Breakfast

Breakfasts are a big deal around here. We never have cereal, well, occasionally a warm bowl of oatmeal, or muesli or granola over yogurt. But normally it's eggs (organic and free range, and preferably pastured) every which way and sometimes pancakes or muffins and normally a smoothie and yes, a salad.

This morning it was a plain ricotta & sour cream frittata. I usually use the frittata as a conduit to adding veggies, left overs and fresh, but today we did the salad on the side. The sour cream added a creaminess and ricotta just lightens up a frittata beautifully so I try to keep some grass-fed ricotta stashed in the fridge.

• 8 eggs
• 1 package ricotta
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

that was it - simple, easy and really tasty. Mix it all together. Heat butter slowly on medium stove. Pour into a pan warmed on the stove once the butter bubbles a bit. Transfer to a preheated oven at 375F for about 30 minutes until it's puffy and golden.

It will fall so make sure to present right out of the oven so you get the ooohs and aaahhhs.

We served it with some greens and a salad of tomatoes, avocados, parsley, sea salt, and a squeeze of lemon.

We usually nosh on the frittata throughout the morning since it can be eaten warm or at room temp.

I had lots of yogurt I needed to use so I made a quick easy smoothie:

• 1/2 bag of frozen strawberries
• 32oz container plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons chia seeds
• 2 tablespoons of honey or agave
• 1 ripe banana

Blend, serve, enjoy.

I add chia seeds to morning smoothies. Chia seeds are high in omega 3s and fiber, very important for good health. I add them every morning to the kid's smoothies. They come whole or ground. I use the ground in the smoothies because the kids don't like the texture of the whole in a drink. They get jelly-like when combined with liquid so you can actually store it in the fridge in water (9 cups water to 1 cup chia seeds) and use that slurry for baking and smoothies. You can easily add chia seeds or the gelatanous liquid mixed with chias to smoothies, yogurt, baked goods, and cereal or granola.

Since I had a lot of yogurt on hand and since the kids asked for muffins, I decided to try some banana yogurt muffins.

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup succanat
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  
• 2 ripe bananas, cut into chunks

Mix wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients on top and mix. Add chopped bananas and mix gently. Spoon into well buttered tins (the bananas will get sticky!) and cook for 30 minutes until they are done in the center.

The bananas get ooey gooey and fall to the middle and bottom so I served them upside down. I bet it would have been prettier with some powdered sugar on top. Everyone loved them.

All in all our breakfast doesn't take that long to make but we do sit around the table together and gab and take our time enjoying it. It's a whole lot better than something out of a cardboard box and I know they are full of stuff that will keep them going strong all morning. A good breakfast is the best start to a productive day.