Saturday mornings

One of my joys in life is cooking breakfast for my family. One time, many moons ago, I was gone from my family for a month as I traveled central and southern Poland. Towards the end of the excursion, when the new had long worn off and all I could ponder was my escape, folks asked me what I’d do when I got home. My answer was always, “Make pancakes for my kids.”

The measuring of the ingredients, assembling, pouring batter, watching for the telltale translucent bubbles that let me know when to flip, all of those things are zen-like for me. When I plop the warm cakes onto a plate with syrup and a fork I feel like a “real mom” and not that pretend mom I can sometimes be. (The pretend mom checks email on her iPhone while slamming down a peanut butter toast and cup of coffee while her kids grasp for her attention at the weekday breakfast table by arguing over who is allowed to break the Lego creation that the other recently perfected.)

Muffins are a similar sentiment only better. Muffins require recipe research and interesting ingredients. Sometimes they even involve chocolate chips, as they did the Sunday following this recipe:

IMG_3105

IMG_3106

IMG_3109

IMG_3112

IMG_3114

IMG_3120

IMG_3116

IMG_3117

IMG_3121

IMG_3124

IMG_3122

IMG_3126

IMG_3132

IMG_3133

IMG_3135

IMG_3136

IMG_3138

IMG_3139

IMG_3141

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Muffins
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (I used regular because my dark brown was dry like gravel)
3/4 cup milk (I used almond milk, that’s why it isn’t bright white)
1/4 cup melted butter or 1/4 cup oil (I used oil because I had no butter and didn’t want to use margarine)
1 teaspoon vanilla (Next time I’m reducing it. I could taste too much vanilla)

Preheat to 400. Mix all the dry together. Then mix the eggs and sugar. Then add the rest of the wet to the wet mixture. Then you stir the wet into the dry, but only until just mixed. I like using paper liners with spray and after baking for 20 minutes, put them out and flip them on their sides. I don’t know why…I just do.

Enjoy! (It makes a perfect dozen)

PS Please remember that I’m in this phase with blogging and photography. Thank you.

The ultimate compliment

My son lives and breathes Legos. My boyfriend and his teenage kids volunteered to meet us at the theater so we could see The Smurfs together (the ultimate sacrifice, imo) and here’s proof of what that sacrifice meant.

IMG_3148
A shrine to honor the experience.

Resourcefulness

I’m not too lazy to go grocery shopping, I’m purposefully using up what I have.

Right.

For breakfast I scrounged up brown sugar oatmeal muffins (miraculously I had all the ingredients). Right now I’m making myself pesto quinoa and griddled peaches. Kids will have Chick’n sandwiches and French fries.

Another meal made, another shopping trip postponed.

20110827-121121.jpg    20110827-121728.jpg

It’s like an episode of Ready, Set, Cook all up in here. Random things left to eat: brussels sprouts, okra and kidney beans. Noticeable voids: milk, bread.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...