breakfast, bumper stickers and baby LIVE

It seems odd, but one of the biggest challenges I've had with home schooling Emma this year has been keeping her well-fed and full of energy. She is a lot like Dan I think--high metabolism, low blood sugar tendencies and when she's the least bit hungry she has no energy and gets very grumpy. It seems like I'm having to constantly give her snacks to keep her focused and "with me" so we can sit down and do a little concentrated school work together. I often find myself wondering how she'd ever cope in school--going all morning without a snack before lunch.

So I've been starting with breakfast--trying to wean them off cold cereal and juice and on to things with a little more substance--eggs, granola and yogurt, oatmeal. I've been setting up for breakfast each night before bed, hoping it will keep me on track with making them a hearty breakfast, instead of falling back on the easy box of cereal. Yesterday's eggs seemed to go over well and help us get a little farther into the morning before a meltdown indicating snack. And today's oatmeal was a moderate hit--thanks to some cream and raisins on top.

I'd love to hear some of the things that you feed your children for breakfast? Or do you have a great snack that you give them mid-morning for a boost of energy? Is there something I should be cooking up? I'm hoping Emma will grow out of this "eat every 90 minutes" kind of lifestyle, but maybe not.

Speaking of food--a little giveaway. I recently got some mail from American Farmland Trust, which included a few bumper stickers. I kept one for myself, but I'd love to give one away. They say, "No Farms. No Food." If you'd like it and use it, leave me a note in the comments and I'll get in touch. If more than one of you want it, then I'll just draw a name.

And for your viewing pleasure--she kept squawking at me while I was trying to write this post--I think she just wanted to be on camera. please ignore my mommy voice. yuck.

Hello Elizabeth from molly balint on Vimeo.

Comments

[melissa]

Molly, I just played your video and my labs went nuts! Running from the back door to the front door barking like we'd had an intrusion. Funny dogs.

Nash eats oatmeal with raisins and dried cranberries, touch of honey, couple of walnuts every morning without fail. Won't touch anything else. He'll eat an egg in the hole for a special occasion and wants pancakes on the weekends, but his weekday breakfast is always oatmeal.

[Janene Tindall]

My son is a bit young yet for these kinds of foods, but I remember my mom making me several such snacks. I remember little dishes of frozen berries (that we'd picked in the garden, then froze - but store bought would be fine)microwaved warm, with a little sugar on top; grahame crackers and milk; half a bagel with a piece of cheese melted on top; apple slices and peanut butter. The trend seems to be a little protein via dairy, and a little natural sugar via fruit. Good luck! How old is your baby?

[Stephanie D]

Hmmm..Gabe likes waffles, pancakes, yogurt and fresh fruit, a dutch baby (like a giant popover) is nice every once in a while and I like to make breakfast muffins too. Soft boiled eggs are good and are fun to eat! Uuuh yeah, so we I guess we like breakfast here in our house. Gabe really likes dried organic dates and Annie's cheddar bunnies for snacks.
I would LOVE that sticker if you feel like sending it on over. I'll slap in on my car as soon as I get it! =)

[Kim]

One of our favorite breakfast foods are oatmeal with homemade applesauce on it. My kids adore it, and well, so do I! We also do green or fruity smoothies. Anything with nuts in it too will help to keep her fuller. (is that a word?). My son is like that, if he gets hungry, watch out. I think he gets it from me though ;)
Oh and I adore those bumper stickers!

[molly]

I love that Elizabeth is playing with the camera cord! So cute. I totally rely on cereal for breakfast. I just can't seem to make a kitchen mess first thing (and I don't like the smell of cooked eggs early in the day). We do oatmeal a few mornings a week, and I recently bought some frozen french toast sticks (I'm against packaged prepared foods, but Avery loves them and I had to mix it up a bit).

One thing I do love to make when we have extra bread is overnight french toast. I layer sliced bread in a 9x13 and cover it with a mixture of 3 eggs, 3/4 cup milk, dollop of syrup, spoonful of sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Cover and store in fridge overnight. Cook at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, flip toast over and cook for about 5 minutes more, until egg mixture is cooked. We all love this dish and it is very easy to prepare before bed.

