't tell you in the fine print that their sugary cereals are slowly sucking away the nutrients from our growing children's bodies and leaving the brain virtually useless for school and their day. Ok, maybe it doesn't do all that, but it certainly is drilled in to us enough that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, certain foods give our children extra brain power, yadda yadda yadda. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out that something that lists sugar, high fructose corn syrup, or enriched bleached anything as the firsts ingredients are not going to help with those things. So being the conscious mommy that I am I decided it was time to heed the warnings.

So, when the cold cereal ran out it was not replenished. It's been a couple of weeks now. I think for the most part we've done pretty good. One of my favs has turned out to be Steel Cut Oats cooked in the crock pot overnight.

Breakfast hot and ready when you wake up.

Can I get an Amen???

For those who want to try it....

1 part steel cut oats
4 part water
pinch of salt (I used Kosher)
And then you can add other things if you want like a slab of butter, maple syrup (I added about a 1/4 cup of this), dried fruit, etc.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours (don't use too big of a crock pot unless you're doubling the recipe)
Serve with milk, sugar, cinnamon, more maple syrup, dried fruit, or brown sugar.
Voila!

Breakfast is served.

This past week we were really busy and so our pantry has suffered, but the kids probably wouldn't say they have, since for the time being we've traded our cereal rut for Nutella on toast.

Chocolate for breakfast?

They couldn't be happier.





...until mommy comes back full force after my shopping trip.:) They won't know what hit them.


Praying for God's strength to get up in time to do something other than slather chocolate on bread with my eyes half closed and my I.V. drip of coffee in place...