Breakfast the Beautiful

I will never forget those days. Seminary began weekdays at 7:15 A.M. By 6:30 our whole family had heard dad’s cheery call, “Daylight in the swamps. Time to get up!” Though we knew he meant business, we had no trouble heading downstairs to face another day. Smells of wondrous treats would meet us. No one at our house stayed grouchy for breakfast. It was impossible.

Mmmm … breakfast. No day seemed to hold the same menu. Mom would greet us while stirring hot thick oatmeal mush (no paste for us), or making crisp french toast from thick slices of homemade bread. Some mornings she’d get up early and prepare a creamy golden rice pudding. The smells of its vanilla-nutmeg goodness would waft upstairs and lure us down before dad’s calls. Some days it was a frying pan laden with scrambled eggs accompanied by rows of bacon on the broiler pan. One of us girls was drafted to man the oven broiler pan nearly every day with its load of homemade toast to turn, canned peaches brimming with brown sugar, or bubbling broiled grapefruit. Another sister was put in charge of icing a pitcher of home-canned apricot nectar or grapejuice, or heating tangy lemonade or a big kettle of cocoa flavored with vanilla. By the time the sister not helping with breakfast had set the table, breakfast was ready.

It was a daily production that drew all the family together. And the actual eating—that was true celestial happiness. With dad and my brother, now back in the house from their morning chores, we’d first kneel for morning prayer, then sit up to an unending variety of surprises.

Sometimes it was a scoop of ice cream on hot cereal, or nuts and raisins in cracked wheat, or a big bowl of iced raspberries picked before breakfast. Sometimes it was fat little sausage patties or generous layers of peanut butter and jelly on crisp waffles, accompanied by cold milk. Those were the days. We loved to five there. We loved to go home.

Breakfast in your home can be just as much a family event. There are many ways to save time and still have exciting breakfasts. Juices can be chilled the night before, pancakes and muffin batter mixed ahead then kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator, and the table even set in advance. The fun of breakfast is in variety, not the amount of work.

Here are some morning ideas and recipes merely to help you create your own. Mix and match them. Be sure you have protein, cereal, and some form of fruit and milk. Plan ahead so that part of the meal is hot and another part is chilled. Visualize color contrasts and complementing textures. Have fun preparing tasty body-building breakfasts.

Protein

Scrambled, fried, boiled, or poached eggs

Omelets filled with anything

Bacon, burger patties, sausage (we like an egg fried in the center of a slice of bread, with the center cut out, or eggs scrambled with cubes of bread)

Cereal

Pancakes, french toast, waffles, muffins, corn bread, hot biscuits

Toast (toasted tuna or cheese sandwiches)

Hash browns

Cake

Any hot cereal

Add ice cream, dates, raisins, nuts, pineapple, jam, bananas, fruits, hot dogs, etc.

Toppings

Peanut butter, molasses, honey, syrup, whipped cream, ice cream, fruit

Drinks

Egg nog, hot orange drink, cocoa with vanilla, tomato juice, grape juice, pineapple juice, nectar

Fruit

Cold or hot canned fruits (applesauce or apricots are especially tasty when heated with nutmeg)

Oranges, grapefruit in slices or sectioned

Other eye openers

Custard or rice pudding, leftover jello, pudding

With prayer, a smile, and a beautiful breakfast, your family can’t lose. Susan Arrington Hill, St. Cloud, Minnesota