A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

I hate to admit it, but I will. I'm not really sure when I realized that "fig" was an actually fruit, and should be said, "a fig . . ." Rather, I grew up thinking "fig" was part of a cookie name, as in "fig newton." Now, before you rush to judgment, I'm not hating on fig newton cookies. I grew up where these cookies were kept in the cabinets. Honestly, I don't remember packages of Chips Ahoy, Peppridge Farm, or even Oreos. I remember fig newton cookies. So I like them. Which made me think, I must like figs. Because after all, it's in the cookie; right? Since those early days, I have come to learn that figs are a fruit. A fruit I have never bought. Until today. While grocery shopping, I saw some black mission figs and bought several. Having no idea what to do with them, I came home and learned. Thank goodness for google and youtube! I learned how to know when a fig is ripe, when a fig is in...

Most of the people in my tribe like oatmeal. There's only one who doesn't really prefer it. Maybe that's because I didn't train her up right? My youngest cherub doesn't really care for oatmeal, while my oldest cherub would eat it on most any morning. The Mr. grew up at his grandparents eating "hot cereal." That, for some reason, has always kind of grossed me out. I don't know why. But every time he says, "want me to make some 'hot cereal'?"  I just think to myself, "can't you just say 'oatmeal'?" Anyway . . . remember the recent trip to visit our boy cherub at college? Where we went to the breakfast place but only had two choices? One of those was baked oatmeal.  . . . or, in honor of the Mr, 'baked hot cereal'!  (insert laughing emoji!) Of course, the Mr. ordered baked oatmeal for breakfast. Being a good wife, I offered myself a bite of his breakfast. That's what ...

Since our oldest cherub has gone to college, we find ourselves traveling to his college home on many weekends in the Fall. That's because we have season tickets to the home football games. This gives us a change to see our cherub, meet his friends, secretly check in on him; all in the name of being football fans. It's awesome! When we go, of course we take him out to eat. But I also haul a small fridge worth of supplies to him. When we go out to a new place in town, I peruse the menu looking for new items to recreate. This weekend, our cherub took us to a hip place. He said there were "lots of gluten free options." Clearly, he is mis-persuaded by what "lots" means. He likes the new place, and I can certainly see why. It was fun, busy, hip, and trendy. But "lots" of gluten free options wasn't really their forte. But of the three choices, two of them were really good. Which spurred me on to look up ...

It kind of sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it? Corncakes pancakes? When I think of pancakes, I think of soft, fluffy,  . . .and yummy. While the texture may be a little different with the corncake, the end result is still the same! Yummy! My boy cherub was up and out of the house early, and my girl cherub was sleeping in on Saturday morning. The Mr. and I had enjoyed a morning with a hot cup of coffee and a long rock on the patio. When the Mr. said pancakes sounded good, I went to gather the ingredients, which we didn't have what we needed. But I did have cornmeal! Sweet corncakes became a real option! Making my mix, and using my castiron griddle, we ended up with a great Saturday breakfast treat When I make pancakes, I normally make extra for a quick reheat breakfast later in the week. These tasty treats, I did not really prefer them reheated.  Corncake Pancakes 1/2 cup potato starch 3/4 cup cornmeal 3 TBSP sugar 1 1...

"Over rated." That was my thought about quinoa. I had tried it once, in a recipe, and I didn't like it. I had no need to try it again. Despite the fact that I had a decent supply of uncooked quinoa in my pantry. "Understated." "Under estimated." That's my new thoughts about quinoa. My boy cherub really likes quinoa. The other day, I was making a dinner the girl cherub had asked for and I thought, "I'll make pasta for those who want it and quinoa for my boy cherub." But when I told everyone of the plan, they all wanted quinoa. Except me. But I wasn't willing to mess up to pots just to make me pasta. So I made the quinoa and had every intention of just "dealing with it." I placed all the ingredients on the counter for everyone to make their own quinoa bowl. I was excited. Not. Quinoa. Roasted tomatoes. Roasted peppers and zucchini. Smoked chicken. Caramelized onions. Wilted...

