With a little planning, it can take just a couple of minutes to throw together a delicious and hearty breakfast!  Of course, you have to throw your old ideas of what breakfast should be right out the window…and you should, because breakfast can be so much more than that crap from a cardboard box they tell us is good for us!

Typically, I will spend Sunday prepping breakfast items for the week.  I clean and chop veggies, brown a pound of breakfast sausage, cook bacon pieces or chop up some uncured ham. This way during the week, when mornings get crazy hectic, I am armed and ready with stuff I can just throw in a pan.  Making breakfast has been the single biggest change I have made in my daily cooking.  I am ashamed to say, but my kids have subsisted on breakfast corn dogs (you know the ones…sausage wrapped in pancake on a stick), frozen waffles, kolaches and breakfast sandwiches for far too long. I always wanted to cook a good breakfast for them, but I always thought it would require too much time.  How wrong was I?  It doesn’t take anymore time to make an omelet than it does to heat a waffle. Ok, maybe it takes a little more time, but it’s worth it.  Plus, I have a routine down now, and I can knock out a home cooked breakfast (on two burners) for me and the kids in less than 10 minutes.

All you need to do is:

Chop a variety of veggies into bite size cubes and store in airtight containers in the fridge.  Don’t throw away your broccoli stems, either! These have become one of my most favorite additions to breakfast. Chop ’em up and add ’em in.

Brown sausage or bacon or chop up some ham.

This week I have broccoli stems, carrot coins, asparagus and sausage.

Some other good ideas are chopped sweet potato, mushrooms, onions, spinach (or kale!) and squash.  You can use any vegetable you have on hand.  Try different combinations.  You will get an idea pretty quick of what you like best together.

In addition to veggies and meat, you can use some good pastured eggs.  After all, it is breakfast, right? I have a local place that has yard eggs right now, and I buy about 4 dozen at a time.

How pretty are these?  Delicious, too!

To start, crack however many eggs you want into a bowl, season with salt and pepper and beat slightly with a fork.  Set aside.

Throw some veggies into a pan over med to med-high heat with a little coconut oil or a pat of pastured butter, let them get slightly soft, add in some of the browned meat and then toss in the eggs and cook until done.  I stir it all so it is like a big scramble, but you could just let the eggs set up in the pan and have a giant omelet.

When I am using spinach or kale, I throw in a giant handful after the veggies are slightly soft (or just with browned sausage) with a tsp or so of water and let it wilt, stirring occasionally.  I remove that to a plate and then scramble my eggs separate. Like this:

Once you start doing this, you will get the hang of it and realize you can make breakfast out of almost anything!  When all else fails and you have not prepped any veggies or meat, use leftovers! Two nights ago I had a filet and broccoli for dinner but did not eat it all, so it became breakfast today!

Since you are already making breakfast for yourself,  just get another pan going and whip up some omelets for the kids! Serve it up with a side of fresh fruit and voila! supermom!

Now, get in there and start cooking. You (and your kids) will be glad you did!

Happy hump day!

Welcome.  Come on in, pull up a chair and sit right down. It has been a crazy couple of weeks around here!

First, the upstairs AC unit went out and is still not fixed.  Don’t worry, it’s only the kids that are suffering.  Kidding.  I’m kidding.  They are not suffering.  They might be a little warm at night, but luckily it is not sweltering here in Texas, YET.  Plus, that’s what top sheets are made for and sleeping in your underwear.  I mean, really, I grew up in a house that did not have central AC and I lived.  They will live, but I gotta figure that out.  I don’t wish this problem on anyone.  It is a nightmare.  Every company that’s looks at it recommends something different, and I don’t really know that much about it.  Nothing like a crash course in Manual J calculations, determining if the copper tubing if the right size and deciding whether or not to re-duct the whole upstairs.  Like I said,  it’s a nightmare.

In addition to that craziness, the hubs got a new job.  Which is very YAY! YAY! YAY! because he is very excited about it (and I am really happy for him), but it has a fairly big downside.  He has a horrendous commute and doesn’t get home until around 8pm, which has flung me into single parent mode.  A place I do not relish being.  I bow to all the single parents out there who do it day in and day out with no relief.  You amaze me!  Along with his new job, however, came a week-long trip to sunny California (San Jose, to be exact!  the lucky dog.).  So last week, while I was here in Texas dealing with broken AC, an ant infestation (don’t ask!) and a dog that decided to swim in the horse pond every night and come home covered in mud, he was jogging in Cali, eating real food (his hotel was an extended stay so he had a kitchen!) and soaking up lots of vitamin D.  To be fair, it wasn’t all fun and games for him, he did have to work everyday but still, he was in California!  The high was like 60, I think.  Not right.

I wanted to give you an idea of why I haven’t been around.  I have been living in crazytown, yes, but I have also been reading a LOT.  There is some really good stuff going on right now in the “paleosphere”.  I think anytime you get into something and see it working for you, it can be very easy to put the blinders on and start preaching, judging, or criticizing and, while the intentions behind it all are probably good, the outcome can be really bad.  I think doing this can lead to people feeling alienated and, if people are feeling alienated, they are not going to get the message.  I think this has got to be the main goal: getting the message out that eating real food is better for you.  Period.  I am trying to stay very open (read: taking my blinders off) to the idea that no one really knows what is the absolute best combination of things to eat.  There is still much to be learned, but I think we are on the right track.  Personally, I have no plans of going back to my old ways of eating because I can tell you (without a doubt!) that eating real food is the way to go, but how far should you take it?  I think it is a very important question with a very personal answer.

Like the wonderful woman at The Paleo Periodical, I will warn you…this is a time suck.  Big time.  It is totally worth it, but don’t make any plans if you are going to read it all.  One page, or comment, will lead you to another and that will lead you to another.  It’s awesome stuff, just be prepared.  Get a glass of water and some carrots.  You might need a snack!

Now, get on it.

Start here, then go here(read the comments), after that go here and end up here (series of 5). and feel free to go anywhere in between that you are lead.  I know, it’s a lot of going, but I can promise you it will be worth it.  Except maybe you will come out with more questions than answers.  That is ok.  Never stop seeking.

If you are a woman…go here and here, and feel great about you no matter where you are with you at this moment in time.  Because we are all made of awesome (Jess)!  That means you too, boys!

Enjoy.

And just in case any of you are wondering, yes I am still cooking. Every day, twice a day. Food to follow.

Just a quick update:

So, at the end of last week, I was sitting right on the cusp of a pretty important milestone for me.  Crossing the 200 mark.  I do not weigh in very often as a rule, but knowing I was so close had me quite curious what the scale would say today!  I don’t have a scale at home, so I use the one at school.  It is like the ones they weigh you on at the doctor’s office.  I hopped up on it and for the first time in a VERY long time put that dial to 150 (not 200!) and went up from there.  It stopped sooner than I expected it to and I thought, “This can’t be right!”.  I made sure I readjusted myself, getting my feet nice and straight, and it stayed where it was!  I couldn’t belive it!  I weigh 195!!!  Hot diggity dog!!

I can’t tell you how awesome it feels to pick out anything in my closet and have it falling off of me or to be able to wear heels to church, but mostly it feels great to feel alive!  I have been a slug for so long and to have the kind of energy I have now is amazing and freeing! I feel like I can do anything!  I guess I need a new milestone goal, now.  I could get used to this.