Weekday breakfasts are not my favorite meal to prepare. My freezer and pantry are stocked with frozen pancakes, waffles, pop tarts and cereal; I’m definitely guilty of serving processed breakfast foods. This is the place where my entire family could use a makeover, and what better time to put it in place than during the fall and a new school year? My youngest child just started attending preschool two days per week, and my older one is taking the bus to school for the first time. It’s a new routine for the entire family, so why not shake things up for breakfast? This fall I promise to serve a healthier, heartier breakfast at least two mornings per week.

Unless you count Sunday brunch at noon, complete with champagne, I’ve never been much of a breakfast person; my own Mom struggled to get me to eat much of anything in the morning before school. The items I prepare for my kids simply do not appeal to me, but if I were making Egg Mock Muffins for my daughter, I’d definitely scarf one up, too. Sausage Egg Muffins take a little bit more work ahead of time. You can make the entire mixture the night before and refrigerate it so that all you need to do in the morning is scoop, bake, and make toast. Try swapping out the sausage for turkey sausage, meatless sausage crumbles, bacon, or ham. This is also a great recipe for weekend guests, as is the Pioneer Woman’s recipe for Make Ahead Muffin Melts.

Speaking of setting up the night before, have you ever tried making a muffin batter in the evening? You can scoop and bake in the morning. This method works pretty well with Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins, although I wait until the morning to stir in my chocolate chips. I’m looking forward to trying this method with Apple Muffins on a school morning once our carload of apples is picked at the orchard. Try popping one of these freshly baked treats into lunch boxes for snack or the midday meal. What’s better than a freshly baked muffin?

My kids both like yogurt, and as most Moms already know, serving food in a visually appealing way somehow makes it taste better to everyone. A container of yogurt with fruit on the side is fine, but when you change that up to Blueberry Orange Parfaits served in a clear vessel (even a clear plastic cup) then you have exponentially increased the likelihood that they’ll gobble it up. I just feel much better about sending them off to start their days when I know their tanks are filled with good fuel.

This summer we did a lot of experimenting with fresh fruit smoothies. Stocking the freezer and fridge with frozen fruit and assorted juices and dairy thickeners make this a quick, simple option that can even be carried out to the bus stop if necessary.

I don’t see any reason why Mama’s Mini Cinnis can’t be prepared the night before. Cover the baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap and pop them in a preheated oven in the morning.

On Wednesdays and Fridays, I don’t have to pack lunch for my son, and I won’t be rushing my daughter off to preschool. On those slightly more leisurely mornings, I could try French Toast Bites for everyone. Or, this basic homemade baking mix can be stored in the pantry for up to three months. I can customize it for pancakes, doughnuts, muffins, or coffeecake on a morning when I have a little more time, or make our Sunday morning pancakes a little easier.

When the weather cools down, everyone at my house likes oatmeal. There are a lot of ways to prepare it, from instant packets to stovetop stirring, but my favorite by far is Overnight Oatmeal. Talk about an easy morning! Vary this one by using raisins, cranberries, dried blueberries, or nuts. Or make it plain and serve all the goodies on the side.

With a little planning and resolve, I know we can do better than Kellogg’s and Eggo for our weekday breakfasts.

Read more by Robin Horrigan

Robin Horrigan writes the column Cooking from the Carpool Lane. She lives on Boston’s south shore and is a stay at home Mom to Ryan, seven, and Maegan, three. Her fascination with cooking sprouted from watching Julia Child cook on a little black and white TV; Robin helped her Mom in the kitchen until she was old enough to ask Santa for her very own copy of The Joy of Cooking. She experiments with all kinds of cooking and baking, from quick weeknight dinners and easy cookies to long simmering weekend stews and complicated, fancy desserts. Ryan thinks if his Mom will ever be famous, it will be “for her awesome cookies.” Her friends say it will be for the cocktails. Either way, if she’s not doing volunteer work or shopping for shoes, you’ll probably find her in the kitchen.

Fast forward 30 years to the elementary school lunch room of 2010. There are allergy tables and nut-free zones, and kids stow their own anti-bacterial hand gel or wipes. Trading is outlawed due to allergy concerns, lunches are packed in coolers with ice, and almost no one eats a sandwich. It is a constant topic of conversation at my “mommy coffees” and playgroups. Countless email chains have passed through my inbox, subject line: “what do you pack for lunch?” My soon-to-be second grader is a peanut butter and jelly lover, and he’d prefer to eat a PB & J on whole wheat three meals a day (if I would allow it). How easy my life would be if his entire school was not a peanut-free zone. And I don’t know any Mom that buys Twinkies or Ding Dongs on a more than occasional basis.

