Eggs? Yes please!

Eggs are a standard breakfast food for the T clan. We go through a dozen in about 3 - 4 days, and that's just breakfast foods. 

I was asked by a friend to make eggs in mini muffin pans that her kids could eat for breakfast. Well, challenge accepted. And these are my final results. An egg sandwich with a mini bagel, half a muffin bar, and some grapes. The sandwich was inhaled about 5 seconds after I added dip dip (ketchup) to the plate. That's a win, especially because there are some yummy veggies cooked in the eggs. Wanna know how I did it? Of course you do. 

I didn't get many pictures bc my kids were having a play date when I created this. Actually, I only got pictures of the finished products. Don't hate me. Please?

You need
- mini muffin pan - a regular one will work
- 4 eggs
- splash of milk - you need it so substitute it if you can't use dairy
- cheese! as much shredded as you like. I used 1/2 c
- 1/4 - 1/4 c chopped veggies. I did onions, orange peppers, and a smidge of left over zucchini
- seasonings to taste. I used 1tsp of garlic, salt, pepper
- Bacon crumbles (optional)
- 12 mini bagels

Preheat oven to 350
Mix everything together in a big bowl. Waft the smell ( I love that word) and add more seasonings as needed.
Spray muffin pan with non stick spray and fill 3/4 of the way with egg mixture.
*if using a regular muffin pan fill about 1/4 of the way
Bake for about 15-20 mins or until set

While cooking lightly toast bagels and prepare foil if freezing (which worked out awesomely)

Pop eggs out of the muffin pan and assemble sandwiches! It's that simple.

Now, either my mini bagels are huge, or my mini muffin pan is super tiny, but the eggs didn't fit how I wanted so I kinda squished them until they fit the bagel.

Pancakes and breakfast happiness

It's no surprise that I like to have my freezer stash stocked for breakfast foods, snacks and lunches. This is because I require a stupid amount of coffee to function before I can even think about turning the stove on. I also hate feeding them cereal because they are always starving 2 seconds later and it's not exactly a balanced meal.

So without further ado, here is my not so secret secret pancake recipe. These babies are super fluffy and reheat like a charm

Makes 12-15 medium size pancakes

1 cup flour
2 TBS baking powder
2 TBS sugar
1 TSP salt
2 TBS oil - I use vegetable or canola
1 C milk
1 egg beaten
1 - 2 TSP vanilla
* if you want to go crazy add a dash of nutmeg, you won't regret it

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix the wet in a separate bowl.
Add the wet stuff to the dry, mix well (not too much)
Then let sit while your griddle/pan heats up.
Why let it sit? IDK some magic in that makes the pancakes all fluffy and delicious

I go the extra 2.6 seconds and cut mine into shapes right after the come off the pan. Why? because it's super cute and the kids go bananas for them. I save the scraps and just tear them up when the shapes start to get boring.

I went a little nuts and cut out some fruit leather and plopped them on the pancakes. Maybe he will stop calling trucks "car-cars" and cars "vroom-vrooms" Took me about 3 minutes, mostly bc I had kids climbing up my legs to play with the cutters.

He really really really super liked the shapes and the fruit leather. I'd be shocked if he doesn't want this again tomorrow. 

Take out bento

Sometimes I ship lovingly take my kids off to a Kids Night out Program. It's a great program and it's $20 for both my kids and I can leave them there for 4.5 hours. What could be better?  Well, it just also happened to by my birthday
WIN WIN for everyone!

The only thing I don't enjoy is that drop off is at 6 and parents are encouraged to bring a dinner for their child. I get that it's a night out and a drive thru window might seem like a God send, but, but, but sending a kid with his own pizza (yup always happens) or sending your baby, under 15 months, with a Happy Meal and a SODA (I was enraged at this) is not always the best option for them. Can't you grab them a deli sandwich and some baked chips? Please?!?

Well, in comes my kids. They are not phased by bright colourful bags of take out because they hardly get it, and when they do I put it all nice on a plate, but Big A still likes to eat with the other kids.
Cue take out bentos!

All those berry containers or even plastic lunch mean containers sitting in your recycling bin are total game for a take and toss bento. Like when your kids go on field trips, pack a lunch instead of risking lunch boxes getting left on a bus or whatnot.

It's a pretty simple idea, but it's really hard to pack colorful foods mainly bc I try and use foods that require no refrigeration and that don't have liquid. But work with what you have and go wild!

First gather what you can safely send with out an ice pack or microwave. 

