Hot Breakfast Challenge Week 4

Only 3 more days until you can dust off the boxes and go back to cold, soggy cereal. Seriously, I hope this challenge has encouraged many of you to try new recipes, save money and fill your family with some healthy breakfast alternatives.For the final week of the hot breakfast challenge I have two guest posts! I am really excited because these are two of my favorite bloggers, and both of them know how to cook!

Amy is a Tiny Town wife and mom to three littles.  She’s confident that by focusing on the Finer Things we could all live more fulfilling lives with less.  Stop by The Finer Things in Life for more on faith, motherhood, simplicity, Tiny Towns and good home cookin’.

We enjoy breakfast food at our house, and my children would eat it three times a day if allowed.  On the weekends our morning meal often turns into a hearty brunch including biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs and fruit or waffles, eggs, and either bacon or sausage.  Even though weekday mornings are more rushed, and I don’t allow lots of time in the kitchen to make breakfast, we can still get our day off to a healthy, filling start.

My most successful weekday warm breakfast strategy is to fix it the evening before while I’m cleaning up after supper.  There are several preparations that can be made ahead of time so that a hot breakfast in the morning isn’t time consuming or stressful.

• mix together the dry ingredients for pancakes
• combine some items in the crock pot and let it do the work throughout the night
• stir together a breakfast casserole that can be popped into the oven when the morning alarm goes off

Here is my 24-hour breakfast casserole recipe.  Recently I played around with it a bit, because I didn’t have an extra loaf of bread to cube for the dish.  Instead I used homemade bread crumbs from odds and ends that have been in my freezer a little too long.  It turned out beautifully!  The recipe follows, and a few more ideas for starting “tomorrow’s breakfast tonight” can be found here.

Cheesy Breakfast Casserole

• 8 eggs
• 1 c. diced ham or cooked, crumbled sausage
• 2 c. soft bread crumbs
• 2 c. milk
• 1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 T. prepared mustard
• 1/2 t. salt

Combine all ingredients.  Pour in 9×13 baking dish.  Let set 8 hours or overnight.  Bake covered in a 325° oven for 1 hour.  Uncover and bake 15 minutes longer or until golden on top.  ** If you’re really pressed for time in the early morning, combine the ingredients when you have time during the day, wait 8 hours and bake late at night.  Reheat for breakfast.  About 8 servings.

Lynn is a stay at home mom who has been married for 14 years and has 3 children. She loves to cook and try new recipes. If you are not a regular reader of her blog, Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures, you are missing out on some great recipes. I have tried several and they are all delicious.

I have really enjoyed the series that Happy Housewife has been doing on breakfast, so I was thrilled to do a guest post.  You see I am not a morning person.  I am not a breakfast person.  I can usually go without eating breakfast just fine.  Now I am not saying this is a
good thing, but it is a fact.  I am just not very hungry in the morning.

The problem is that my husband and three children think breakfast in necessary, and it should be.  So, I do fix them breakfast. But I
struggle with being motivated to cook, since I am not hungry. One thing that I have found that helps is if I make things ahead of time.
One of my favorite things to make ahead is muffins.  I can make them the day before and serve them the next day for breakfast, or I can make a large batch and freeze them to use when needed.

Several years ago my friend told me about this recipe from Southern Living.  She said her family really enjoyed them, so I gave it a try.
My family loved them, and I have made them many times since then. They are really good and filling.  I usually serve them with yogurt or fruit, but they also make a good breakfast to go if you are in a hurry to leave the house in the morning.

I usually make a double batch of these and freeze them.  They freeze really well.

Breakfast Muffins

• 2  cups  self-rising flour
• 3/4  cup  shredded cheese, I used cheddar or a mix of cheddar and jack, but parmesan or a mix will work too
• 2  tablespoons  sugar
• 1  cup  cooked and crumbled ground pork sausage
• 1  cup  milk
• 1/4  cup  vegetable oil
• 2  large eggs

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.
Whisk together milk, oil, and eggs until well blended. Add to flour
mixture, and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.
Spoon mixture into lightly greased muffin pans, filling two-thirds full.
Bake at 400° for 15 to 16 minutes or until golden brown.

What have you made this week? Please link up with your breakfast recipe or challenge post. Link back so others can participate too. And please visit other participants and encourage one another in ditching the cereal for a month!