We all have our various strategies: half a bagel with cream cheese. A slice of oatmeal bread and a cheese stick. Frozen pizza cooked in the toaster oven (in the morning while the coffee is still perking, probably) and then wrapped in foil. Cereal with milk on the side. All of these are fine ideas, and when products are thoughtfully chosen, prepared, and supplemented with fruit or a veggie side, they’re perfectly nutritious.

Ever been tempted to buy Lunchables? Don’t be. I stopped by that area of the market recently and read the labels. Yikes! Save that kind of indulgence of fat and salt for a stop at the McDonald’s play place when the situation warrants it. You can definitely make a Lunchables-style meal at home that you can feel better about.

Try out this cute idea for Snack Stackers–add slices of cucumber and a homemade cookie and you might never be tempted to buy a Lunchables ever again. You can do double duty at dinner by cooking extra chicken strips so that the leftovers can be transformed into this super-cute Chicken Dippers Lunch. If your child will eat turkey but doesn’t love sandwiches, Pinwheel Bites might work for you.

Mix and match whatever cut veggies your kids like with individual cups of low fat ranch dip or hummus and add some fresh pita wedges. You can make your own dips and hummus, fill your own small containers with store-bought versions, or purchase six-packs of hummus and dip at your local market or wholesale club.

Try putting finger foods on sticks–mini skewers or toothpicks. Cut mozzarella cheese sticks into bite-sized pieces, fold salami into a triangle and add a cucumber wedge or a grape tomato. It’s a cute, tasty finger food; pair this idea with a fruit skewer to balance it all.

My son’s favorite thing to do is take something hot in his Speed Racer thermos. Meatballs in sauce with a roll on the side, Alphabet Soup, and Pepperoni Pizza Soup are all perfect for the thermos. My nieces take rice or pasta with butter in their thermoses. They key to a successful thermos lunch? Pour the hottest tap water into the thermos, cover it, and allow it to stand while you prepare the food. Pour out the water (but don’t wipe out the thermos), and then load it up and cover it tightly. Filling a warmed thermos with hot food ensures it will still be warm by lunchtime, and the moisture left from the water will keep pasta and rice from drying out inside.

If you need to make lunches for an anti-sandwich crowd, then you will need some hard working gear. Green-minded lunch monitors will give you the stinkeye if you send in too many plastic bags and disposable drink containers over the course of a week. Check www.reuseablebags.com for some clever earth-friendly lunch supplies. Target and Whole Foods Market also have a lot of products available for packing a healthful lunch.

Read more by Robin Horrigan

Robin Horrigan writes the column Cooking from the Carpool Lane. She lives on Boston’s south shore and is a stay at home Mom to Ryan, seven, and Maegan, three. Her fascination with cooking sprouted from watching Julia Child cook on a little black and white TV; Robin helped her Mom in the kitchen until she was old enough to ask Santa for her very own copy of The Joy of Cooking. She experiments with all kinds of cooking and baking, from quick weeknight dinners and easy cookies to long simmering weekend stews and complicated, fancy desserts. Ryan thinks if his Mom will ever be famous, it will be “for her awesome cookies.” Her friends say it will be for the cocktails. Either way, if she’s not doing volunteer work or shopping for shoes, you’ll probably find her in the kitchen.

Photo by Whole Foods

My kids watch TV. Educational TV, of course, in limited quantities at appropriate times. But many experts say they shouldn’t be watching any television whatsoever, and the Smart Mom inside my head knows there is some truth to this. But early on a Sunday when my daughter wakes up, the coffee is not yet perked, it’s too early for the newspaper to arrive, and I don’t want her to wake everyone else in the house… I don’t much care what the experts say. I’m not ready to start coloring, play-dohing, reading, and puzzling my way through the 6 o’clock hour of our Sunday morning. So she watches some Elmo, and I try not to fret too much.

It’s the same with my weekly grocery run. I stroll through the produce section, working from my list, and note that I have written “fruit for snacks.” A bag of clementines, check. A bunch of green bananas, check. A half-pint of million-dollar blueberries, check. And then, I furtively glance around to see who is watching before tossing a plastic box of sliced, bagged organic apples into my cart. As I make my way to the cashier, the evil box grins up at me like an early 1980s styrofoam hamburger holder. I quickly cover it with the radishes. The Green Mom on my right shoulder gives a dirty stare to the Busy Mom on the left side. Miser Mom hides behind my shirt collar, whispering to me about how I could have just picked a bushel of apples for the same cost as that little box.

