Breakfast on the Run

Breakfast never looks like this at my house.

 I'm not a morning person, and on school days, "breakfast" has always consisted of cereal, cinnamon toast or Eggo waffles...whatever they can fix for themselves. Lately, my big kids have been skipping breakfast in favor of a few extra minutes of sleep. (They come by this honestly).

But breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? So I've been plotting ways to let everyone get their sleep while also getting a good breakfast.

The trick? Make breakfasts ahead that they can warm up in less than a minute and take with them when they walk out the door. Something healthy, nutritious and not processed and pre-packaged. Here are some of our favorites so far.

Hearty Egg Muffins 

I've been playing with variations on these and don't know where I got the basic ingredients, but this works great and is very flexible to change. Learn from my pain and DO NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES try to make these in a metal muffin tin (even if it's "non-stick"--no matter how much you grease it, it won't be enough). ONLY use a silicone muffin pan. Trust me.

• 6 eggs

• 3/8 cup milk

• 1/8 tsp sea salt

• 1/2 c. shredded cheese

• 1/2 -3/4 c. add-ins, finely chopped (ham, bacon bits, spinach, sausage, tomatoes, veggies, chicken...if you have it left over and your people like it, throw it in...it'll taste good)

Mix all ingredients, beating eggs well. Dole 1/4 cupfuls into silicone muffin cups. (Place your silicone muffin pan on a cookie sheet to keep from bending and spilling egg mixture). Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until middle of each muffin cup doesn't jiggle. Cool a little in pan, then use a spoon to remove muffins and cool them on a rack. Completely cooled muffins can be place in a storage container and stored in the fridge. Reheat in microwave for 30 minutes before running out the door with them. (Makes about a dozen) 

For even heartier muffins, add a step with hashbrowns. Simply Potatoes would work. I use the dehydrated ones in little milk cartons from  Costco. Just pay attention to how much salt is already added to your potatoes and don't add more. Mix 24 oz. shredded potatoes with 1 tsp. pepper, 2 T oil and 1/3 c. shredded cheese. Press mixture into bottom and edges of your silicone muffin  cups. Bake at 425 for 15-18 minutes. Remove from oven, add egg mixture to each cup, lower oven temperature to 350 and bake as directed above.  (Note: this amount of potatoes makes more like 18 muffins so you may need to adjust your egg amounts).
I usually make 18 of these (because that's how many silicone muffin cups I have). They last about a week.

Oatmeal Clafoutis. (click for recipe)
Not sure how to say clafoutis....I rhyme it with tootie frooties. For my niece, we just called it breakfast cake. Think of this as baked oatmeal with lots of goodies for people who don't like oatmeal. I've made it with blueberries, apples and craisins, pears and craisins, and never any nuts or raisins. I cut the 9x13 pan into granola bar size pieces, wrap them in plastic, and stack them in the fridge. Kids unwrap them and pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds. One pan lasts exactly one week at my house. 

Elegant (and easy) Egg Bake (click for recipe)
I have never found an egg casserole recipe I like because they almost always have bread as a main ingredient --until now. My kids love this. If they should ask anything about "cottage cheese" in this recipe, I would deny it. I've used shredded cheddar and either turkey or ham for the meat. This disappears within 2 or 3 days. It makes nice, firm pieces that you can wrap in individual servings if desired. 

Egg McMuffins 

I think mine must be healthier than McDonald's but they're the same basic concept. For each sandwich, you need:

• 1 English muffin

• 1 egg

• 1 slice of Canadian Bacon

• shredded cheese to taste

• a little butter

I've read on the Internet that you can use wide-mouth jar rings for egg rings to keep your eggs round, but I tried them. Again, there's not enough non-stick  spray in the world, and silicone is your friend. 

Melt a little butter on your heated skillet, crack an egg into each ring, break the yolk, and cook until set. Remove the ring, flip the egg and cook all the way. Warm Canadian Bacon in another part of the skillet, put cheese on top of egg, the put warmed meat on top to finish melting cheese. Toast your muffin halves, either in the toaster or with a little butter on your skillet. Assemble the sandwich. Cool and wrap in plastic wrap. Warm in microwave 30-45 seconds before serving.