Recently, we were a host home for our girls' retreat at church. Let me translate what that means: I clean like a mad-woman for several days before, as if high school girls are even going to care about what the house looks like!  I spent days thinking through the "snack" menu and what to do for breakfast for them on Saturday, and through it all, the Mr. and my boy cherub leave the nest and are gone the entire time! So by "we," I mean me! But it was a GREAT time and I'd do it again!  The girls that were at my house were amazing! They commented on how good the house smelled . . .which I really have no idea what they were smelling! And they loved the pancake bar we did on Friday night and the were so appreciative of breakfast! They also drank a lot of coffee! Who knew!  I clearly didn't plan well in that area, but that's ok! Another mom was my co-host.  She was a trooper! On Friday night, she came over and helped me cook pancake...

One Saturday, we were having guests for breakfast. But to do that, you have to start the prep work a bit earlier than I really want to function on a Saturday morning. I looked through my recipes to find some of our favorites . . . that were easy! And by "easy," I mean not extremely time consuming but tastes good! I decided on a menu that included fruit, breakfast cake, yogurt, egg cups, and . . . GRITS! Yes, grits! We love grits! What I particularly love about grits is their unassuming ability to take on just about any flavor! Plain grits. Sweet grits. Cheese grits. Savory grits. You can't go wrong with well-done grits! Even people who say they don't like grits will love well-done grits! Our guests had to end up changing plans the night before, but I went ahead with our brunch plans for our family. The best memories are made around the table, laughing, talking, and enjoying a Saturday morning together! Cheesy Breakfast Grits 1 ...

A waffle iron is a fairly functional kitchen tool. It's often over-looked, and only used on the occasion of making delicious waffles. But when you have the iron out, go ahead and utilize it for other foods! One Saturday morning, recently, I decided to cook the eggs in the waffle iron, rather than mess up another pan. After spending the time to make homemade waffles, I switched gears to make omelets-ish. After all, there really isn't any residue on the grid when making waffles. So I just sprayed the iron again and began to pour! I totally ignored the indicator signal and went by looks to determine when the waffle-lets were done. Now! Where these "just like" making a real omelet? No. But that's ok. It was a breakfast novelty. I'd do it again! Especially with company, because I was able to make 4 servings at a time! That's awesome! I kept the waffle-lets warm in the oven until ready to serve. For the record; I used my Belgi...

"Breakfast is ready!" "What is it?" "Blueberry Muffles!  Or maybe it could be called Blueberry Waffins!" "WHAT?!?!" "Blueberry muffins made in a waffle iron!" "OH!" I didn't have time to wait on the muffins to bake , I didn't want to take time for muffins to bake. So I thought the quickest, and tastiest way to correct the problem, would be to cook the muffins in the waffle iron. Sure!  I could have made a "cup of muffin" by cooking them in the microwave, but truthfully, it would not have been as delicious! The waffle iron was just perfect! Together, with the gluten free muffin mix and the Belgian waffle iron I whipped out breakfast in a matter of a few minutes! There's no real recipe here, other than what's printed on the back of the package. My only recommendation is that I did two things: I made the batter a little bit thinner than the direc...

My sweet cherubs . . . they're spoiled! Not necessarily spoiled in the way you might think. They're spoiled in their thoughts about . . . breakfast! Yes! Breakfast! If they have to eat cereal more than 1 morning, they grumble. Or, if they have to eat the same thing twice in week, they mope. For example: Two days ago, my girl cherub made one of her favorite breakfast wraps. It had been a l.o.n.g.  time since she had one and she whipped it up for breakfast. The next morning, we were in a hurry to get out the door, so I made her another breakfast wrap. Here's how it went: "Mom, what's for breakfast?" "I made you a breakfast wrap, like you made yesterday." "Anoooother wrap." "I'm sorry; I thought  you liked them?" "Yeah, but not day after day." Really?   . . ."day after day?" I hardly consider that "day after day!" They're really good kids: compliant, ...

