Monday, February 27, 2012

Cooking breakfast at night

Some people are very organized.  Some people are so disorganized I wonder how they get by in life.  I fall somewhere in between.  I don't make grocery lists.  I have keep a mental log of what we are out of, what we need, and shop accordingly.  If I make a list, it always turns out bad.  I forget half of the things on it, and I end up not being able to purchase the fresh meat or produce that is on sale.  Yes, I could peruse the ads and plan ahead, but I am not into all that jazz.  It seems to take some sort of energy that I just don't have.  My mental notebook is good enough.  For now. 

I have a friend who plans out breakfast/lunch/dinner for the whole week, maybe even 2 at times. If you're interested in that you should visit her blog www.extraordinaryordinarylife.blogspot.com I also have friends who do a lot of freezer cooking.  If I happen to be making lasagna or chicken pot pie- I just might get the gumption to make 2 and stick one in the freezer for a night I don't want to cook.  But not often.

As strange as it may seem, I like to cook.  I like to spend time thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner, getting it all prepped, spending time in the kitchen.  If I did a marathon cooking session and stuck enough food in the freezer for the week, I would miss cooking dinner.  To each his own though. 

Ah- back to my original reason for being here.  I am not as into cooking breakfast (in the morning that is) as I am into cooking dinner.  Breakfast has always been a crazy time around the house.  One kid wants cereal, the other wants a bagel, they're fighting over the orange juice- and who on earth spilled that milk?  One is frying an egg.  "Isaac, you can't fry eggs!"  One is cooking an egg in the microwave but it doesn't seem to be getting 'done' enough- so now one is burning an egg in the microwave.  You get my picture.  It's an ugly picture.  It was an ugly picture.  But my genius husband said one night, "why don't we fix breakfast at night and just warm it up in the morning.  Then the kids all eat the same thing, and it makes the morning run much more smoothly.  What a genius!  (actually I had been thinking about doing this for months...does that count?)  So a couple weeks ago we started doing this.  Every night one of us cooks breakfast, or we both work together at it.  Here are some of our brilliant breakfast ideas:

Egg Masquelier Muffins (egg/sausage/cheese/english muffin)
Just scramble some eggs
Fry some sausage
Toast some muffins
Add some cheese, put them together on a tray
Cover w/foil
Put in fridge
Heat in oven in morning at 350 until warm & cheese is slightly melty.

The above can also be done with bacon, obviously.

Overnight French Toast
There are lots of recipes out there to use, so I won't list them all, but here is one
10 pieces of white bread (French bread if you are fancy) bite sized pieces
Beat 8 eggs, add some spice- whatever you like, add some cream cheese to give it some pizazz (8 oz)
1 cup of milk
1 cup blueberries
I cup of maple syrup
Cover w/foil put in fridge
*In the AM, get it out of the fridge as you are preheating the oven so it can get closer to room temp.)
Keep covered, cook at 350 for about 35-40 minutes.

These are estimates.  I am the type of cook that just throws things together- I loosely go by recipes, but I like to experiment.

I am still working on my overnight crock pot oatmeal.  Tried it last week BLEK BLEK BLEK trying it a different way tonight.  I'll let you know.

Baked Oatmeal
Again- lots of online recipes.  Really easy, very tasty.

Egg Bakes
These are so versatile, because you can use lots of different veggies, meats, cheeses.  You can get in all of the food groups in one dish.

I am still coming up with ideas.  If you have an awesome breakfast idea, please share!  I'd love to try it out.

Have a blessed day. 

1 comment:

  1. That's funny, I'm semi-organized, too. I don't do a lot of freezer cooking, but do try to stash a few things back when I can for an unusually busy day or something.

    I like the idea of breakfast making at night, but to be honest, by the time the sun goes down, I am toast for the day.

    I remember an egg bake you made for the playgroup we went to at your house last year, that was awesome:)

    Our breakfasts usually consist of toast of some sort, since I always have lots of homemade bread around, but since we don't have to get out and about, it's a bit more relaxed. I also like to have plenty of hard-boiled eggs on hand.

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