Yesterday morning Avery had a tamale for breakfast. Sometimes I just have to think outside the cereal box.

[Stacey]

We've hit on something lately that everyone in our house loves, try cooking granola like hot cereal. It's splurge to be sure but very tasty and keeps all sizes happy. Rather than asking for the bumper sticker I'll look them up, I know I'm already an ASA member but I think that's only local.

[Lori]

i love the bumper sticker!! farmland in our area is being gobbled up by subdivisions and sprawl - yuck.

i suffer from low blood sugar, so i know what it's like to move from snack to snack to get through the day.

we usually have a pretty substantial breakfast followed by a fruit or fruit+cheese snack in mid-morning. peanut butter toast is a great breakfast, with a banana on the side. jack loves a chopped boiled egg - very easy since i boil up several at once early in the week.

[amy]

first off
cutie!
We eat a lot of pancakes and breakfast pizzas- small pizza crusts (ww) and eggs or such and Angry Chicken has a great idea for NAN bread- that in the morning with some toppings
I try and keep a little grazing bowl on the table with fruit/nuts/cereal?
I am also always searching too

[Bluebirdbaby]

Breakfast: pancakes are a staple around here. We use Pamela's gluten free baking mix, add blueberries, and some local maple syrup. Pretty carb filled though.
Quinoa flakes cook up like hot cereal and are loaded with complete protein. Add some raw honey and cinnamon.
Buckwheat cereal also cooks up like hot cereal and we eat it with the same honey and cinn.
Goat yogurt with granola, smoothies, french toast, fruit salad, etc. Just some ideas. It is hard moving away from the carbs without adding meat...

Good luck and cute video :) I'm another low-blood sugar person and eat CONSTANTLY and a lot, yet don't gain weight. I know, don't hate me...

[katiek]

I've just weaned Josiah off of oatmeal and onto Cheerios. Mostly because the mornings I teach school (other people's homeschooled children) or Josiah goes to school (until 12:30) we are so crunched for time I can't even wait 2 extra minutes for it to cook in the microwave. I cook old fashioned oats in the Microwave with raisens. A light dusting of brown sugar and milk and both kids gobble it down. If we are at home watching PBS they still ask for food every 15 minutes. If the morning is long at home they get half a bagel with butter as a snack. Our neighborhood bakery (www.niedlovs.com) has these great WW breads with raisens and nuts in them. The cranberry bread with some cream cheese is practically dessert!

[Jennifer]

Two of our standby breakfasts are oatmeal bar, where I scoop the steel cut oats into the girls' bowls with a pat of butter, then set out a variety of toppings such as raisins, fresh or frozen berries, soy milk, chopped pecans, honey or if I am feeling really nice brown sugar for the girls to top their bowls with. The other is breakfast sundaes which requires a true sundae dish:) I layer plain yogurt that I have flavored with OJ and a bit of honey with crunchy granola and fruit always topped with a sprinkle of cinnamon. My girls are hit and miss with the eggs, preferring hard boiled to scrambled. The beauty of hard boiled is the opportunity to use the egg slicer and eat them in circles.

[bigbucketgirl]

I have blood sugar thats lower than my feet most of the time and a metabolism that seems to run at warp speed..so i'm with Emma!? Breakfast can be pancakes with scrambled egg or oatmeal, bran and apple muffins! Bizarrely..its savoury stuff i CRAVE first thing in the morning and not sweet cereals or honey etc. My absolute favourite is ready salted potato chips! My mother used to go crazy about it, (now DH does) but its the carbohydrate! I bake the muffins the night before and if its pancakes make the batter. I pick on celery, carrot, grapes and cherry tomatoes. There are other things that i can't remember because its late and i'm on my fourth night of a sleepless 2yr old! When i'm more together i'll post again!

[bigbucketgirl]

Oh yes...mashed banana on bagels or in pitta breads? They are a main snack around here..anytime, anywhere! mashed banana on crackers, mashed bana....you get the idea??

[Sarah]

1. Your voice is lovely.

2. So is Elizabeth.

3. I eat a bowl of oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar every morning. Will your kids eat nuts? Or trail mix? Because those have lots of protein.