The Mr. and I recently took an anniversary trip through some lovely New England states. While traveling, we stayed in some fabulous bed and breakfast inns. We haven't done that a lot, as we have had about a 50/50 experience with B&B's! But taking a risk, we went for it! Each inn was great and I'd return to each of them if given the opportunity. That's a good endorsement, huh? Each breakfast we were served had at least one recipe that I requested! OK -- sometimes 2! One place we stayed, the inn owner served this bacon. She announced, on more than one occasion, that each guest would be limited to 2 pieces, as, "I am full with guests and this is all the bacon I had." Which, after tasting the bacon, I was able to translate to this: "This bacon is amazing and there is no way I could ever cook enough to satisfy the guests." So there! That's the truth! Since being home, the Mr. and I have made this several times fo...

The Mr. and I celebrated 20 years of marriage last week. With my mom agreeing to keep watch over the cherubs, we took off to the beautiful New England states for a few days!   It's kind of a sad reality when, at our age, we view going to New England in the Fall as "fun!" At least we didn't make the trip on a charter bus! Although, there is nothing wrong with that . . . and there were p.l.e.n.t.y. of buses that we saw. But I would like to think that we are young enough to still want to travel by ourselves! What I did discover is that we were called "leaf peepers!" That's what the weather people in the New England states would say when giving the weather report for the following day. OK -- and the fact that we watch the news . . . maybe another small sign that age is creeping up on us! We stayed in B & B's most nights, except for one, and that's called a "memory" that will be held over the Mr....

My cherubs love cinnamon. Seriously love it! Anytime I can add cinnamon to a recipe, I always do! When I saw this recipe, I thought it would be great. I actually thought it would be a bit different then how it turned out. But to my surprise, I was very pleased with the outcome. I did make a little change to the original recipe, but that's because of our love of the cinnamon flavor. This is wonderful poured over warm waffles or pancakes. By warm, I mean warmed up! On busy school mornings, we just take the waffles I made from the weekend and reheat in the toaster. Cinnamon Waffle Sauce 1 cup water 1 cup brown sugar 1 1/2 tsp good quality cinnamon (I used siagon cinnamon) Place all of the ingredients in a heavy sauce pan over high heat.  Continue to stir until the cinnamon is dissolved in the mixture and the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium/medium heat and continue to simmer until the mixture reduces until the it is thick and syrup-like, ...

When the kids went back to school, so did I! What I mean by that is that my subbing schedule picked up right where it left off! I really enjoy being able to sub and particularly love subbing at our school! However, on the days I sub, breakfast is a little less "prepared"  then on the days I do not. I've confessed it before, but I feel the need to confess again: most of the time, the morning breakfast routine is managed by the Mr. There are days, however, that I contribute greatly to the success of it! Last week, on a day I didn't work, was one such experience! This recipe will be great for company, school-morning breakfasts, or Saturday brunch! While I made it gluten free, I believe that all purpose flour would be just as great! Apple Raisin Bake 1 large apple, washed, cored, and sliced thin (I used Granny Smith) 1/3 cup raisins 3 TBSP brown sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon 4 eggs 2/3 cup milk 2/3 cup gluten free flour (or regular, all-pur...

It's Summer! And we are devouring pumpkin muffins like the weather is cool and crisp outside! My boy cherub adores pumpkin! It's kind of weird, but he has always been that way! Anything homemade and pumpkin, he will eat! Funny story... When he was in kindergarten, his Sunday school class was celebrating with a Thanksgiving feast. Every kid was to bring a portion of the meal. We were signed up for green beans. We did our duty and sent our food. After church, we were talking about the feast and asking our cherub questions. He told us there was pumpkin pie and he didn't like it. We were surprised! He said, "Mom, It was store bought!" These muffins are not store bought AND they are delicious! Jumbo Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins 1 1/2 cups gluten free flour mix* 3/4 tsp xanthum gum* 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp ground cloves 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 cup sugar 1 regular can, 15 oz.,  ...