I'm always trying new recipes and would love to try yours if you're willing to share it in a comment. Thanks to these ideas, breakfast is looking a little better at my house these days!

Faith Like a Child

This is a picture of Peyton at 15 months, balancing on Rick's hands.

All three of our kids did this balancing act at about this age. Adults were consistently amazed when they saw it.

Reflecting on that adult reaction, I have to wonder. Were our kids supernaturally gifted with balance?

I don't think so. All they did was trust, without an inkling of doubt, that all they needed was for their Daddy to hold them up.

And that when they did fall, he would be there to catch them.

The faith that is so easy for the littlest child is so, so hard for me.


I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it. (Mark 10:15, NLT)

Beautiful Things

We sang this song in church today, and I've been carrying it with me since.



You make beautiful things, beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things, beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

In the beginning...God formed Adam out of the dust. (Genesis 2:7)

And he promised Abraham, "I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted!" (Genesis 13:16)

1 Samuel 2:8 says, "He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, placing them in seats of honor. For all the earth is the LORD’s, and he has set the world in order."

Jesus spit on the dust, made mud with the saliva and used it to restore the sight of a blind man (John 8).

Jesus drew in the dust with his finger, and the mob threatening to stone a woman for adultery, one by one, dropped their stones and walked away (John 9).

Again and again in Scripture "dust" represents suffering, grief, even death. And again and again, He makes beautiful things out of the dust.

Where is the dust in your life? 
How have you seen God make beautiful things out of the dust? 
How much more can he make out of us?

______________________________

Thinking about what I heard today and how to use it tomorrow with Michelle

And joining Jen and the sisterhood

Carrying his backpack

This morning as we were walking to school, Peyton realized he had forgotten something. As he started running back to the house, he handed me his backpack saying, "Here. Carry this."

It nearly pulled my shoulder out of its socket.

He's only in 5th grade! What can he possibly need to carry around every day that's so heavy??

And it hit me. Sometimes I forget that even though he's only 10, his load is pretty heavy some days. And if I help him carry it, he can run a little faster.

Spring's Identity Crisis

Spring in Colorado:  85 degrees on Sunday; 29 and snowing on Tuesday.

Our weeping cherry tree, fluffy with blooms on Sunday, is a little more weepy today but still blooming more beautifully than I've ever seen it.

And while I've seen daffodils in the snow, I must say I've never seen tulips! It's gotten so warm so early that the daffs have already begun to fade and the tulips are ridiculously early. But it makes for a beautiful spring garden. And a beautiful contrast with the snow!

Lament

Number 225 by David Sweeney, Ink on Paper

Yesterday's post was a lament. Like yield, lament is a word we don't use too often in everyday conversation. Here's what came up when I googled the word:

la·ment/ləˈment/

Noun:	A passionate expression of grief.
Verb:	Mourn (a person's loss or death).
Synonyms:	noun.  lamentation - wail - plaint - mourning - moan - elegy verb.  mourn - wail - moan - bewail - bemoan - weep - deplore

Funny, most of the synonyms aren't everyday words either, are they? Maybe because we try to pretend that lament doesn't happen. We put on a happy face and say, "Just fine," when someone who doesn't really want an honest answer politely asks, "How are you?" 

Lament is not acceptable social currency. But the Psalms are full of them. When I turned there last night, I was looking for answers to my question from yesterday, "How does this happen?" And I found that the Q&A form is common in the Psalms' laments. Here are a few examples.

Q: O Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble? (Psalm 10:1)

A: Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them. (Psalm 10:17-18)

Q:  The wicked are stringing their bows and fitting their arrows on the bowstrings. They shoot from the shadows at those whose hearts are right. The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do? (Psalm 11: 2-3)

A:  But the Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven (Psalm 11:4)

Q:  O, Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? How long must I struggle with the anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will the enemy have the upper hand? (Psalm 13: 1-2)

A:  But I trust in your unfailing love, I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me. (Psalm 13: 5-6)

The questions all hit the same note. God? Where are you? How does this happen?