If I were my most amazing self, I would only buy organic, locally grown apples at the farmers’ market and slice them on demand for the kids’ snacks. But no matter how much lemon juice I squeeze or how cold I keep them packed in the lunch cooler, they still turn brown. No one wins in this situation, because I have wasted money and time, they don’t eat the brown apples, and they’re still hungry.

We’re working hard to “eat the rainbow,” and for a family on the go, sometimes shortcuts and convenience packaging make the choice between apple slices or animal crackers much easier. I toss a bag into my purse at 2:00 p.m. when I’m dashing out the door to pick up my son from school, with a toddler in my arms who is still half asleep from her nap. The apples will sit in my bag for almost two hours before she’ll ask me for them in the waiting room of the karate studio, and tah dah! They’re still crunchy, crisp, and white. I’m not sure what kind of magic fairy dust gets sprinkled on the slices before the bags are closed, but there is nothing suspicious on the label, so I don’t much care.

It is not always possible to make selfless choices. I’m buying convenience for a few extra dollars and I feel good about what the kids are eating. It’s not Jim Henson’s furry monsters that the experts have a problem with–it is their delivery method, their packaging, that is controversial. Choosing good health and convenience at the expense of six mini plastic bags in the trash and a plastic carton in my recycling bin every week does weigh on my conscience a little bit. Mother Nature is the only one in the equation who really loses out. I hope she’ll forgive me. Little bags of pre-sliced organic apples (the conventional ones do get mushy and slimy) are like precious jewels in my fruit drawer.

What are your supermarket confessions?

Read about Robin Horrigan

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kubina/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Celebrity chefs, magazines and cookbooks inspire me to strive toward better end products in the kitchen. But if I hear one more time about homemade chicken stock that I can “just throw together when I keep a bird carcass and vegetable trimmings in my freezer,” I might throw in the towel and call for pizza. Sometimes I like to pretend I’m Rachael Ray making a 30-minute meal, and I’ll really time myself. It’s doable if I’m organized–and many of her ideas are inventive and delicious. The caveat is that sometimes I use every pot, bowl and spoon in my house and subsequently spend an hour cleaning up. After all the time I have spent channeling Rachael, do you think she might let me borrow her staff to take care of the aftermath?

I am constantly looking for shortcuts that cut down on shopping, cooking and cleanup time that will not result in a lower-quality end product.

Three ingredients I rely on that allow me to pull together my favorite dishes on the fly are bottled minced garlic, bottled minced ginger and boxed broths. Sure, garlic keeps for a while, but eventually it does get that green sprout; the stink is impossible to get off my hands after I’ve minced it; and every garlic press I’ve ever owned has kicked the bucket within a few months. A piece of fresh ginger does keep in the freezer for months–just as Rachael says it does. Wonderful! If you can remember that you’ve got it and then find it behind the popsicles.

Homemade stock? I do this after a holiday when I have roasted a turkey. But 360 days of the year at my house are all about boneless skinless cuts of meat that cook quickly at the dinner hour. Homemade stock is just not a regular occurrence. Boxed broth adds flavor to so many things I cook without adding any extra fat.

Purists may balk at the use of these shortcuts. I’ll readily admit that as much of a food snob as I have become, I don’t notice the difference when I’m whipping up a quick sauté at 6:30 on a Tuesday night. Keep an open mind and experiment with these three shortcuts. I have a favorite brand of broth (Whole Foods 365) and bottled minced ginger (The Ginger People), but the garlic seems to be the same no matter which brand I try. I throw it in salad dressings, mash it into softened butter, make garlic bread… my family is none the wiser that I didn’t peel and chop the stuff.

It’s not just kids; many adults shudder at the thought of eating vegetables, and still many more have a difficult time fitting in the recommended daily servings. It’s one thing to choke down several salads a day and another to work vegetables and fruits into your diet in delicious ways that the kids or hubby won’t even notice. Adding nutrition to regular recipes is easier than you think. Below I have included just a few ideas, and Plummelo.com would certainly love to hear from you about how you get your kids or other veggie haters in your life to eat their vegetables.