If you put "breakfast" in front of a recipe, more than likely I'm going to be willing to serve it to my cherubs! When my oldest cherub was born, we had the best pediatrician in the world! She was older, wiser, and calmer! When my cherub was old enough to move beyond baby food, she would say things like this: "pizza is a great breakfast food!" "grilled cheese for breakfast is a great idea!" "sandwiches are perfect breakfast plans for little people!" Clearly, portion sizes were important, but her idea was balance:  carbs, proteins, fats, dairy . . . it's all there! When I made these "Breakfast Cookies" today for the cherubs, I thought of her! I think I would have made her proud today . . .and I know my cherubs would thank her! In the morning, I plan to pair these breakfast cookies with yogurt and a banana for the cherubs and I think they'll love it! These cookies are bulky and substantial.  The more ad...

That's a mouth full . . . literally! You'll want a mouthful of this delicious and easy breakfast bread! It's so easy! By this time in the school year, I'm so tired of fixing the same old things for breakfast for my cherubs;  I'm looking for something new to feed them. Confession:  those two lines above--they're a lie. I don't usually fix breakfast for the cherubs during the week. The Mr. does. But I usually have all the things for him to fix breakfast and I try to have some easy "go to" things for some of the "busy" mornings, just to make it easier on him. That's just the kind of wife I am! This is definitely an easy go-to-breakfast treat  . . . not only for breakfast, but when you want a snack, or a dessert. It's delicious for most anytime of the day. I'd like to tell you that it freezes well, but I have no idea! It doesn't last long enough at our house! My boy cherub can polish it ...

Image from the internet On Christmas Eve, we had brunch with my family. I was interested in trying a new egg casserole, but I wanted to made something different. I found this recipe in a church cookbook and it sounded interesting. Truthfully, I wasn't too sure if it would be a disappointment, but I went on faith and made it anyway. Why? Because it was in a church cookbook. You know church cookbooks; the recipes are usually winners! Everybody wants to be the envy of the congregation so they put in their prized recipes! I will definitely be making this again! Breakfast Casserole 1 package seasoned croutons 1 pound sausage, cooked 4 eggs 2 1/4 cups milk 1 can cream of mushroom soup 10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese 1/4 tsp. dry mustard In a 9 X 13 pan, sprayed with Pam, spread the croutons on the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle the cooked sausage over the crou...

Saturday mornings used to be sorta lazy. Meaning, there was time to get up, have some coffee, and the Mr. would make a "traditional" breakfast, as the cherubs like to tease him about. But now, we have baseball and ballet and other what-nots that start earlier than I'd prefer and our lazy Saturday breakfasts have sorta gotten . . . lazy. But this morning, I decided to make pancakes before everybody scurried off to their activities. Since both of my cherubs like pumpkin, I decided to do a quick pumpkin pancake. I've posted before a quick pumpkin waffle and a pancake, but this is even easier! That's great for a Saturday breakfast! Pumpkin Soda Pancakes 2 cups buttermilk pancake mix 1 bottle pumpkin pie soda Heat a pan or griddle with a bit of oil or Pam. In a bowl, stir together the pancake mix and enough soda to make the batter the consistency it should be.  I used nearly the entire bottle . . .there may have been 2 or 3 drinks left in th...

Remember the blueberry bread I made? Our friend was over and he kept talking about how good it smelled and kept asking if I was baking it for him? The answer to that was, "NO!" But then I started to feel sorry for him. So I baked him a loaf of breakfast bread. But I didn't have anymore fruit to do the blueberry bread . . .  . . .and I wasn't going to the store just for some blueberries. So I made this instead. It was equally as easy. It smelled just as good baking! I think this is a keeper too! Buttermilk Poppy Seed Bread   2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 cup buttermilk ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled 1 teaspoon extract (butter, almond, lemon, vanilla . . . your choice) 2 tablespoons poppy seed Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare one loaf pan; lightly grease the pan with shorten...