Breakfast

One of my new years goals for this year - a bullet point under the heading "be a better mom"- is to actually get up and make my kids breakfast. 

I am a cereal person. I come from a proud tradition of cereal people. I'm pretty sure my mom ate raisin bran every morning of my growing up years, and my dad has never and will never eat anything but corn flakes for breakfast. And I like my parents. They're pretty cool people. And I turned out pretty darn awesome, so there is absolutely nothing wrong with eating cereal for breakfast.

But....

While taking inventory of myself and pondering what my resolutions would be I realized I was using cereal as babysitter. My boys are big enough to get their own cereal and cereal for all their little cereal-eating brothers. On one hand, it felt like the greatest day of my life when they could get their own cereal,  buuuut, it was enabling me to give in to my inherent laziness. *let me sleep ten more minutes....zzzzzzzz* 

So here we are several weeks into the new year, and this mama has made breakfast every morning.It's hard for me to get up earlier every day. But I feel better. And my boys feel better. They have told me now several times how they like when I "make them food in the morning." 

Well, wish me luck. I hope I can keep this resolution for a long time to come. 

What are some of your resolutions?

So anyways....you should make these. The boys were thrilled to get "cookies" for breakfast. And, no, I did not get up and make these in the morning! I made them the night before and doubled them so I could be semi-lazy the next morning... and for several mornings after.... but the little rats wanted them for after school snacks, too! Oh well, at least they liked them :)

Oatmeal Breakfast (or after school!) Cookies

1 1/2 cups regular rolled oats
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup of almond meal (almonds chopped in a food processor)
1/2 cup mixed nuts, finely chopped
1 cup dried fruit

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 175C. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine rolled oats, almond meal, mixed nuts and coconut flakes. Stir in allspice and cinnamon. Add dried fruit and stir until well and evenly mixed. Make sure the dried fruit do not stick together in big batches. In another bowl, combine canola oil, mashed banana and vanilla extract. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir until well combined.

Take a large cookie cutter and press spoonfuls of the batter into it. Remove cookie cutter. Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Rice Pudding

One of my little boys' favorite books right now is "The Poky Little Puppy." In the book the puppies' mom makes them rice pudding for one of their desserts. Tonight we had sweet and sour chicken (which all the boys LOVED) and there was some rice left over. As we were cleaning up dinner, I mentioned that we could make rice pudding out of the leftover rice. The boys were a little skeptical, but excited about the prospect of getting dessert. I was surprised at how truly delicious it was. Like, old-timey, warms-your-very-soul delicious.  So if you would like to re-create our delicious evening, here you go:

• 1 (16oz) can pineapple chunks in juice
• 1tsp cornstarch
• 2Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2t garlic powder

• cooking spray
• 2tsp sesame oil
• 1 medium-size green pepper,coarsely chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1lb chicken breasts, diced

Rice Pudding

3/4 cup uncooked white rice or (1 1/2 cups cooked rice and start at step 2)

 2 cups milk, divided

 1/3 cup white sugar

 1/4 teaspoon salt

 1 egg, beaten

 2/3 cup golden raisins

 1 tablespoon butter

 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Directions

1. (Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a saucepan; stir rice into boiling water. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.)

2. In a clean saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg, and raisins; cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

You can eat it as is, which is delicious, but I sprinkled it generously with cinnamon. 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-rice-pudding/

The boys were thoroughly impressed. :)

• Drain pineapple, reserving juice; set pineapple chunks aside. Combine reserved juice, cornstarch, and next 3 ingredients; set aside.
• Coat a large nonstick skillet or wok with cooking spray, and add oil. Place over medium-high heat until hot. Stir fry chicken for a few minutes. Add green pepper and onion; stir-fry 2 to 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. 
• Stir cornstarch mixture and pineapple chunks into chicken mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick and bubbly. Serve immediately over hot, cooked rice.