1) Pasta sauce can make anything taste good. Take your favorite jarred or homemade pasta sauce, and doctor it up with some secret veggie goodness. For a lasagna, stuffed shells, or spaghetti and meatball recipe, take 1 cup of spinach or kale (microwaved for 35 seconds) and 1 cup of steamed carrots for every 3 cups of sauce, toss into a blender or food processer with a clove or two of garlic, and puree until the added veggies are completely blended in. To make the sauce extra special and to add in some calcium and protein, blend in a 1/2 cup of low-fat ricotta cheese, then use as you would regularly use pasta sauce. An easy, complete, and quick dinner can be made by pouring the sauce over whole wheat pasta and topping with kidney beans and another scoop of ricotta cheese. It’s delicious, inexpensive, filling, and can be reheated for lunch the next day.

2) Veggie “fries.” Not fries at all, these kid-friendly roasted veggie sticks are best served with dipping sauces. Barbecue sauce and ketchup are probably the most palatable to children, but you can also use honey, low-fat mayo with garlic or herbs and spices, or mustard. Simply take what you have on hand–zucchini, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, or potatoes–cut into fry size pieces, toss in olive oil, and roast at 400 degrees until tender. A nice side for chicken fingers or fish fillets, these veggies will be made sweeter by roasting and more fun with the option of dippers. High fructose corn syrup-free BBQ sauce and ketchup make the dish even better.

3) Green eggs and ham. Read the book with the kids, then make a yummy, healthy breakfast for dinner meal by pureeing 1 cup of spinach with 1 egg and 2 egg whites, adding grated white cheese, and cooking it all up in an olive oil-coated frying pan. It’s quick, inexpensive, and easy, especially when served with ham or some whole grain toast.

4) Blueberry spinach “ice cream.” I originally got this idea from all of the green smoothies floating around on the healthy living blog circuit and adapted it into a delicious and healthy dessert. Simply take 1 cup of frozen blueberries, 1 cup of spinach steamed in the microwave for 30 seconds and completely cooled, and 1 cup of vanilla yogurt, and blend together in a blender or food processer. Add honey or maple syrup to taste, then return to the freezer for about an hour. The result will be a vibrant purple custard-like dish, and no one will ever know that there is spinach involved!

5) Butternut mac and cheese. If all else fails, there is always macaroni and cheese. Whether from a box, frozen (Trader Joe’s makes a great one!), or homemade, macaroni and cheese is a good meal starter, and what blends better than the orange of butternut squash? Using a sharp knife, cut the squash into squares, toss with olive oil, and roast at 400 until the flesh is easily pierced with a fork. Puree with a little bit of butter until blended and stir in a few teaspoons with your macaroni. The squash will add a little bit of sweetness, but it shouldn’t alter the flavor much.

I hope these tips will help you to incorporate more vegetables into your family’s daily routine.

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/naotakem / CC by 2.0

Meghan Malloy is a guest blogger on Plummelo. She works as a Marketing Communications Manager in the publishing industry. On the side, she writes the blog Travel Eat Love, for the love of food, wine, travel, and the everyday adventures in life. She resides in Boston, MA with her husband and two cats. For more cooking ideas from Meghan, please check out her blog at traveleatlove.wordpress.com.

by SJW, Plummelo

The nutritional benefits of a whole grain diet are well known. If you want a primer on it, here’s a great article from the Mayo Clinic website.

The whole grain movement must be big because it’s showing up everywhere. One particularly interesting area for me is whole grain pastas.

My daughter has a white-and-yellow diet (pasta, cheese, bread… anything white or yellow), so the thought of making her pasta consumption a little more healthy with whole grain pastas was very interesting.

My wife and I tried it, and we learned a few things:

1. Hide the pasta. My daughter’s first impression: don’t want it. The pasta color is darker and it looks healthy, so it didn’t meet my daughter’s white or yellow criteria. We learned to hide the pasta (penne mostly) in darker sauces so the kids are less likely to notice. Aw, come on – you do food tricks on your kids too, right? No? Bueler… Beuler?
2. Don’t overcook whole grain pasta. Being whole grain and all, you would expect it to hold together better, longer. Not so. I found it mealy when overcooked. If you’re serving sauce over the pasta, then just follow the instruction on the box. If you’re adding the pasta in with the sauce in the pan, then under-under cook it (like al dente-al dente).
3. There is some differing opinion on the how much real benefit there is for whole grain pastas. Not whole grain, but whole grain pastas. Apparently, in making the pasta dough, the whole grain flour is processed anyway, taking much of the whole grain benefit out of the pasta. Here’s an article from summertomtato about this topic. But hey, given how much pasta my daughter eats, it’s still gotta be better than nothing.