What's on your breakfast table?

There are lots of empty tummies in my house in the morning. So how do we fill up these tummies with food that will keep them going, and going, and going....? Here are a few of our late summer, fall, and winter favorites. During the summer months they are happy with smoothies, yogurt, or just fruit and toast. But once the cool air sets in something happens to with their appetites and they prefer a meatier breakfast.

Oatmeal porridge-only a large pot of it will do so it can be 'snacked' on all morning

This is the amount we use for our family but it's very easily adjusted.

The night before mix together 4 C. oatmeal, 4 C. water, and 8 T. buttermilk, yogurt, or whey. Cover till morning and add 4 more cups water and heat. In only 5 minutes you have a yummy pot of oatmeal. There are many ways to serve it. Here are some we do.

1. add about 1/2 dozen eggs while heating it. Sweeten with cream and honey or maple syrup. Adding a bit of vanilla is good too.

2. We like to put a few spoonfuls of homemade apple, cherry, or blueberry pie filling and sprinkle cinnamon and natural can sugar on top.

3. Sometimes when I am feeling nice I will scoop in some Breyer's ice cream into their bowls.

4. My kids' favorite though is to stir in some peanut butter. Really a stick to their ribs meal when you use the peanut butter and eggs together.

Swedish Rice Pudding. Another favorite of ours. Again, making a huge pot leaves enough for snacking on later. We use Basmati rice since that's our favorite type.

Basic recipe, adjust to your family size.

2 C. water

1/2 t. salt

1 T. butter

1 C. rice

4 1/3 C. milk

1 cinnamon stick

Bring water, rice, salt, cinnamon stick and butter to boil. Simmer 10 min. Add milk, cover and bring to boil. Once it's boiling lower heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or until rice is soft. Sweeten as you like. We use the same add ins for this that we do for oatmeal.

Cracked wheat cereal. This is extremely inexpensive, quick, and very tasty. Especially when you though in some of your favorite add ins.

The night before bring about 3 C. water to boil. Pour into thermos and add 1 C. cracked wheat and 6 T. buttermilk, yogurt, or whey. Close lid and leave overnight. In the morning it is finished and ready to eat. Talk about a fast food!!

If you really want a "wheatie" breakfast try raw wheat pancakes.

The night before soak 1 C. wheat berries in 2 C. water added with 2 T. buttermilk or other souring agent as listed above. Drain reserving liquid. In a blender add the wheat, 1 T. coconut oil, 2 eggs, 2 t. baking powder, 1/2 t. salt, 2 T. dry milk powder (if desired) and enough of the remaining liquid to create a nice pancake batter. Fry and serve as you would a pancake.

Fried corn meal mush. Another favorite of ours. The night before take 1 1/4 C. cornmeal, 2 1/2 C water, and 1/2 t. salt. Bring to boil stirring constantly. When it thickens pour into a bread pan and set in fridge overnight. In morning slice, fry, and serve as you would a pancake.

Southern Spoon Bread around here is eaten ONE way only. They love it with butter, maple syrup or honey.

In a large saucepan add the following....

2 t. salt

2 C. cornmeal

2. C. water

cook until it begins to thicken and quickly stir in

3 1/4 C. milk

4 eggs, beaten

4 T. melted butter

Continue stirring until it thickens and is mixed well, pour into baking dish and bake at 400 for 1 hour.

Other ideas for a heart breakfast are.....

Whole wheat pancakes, preferably with flour that has been soaked in buttermilk for 12 hours.

French toast using homemade wheat bread.

Toast using your homemade bread and fruit or sausage patties.

Scrambled eggs with potatoes and toast.

Bread pudding. I use no particular recipe for this most of the time. I add about 1/2 loaf leftover homemade bread, mix up about 8-10 eggs, 2-3 cups milk, a few T. cinnamon sugar and vanilla and bake in 350 oven for 40 minutes or until set. My kids add maple syrup or jam to this. It's like a baked french toast casserole.

Muffins of all kinds are always a hit. Add some fruit, scrambled eggs or a meat and it becomes a really filling meal.

Biscuits and gravy served with eggs and potatoes are a great weekend breakfast.