Thing-a-day.com

Well, the First Grader doesn’t sleep in anymore. He was up before The Baby made me drag my half-awake groggy self out of bed. So when The Baby went down for his 8am nap, I grabbed the First Grader to help me make one of his favorite breakfast foods. He loves to cook with me but we haven’t done much of it lately as I try to do most of it when he’s in school. Thus today, with Daddy and The Baby tucked safely out of our way in lala land dreaming of pancakes, we actually made them

He learned how to flip them today and is quite proud of himself. Watching to see if enough bubbles have formed on top, but a little early out the gate most times (and my controlling self just couldn’t let go enough so I reined him in and made him wait to flip until it was actually time) he did a very impressive job of controlling the placement. No flying pancakes today! He’ll probably wait until I’m not around some day and convince Daddy to let him try that trick.

Starting out gently…

Getting the hang of this!

Last one…

For anyone interested, the pancakes are half Buttermilk Pancake recipe from the Southern Living cookbook, and half Organic Buckwheat mix. The full strength buckwheat was just too thick and hard and not so tasty. Everyone likes them like this

so why not post it.

breakfast (eggs, toast, leftover vegetable jumble):

dinner (fried sausage wrapped in pancetta over citrusy pasta and more leftover vegetables):

and I turned this honeydew into a swan with a crooked tail full of melon balls which was pretty magical:

I haven’t posted the last couple of days, mainly because what I finally got out on day five was just too incredibly personal to share with anyone.  So I managed some poetry, but it’s set aside for now.  Yesterday, however, I did drop the ball.  I was planning to make baked oatmeal, but I got into a long conversation with my mother (her day off is Wednesdays), and generally one thing after another came, and suddenly it was time to leave for work.  The closest I came to being creative yesterday was picking out some crochet books from the library.  I don’t have yarn, though, so I may not get very far with it.

However, today I made the baked oatmeal!  No photos, because I didn’t think of it, but a new recipe for me to make.  And since I love baking, it seemed like a great choice.

I decided to halve the recipe, because I don’t need a 13″ x 9″ pan full of baked oatmeal.  This is the only instruction I didn’t follow.  And this turned out to be a good thing, because this recipe is no good.  It’s not actively bad, it’s just incredibly boring and bland.  It did smell good near the end of the bake time, but it took far too long for that yummy smell to happen.   I was worried about that, but since there came that smell, I thought it would be okay.

Wrong answer!  This is a thumbs down recipe, and I won’t be making it again.  It’s as if it’s attempting to be oatmeal cake, but healthy.  It’s unfortunate, but true.  Blech.  Hope that a disappointing thing still counts for the day.

Today, I created another version of my favourite winter breakfast….porridge.  I call this my “Super Porridge” ‘cos it’s sooo good for you in so many ways.  There’s soluble and insoluble fibre, Omega 3 and anti-oxidents.  It’s low GI and keeps you satisfied for hours.

I used steelcut oatmeal (President’s Choice Blue Menu) but you can use any other oatmeal except instant or 3 minute varieties.

1. Bring to boil:

- 2 and 1/4 cups (18 fl ozs) of milk and water (I prefer 1 cup fat free milk or soy milk and the rest water but you can play around with these proportions)

- 1/2 cup (4 ozs) steelcut oatmeal

- 2 Tbsp bran

- 1 Tbsp flax seeds

- 2 - 3 Tbsp dried cranberries

2. Simmer slowly for around 20 minutes, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon.

3. Add a dash of salt.

4. Let porridge rest for 5 minutes and enjoy!

It was my turn to make Friday breakfast for my co-workers, so it was time for potatoes.

Three skinny sweet potatoes, and twelve little round redskins got chopped up, along with an orange and red pepper, and a medium Vidalia onion.  Some olive oil, salt, and pepper, combined with heat and time made for a great breakfast.  The picture you’re seeing is midway through the cooking.  I roasted them at home for a bit before bringing them here to fry up the rest of the way.

I love Friday breakfast at work.