Making Breakfast Easier

I was talking with some other mom's the other day about the price of milk. It came up that they assumed that our family must go through quite a lot. We actually don't (we use 1-1.5 gallons a week) in comparison to their families and I said that the reason is because the boys only drink it with lunch and dinner. They can have a glass of juice with breakfast and they have water bottles for the rest of the day. One of the other moms said that it wasn't the drinking milk that makes their family go through it so fast, it's cereal. The other moms all nodded emphatically yes, and I bit my tongue and said nothing because, well, we don't eat cereal. My husband still buys it to snack on, but I stopped getting cereal for breakfast a long time ago. There were a couple of reasons; The only kinds that the boys wanted were the sugar filled kind. There aren't many healthy choices to begin with and the ones that are available are insanely expensive. The boys would eat a huge bowl for breakfast and 1/2 an hour later they'd be starving and I would have to make them a "real" breakfast anyway.

Most mornings our boys eat oatmeal. We'll add cinnamon to it, brown sugar, maple syrup, or apple juice. Some times we make something called Amish Baked Oatmeal. I'm going to admit right now that I'm a huge hypocrite because I hate oatmeal and don't eat it myself, but I didn't grow up with it. We've been giving it to the boys since my oldest was a toddler so it's always been a part of their diet. I get it for around $1.70/lb at our health food store. A few mornings a week we do have other choices for them though, things like pancakes, waffles, eggs & sausage, breakfast sandwiches or breakfast burritos.

Breakfast burritos have been a huge hit here since I started making them and I've become a fan as well because I can make up a big batch, freeze them, and just take out what I need the night before. The only downside to them is that I've found that they have to be wrapped in something or else everything falls out while they're in the freezer. I use aluminum foil and toss it in the recycling bin after the burritos have defrosted. To make my breakfast burritos I use;

2 packs whole grain tortillas (8 to a pack)
1 lb breakfast sausage
1 dozen eggs (I like to use free range organic)
4-6 cups shredded cheese

First I cook the scrambled eggs and cook the sausage. Then I open 1 pack of tortillas and lay them out on the counter. I divide the eggs and sausage in half in the pan, then fill the first 8 tortillas with them. Then I sprinkle half of the cheese over the eggs and sausage on each tortilla. Then I wrap each tortilla and roll in a small piece of aluminum foil. Repeat with the 2nd pack of tortillas. Then I freeze all of them in freezer bags.

These last about a month for us. I used to add hash browns, but my boys just weren't too crazy about them so I've been leaving them out.