You should look on Familyfun.com, because it's the best site and I'm sure they have ideas.

[allison]

I love eating (drinking) smoothies for breakfast! And my kids do too but they usually want something else with it like a waflle (frozen) or something. My smoothie recipe is this (everything is eyeballed):
about 8 oz juice (i use oj or pomegrante)
frozen blueberries 1/4 cup?
frozen mango 1/4 cup?
plain yogurt 1/2 cup?
protein powder (from trader joes)
sometimes flaxseed
cod liver oil (and the kids don't even know! hahaha)
You'd have to experiment with the amounts. This would make a large adult size or maybe three small kid sizes.
My 5 year old eats cherrios all day long. maybe keeping a bowl of something like that on her desk/table would help.

I also just made some yummy granola and had it on top of yogurt. I think the kids liked it too.

I like that bumper sticker. :) It's so true.

[erin]

oh that baby is sweet. and so is your voice. hi elizabeth!

emma sounds just like kate. i give her high protein snacks like edamame and apples to dip in peanut butter. trail mix is a great idea, too.

[Beth]

So cute, Molly! She's just darling. And waving?-- I'm so impressed! I didn't read through the comments so sorry if it's been mentioned a million times but we like smoothies in addition to all of the boy's carb loading. You can toss lots of good stuff in and as long as it has a hint of vanilla it seems to go over well.

[Becca]

How about rice with nori, miso soup and an egg/fermented beans/salad/piece of fish? Sometimes we make oatmeal with lots of fruit-banana, persimmon, apple. Or what about omelettes stuffed with allsorts of goodness? and bread. This is what keeps us full until lunch.

[Michelle]

At Becca's school, she does get a snack before lunch, thankfully, so they are eating about every two hours in public school. That said, I still send her off with a warm breakfast, like frozen silver dollar pancackes (4 take about 30 seconds in the microwave) with a dab of peanut butter and preserves on each, or toad in the hole, or eggs, or a breakfast roll-up of ham/scrambled eggs/cheese. Good luck, my kids do tend to eat every 90 minutes or so, but honestly I think that's what we're intended to do. Lots of little, small snacks instead of three huge meals, right?

[Erika]

Sorry to just include a whole recipe, but these are my kids favorite and you can pack a ton of good nutrition in them. They really are good! Sounds like a wise plan of attack, by the way.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Granola Bars

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine -- softened
2 Tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/4 cups crispy rice cereal
1/2 cup wheat germ (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips or other addition

In a large bowl, cream sugars and butter until fluffy. Add honey,vanilla and egg. Mix well. Blend in flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Stir in remaining ingredients. Press firmly into the bottom of a greased 9X13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Bars will firm as they stand. Cool and cut into bars. Save the crumbs for yogurt or ice cream topping. Makes 24 bars.

**Use instead of or in addition to the chocolate chips:
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter
1/2 cup nuts
1/2-1 cup raisins
dried apples, apricots

[Rebecca]

I just watched an episode of Good Easts and These looked promising.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea/episode/0,1976,FOOD_9956_38665,00.html

[Stefani]

Oh gosh! You and Elizabeth are both completely adorable!

Smoothies and french toast or muffins or pancakes are pretty big here.

Also, we make our own egg mcmuffins. You just crack an egg in a small glass bowl (spray it with cooking spray first), whisk it with a little salt and pepper, add in a piece of ham if you like, cover with saran and microwave for 1 minute. Then toast and butter and english muffin. , plop on a slice of cheese and the cooked egg, and voila, portable breakfast.

[Cassi]

How wonderful to hear your voice and see cutie pie Elizabeth! You sound like a loving and caring mommy, no "yuck" there at all :D

[melmo]

We love banana shakes (milk & bananas pureed with hand held stick mix), then served in cups with straws. My children have 1 almost every morning for morning tea (aka snack).

[Christie]

Oatmeal does the trick in our house. my son has it with milk & brown sugar & it keeps him full for most of the morning. If he has cereal then he is looking for a snack 1/2 hour after eating.

Elizabeth is cute as pie!

Love your blog :-)