And the answers all sing back the truth. Hope. Justice. God rules. Trust in his unfailing love.


I went to the Psalms with a hard question. And I got the same answer that has been echoing back through scripture for thousands of years, the one that will echo back from God's essence for eternity: "I am" the answer.

________________________________________________

Linking up after a long absence with Jen for Soli Deo Gloria at Finding Heaven, a place where everyone is welcome. Join us?

How Does This Happen?

Sitting in a doctor's office, paging through an issue of Time, I was arrested by this photo of a man on fire yesterday. (I get it if you don't want to click. I don't have rights to publish it, which relieves me of the difficult decision on whether or not to include the photo in this post).

Is it tasteless of me to link to it? To write about it?

Are you offended?

I was.

This is a photo of a human being. A person with a name, Jhampel Yeshi, a 27-year-old Tibetan living in exile in India. A young man with a mother and a father and people who love him, running 50 meters down a public street. On fire.

And people are taking pictures?

Not just one person. I count three -- the person taking the photo we're looking at plus at least two more captured in the background of this shot, cameras lifted, shutters clicking to capture the man on fire.

How does this happen? How is he not surrounded by people trying to help him? What kind of world do we live in when a man can run blazing down the street and people simply take pictures? (And honestly, I ask myself...what would I do? Would I have had the courage to help? Or would I have stood by helplessly in the moment only to wake screaming at night knowing I should have done something?)

I don't understand the politics of the region Jhampel Yeshi lived in, even after reading this. (Warning: if you haven't clicked over because you don't want to see the photo, know that the photo leads the article). But I understand humanity. And I'm offended by what I see here. Not just because of the reactions of the crowd (some of whom did, in the end, smother the flames). I'm also offended that we live in a world where THIS is the choice a 27 year old will make to assert his desperation over his people's plight, the best way for his voice to be heard.

How does this happen?

Yield

The house I grew up in was on a corner so the word, "yield" was used more often than average in our house. As in, "Somebody's going to die on that corner because nobody even slows down for that yield sign." 

Yield is a word I had to teach my kids. It doesn't come up a lot in normal conversation. For them and for most of us I think, it's a traffic word and nothing more.

Over the last week, I've been thinking a lot about that word. Yield. As in giving up my right of way to the right of way of someone else. How often do I slow down, look both ways, and listen...instead of hurling myself headlong down the path I want to follow?

Source

Being honest with myself, I have to say that if God holds up a yield sign in my life, signaling me to make room for his right of way, it often looks like this seconds later, most likely without my even noticing it was there. I usually have to come up to a bridge out or a complete roadblock before I look up and notice I've gone too far.

How about you? How do you deal with the yield signs God puts up in your life?

Linking up with Michelle at Graceful today.

Being a Busy Family this Weekend

We hit the ground running this weekend (literally) with two Saturday events starting before 8:30am -- Connor's first track meet of the season and a violin "performance" for Arin. SHHHH...don't call it a competition....Arin doesn't like to compete.

Arin's come a long way from her screechy beginnings with the violin. With three years of playing under her belt now, she's worked hard on this piece for several weeks, and this performance earned her a Superior rating (the highest performance category) at the Douglas County Solo and Ensemble Festival. We're so proud of you, Arin! Special thanks to Arin's teacher, Cyndy Schauer who helped her prepare and accompanied her beautifully.

 

 Connor started off his sophomore season with a couple of PRs in long jump (20'4") and triple jump (45' 3.5") and a 2nd leg on the 4x100 relay. Peyton amused himself by shooting and narrating video. Try not to vomit from motion sickness. A shout out to all the jumpers on Connor's team! Everyone had PR's this week with three long jumpers going over 20 feet and three triple jumpers going over 40 feet!

 

Planting Seeds

Spring is the time for planting seeds. You never know what might bloom....

Player by BombBomb