School mornings, add fruit and nuts

I am succumbing, I have arrived.  I know this because an entire half gallon of buttermilk will soon be residing in my fridge full-time, as I am certain my new preference for oat-based breakfast staples (we'll address fruit-based low sugar syrups sooner than later, I promise) will sustain itself, internal motivation has arrived.  Not sure what switched the gear other than executing recipe after recipe that I knew belonged closer to my heart, until hope was restored that popping a frozen pancake in the toaster certainly IS efficient and meaningful.

Number one on my list for the ease of batter preparation, simply mix everything with 2-1/2 cups buttermilk, rest in the fridge overnight, then serve spread with NUTELLA!!  Can't get less syrup-like than that, plus the inevitable protein that makes the fullness last longer.  Second in command is always chocolate chip oatmeal pancakes, each batch of dry mix makes for 5 marathon pancake sessions, which fills the freezer nicely.  If you have an entire morning free, combine 3 cups mix with 3 cups buttermilk and 6 eggs.  Serve your children breakfast, then keep that hot skillet going.  You'll never be able to thank me when healthy breakfast becomes as easy as these are.

Now if you are straight-up steel cut oats with pure maple syrup, brown sugar and cinnamon, then please pass the frozen blueberries and pile it high with toasted walnuts...raspberries and sliced bananas are never too far.  Of course, four year olds LOVE homemade blueberry muffins out of nowhere, which is why 2 cups of buttermilk are the perfect solution to life's difficulties, it's antioxidants and fiber.

A new leaf

When Byerly's cherry chicken salad beckons you from afar, chancing its impeccable taste in dried cherries and thinly sliced celery, you succumb to searching google frantically for a poppyseed dressing recipe, and are pleased with what you find.

Cucumber-tomato relishes and tzatziki sauce

Not sure why homemade flatbread overtook mere English muffin bread that was destined for French toast sticks, a freezer-full.  The thought of rolling it out, a griddle getting it to perfection before tucking it in my freezer for later dates.  Oh you know, pizzas assuming a new preference for vegetables...what with mushrooms, peppers, spinach, feta combos, who even NEEDS sauce.  When ham and pineapple can eventually recruit green pepper, and don't get me started on taco-based pizzas, black bean spread, just enough cheese, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and avocados, black olives and sour cream.  Whenever.

Portillo's Chopped Salad

I actually feel honored to be making this, a reintroduction of best friends romaine and pal iceberg, three cups each settling the score with shredded red cabbage, a two cup minimum.  A cup filled with thinly sliced green onions will have to be greeted suspiciously upon arrival, as an overpowering by any root vegetable has to be handled with four chopped Roma's immediately.  As if a cup of grilled thick bacon wasn't all you desired, add four ounces of pre-frozen Gorgonzola, just use blue cheese, add four cups cooked ditalini and this sweet Italian dressing.

Was it worth the simple method of pre-baking a bag of frozen olive oil and sea salt chicken, for oh say an hour and a half if needed. At four twenty-five degrees, then shredded.

The Dressing, doubled

1/2 cup balsamic
1 cup olive oil
4-6 cloves fresh minced garlic
1 t oregano
2 t sugar
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper

New year, new ways

There is something about the new year of 2016 that has me excited.  Perhaps it's the new ages and stages that each of my children are at, one wide-eyes on college in the Pacific Northwest, another opening the doors of possibility as he envisions a future unexplored.  A soprano on the verge of stardom, a science-math-humor expert, an aspiring songwriting, chef, everyone's best girl, a 4 year old in tow, his vocabulary and logic light years ahead, a 4 month old being soaked up and catapulted into most-loved infant ever.

Yes my hands are full, with a house to run, bellies to astound with deliciousness, and laundry that only grows less intimidating by the mile.  Someday my house will be emptied of demand and endurance and rigor.  Replacing its student of the important with reflection and celebration, an awe that's transpired.

Being 42 is the start, however ambitious my life may seem, of settling into life with a toddler (leaps and bounds by the month), and making sure of my meal plan, it's salads and stir fries and Mexican meats enveloped in corn tortillas with avocado a staple, beans a definite option, as far as I can see.