I chose
- Jelly sandwich
- Choc chip muffin bar
- Pop corn
- Fruit cookies
- and a super cold already cooked fish stick
* It's cooked so good to eat and will reach room temp by the time he eats

Before you cut anything, make sure it will fit in the container. I had to try about 13 cutters before I settled on the airplane. And then 12 cutters were taken by little hands and I am still looking for them.

Get everything all nice and cut, and put your bottom layer in the container. 

I like to use popcorn or veggie straws because it will raise everything up and make it easier for little hands to get. Then just arrange everything on top to make it fit. 

Super easy 

Now you have something you can feel good about your kids eating, and feel good about not making a silly amount of garbage on a simple lunch.dinner

Pair a dinner with snacks for both kids in their adorable reusable bags, and off they go! 

I filled the bags with frozen mini muffins from my stash for two reasons. Baby would eat them as a dinner and he is teething again so it will feel good on his gums. And they would be thawed by the time Big A finished his dinner and was ready for a snack.

See why freezer stashes are so awesome? 

If you like the bags check out Hustle mama on ETSY or you can find her on FB . I really, really, really, love mine. And with 75 fabrics to choose from plus other awesomeness? She will definitely be getting another order from me

Oh oh oh. Since it was my birthday and I am a teeny tiny bit obsessed with bentos, my awesome husband ordered me a ton of stuff (like 26 items) from Bento USA and these

I can't wait to use them! And the kids were passed out on the floor so I couldn't turn the light on to get a decent picture. oops. 

Plan ahead and save your sanity

I might not work, but I wear many hats in the T household.
- I am the chef
- The laundry mat
- The warden
- The nurse
- The calender
- The taxi
- The Drill Sergeant
- And many more that I can't think up cute names for

With all those hats, I (and my hair) get a little frazzled by about 4 o'clock. What comes after 4 o'clock? Dinner time. When the husband and I were both in the Army and kidless, we could buy as many groceries that we wanted and I could cook whatever I wanted for dinner or just order out. But now I have kids that for some reason expect me to cook for them, like 3 or more times a day! They are soo needy.

What's a girl with tons of hats and fabalous hair to do? Make schedules of course. I have one for my dinners, and one for the chores that I *should* be doing along with everyday picking up. I loath cleaning with every fiber of my being.

Let's talk menu planning. What works for me is I pick a meat and stick it with it every single week. You might think it's gets boring, but do you know how much you can do with chicken? We can go a good 2+ months without repeating a single chicken meal, unless it's a favourite. 

So why is planning like this worth it? Well, I sit down at the end of each month and plan the next months, an entire months worth of meals. And then on the 1st of that month I shop for all the meat and frozen/canned veggies/fruits and sides that I plan on using that month. And I am done! No guess work, no thinking required. I look at the calender, pick the matching recipe card and become a zombie in the kitchen. And I don't have to drag the kids to the store for weekly shopping trips, if we run out of milk or cheese I simply go by myself in the evening and pretend that I am having a vacation. 

Meal planning like that might cost more money up front, but think of what you will save when you are not buying all those extras on your weekly shopping trips. Tons. I think I shaved over $100 on my monthly grocery bill doing this. $100 people! That's like 5 pedicures. 

But, but, but. What are we supposed to do about lunches and snacks for the kids? Well, I bet you already have boxes of snacks in your pantry right now. So just stock up at the beginning of the month and that's all you get. It might take a while before you stop blowing through 50 cereal bars in a week, but you will get there. You can better monitor your kids' eating habits this way. 

Speaking of which, you know what  I do instead of buying a crap ton of prepackaged snacks? Well, I'm gonna tell you. I make a stupid amount of snacks and breakfast foods (usually on Sundays) and freeze them. That way when my kids are hungry, I can pop a homemade muffin/granola bar/waffle/etc in the microwave and BAM 30 second healthy snack. 

And now for my least favourite thing on the planet, chores. I hate hate hate cleaning, but I also hate having a single toy out of place in my house. It's a loose-loose situation. Grumble. 

Since I kept putting off laundry to the point where I had to wear the husband's unders (don't tell him!!) I decided that I need a set schedule to get all the crap done that comes with having a home and kids. 

You know what? It's doesn't seem do daunting as it did before. I know what days I have to do the kid's bathroom and I suck it up, promise myself a candybar as a reward and get to scrubbing the toilet of a potty training boy and I don't have to think about it for a whole week. Or I don't have to feel guilty about putting it off. 

These things might not work for you, but I encourage you to try and find a system that works for your lifestyle and see how much stress is lifted, you might not even know you were stressed in the first place! 

How I made the charts

I found some thin corkboards at a big box store and used some heavy scrapbook paper that I had laying around and after playing with the sizes of the paper I use one as a template and went cutting crazy. 

Write your menu/chores in with a marker and you are good to go.