We had a pretty busy day today. My twin daughters’ thirteenth birthday was today. While we didn’t have the actual party today, we did take them to get a cupcake, and to do a little shopping. When we returned home I mustered up the courage to make cinnamon rolls following Amy’s recipe. These were relatively easy, and to keep the kitchen from looking like a complete disaster, I cleaned as I went and then of course finished up after all the cinnamon rolls were done.

I didn’t get huge amounts of baking done, but I have enough cinnamon rolls to feed an army now. The best part was listening to the kids reaction when the dough was rising. Here, the dough is escaping out of the bowl, clearly doing its job of rising, and I realized that I need a much larger bowl.

Friday I also managed to make four dozen peanut butter cookies, and realized for the first time in all my cookie making years that instead of making the cookies all at once, I could freeze some for future use. I made the cookies as usual, but for fifteen of the cookies I scooped them into a ball, and placed them on a tray for freezing.

Once the dough was frozen, I placed the frozen cookie dough balls into a freezer bag, labeled it, and put it back in the freezer. These will be perfect for one of those nights where we want something sweet, but don’t want to put all the work into it.

The peanut butter cookies are some of our favorites, and I am in disbelief that I never thought to freeze the cookies for later. I still have some baking left for tomorrow, that may continue over into the first of the week as well, but I’m looking forward to the end result.

I have been reading a few blogs the last couple of days where everyone is talking about baking days. I was actually planning to have my own baking day on Sunday for our Breakfast Planning Meals before I started reading everyone else’s baking day plans. These ladies have inspired me to go ahead and get my own baking day plans in the works. The plus side about reading what others are baking is that it gives me some good ideas about what already works and what tastes great. A cold front just moved in this morning, so I think it’s a great time to start my own baking day.

There are so many ladies out there baking and cooking, I wanted to highlight a few to give you some inspiration too:

• Amy at The Finer Thing’s In Life writes about her Lazy Granola, Homemade Playdough (not for eating of course), Cinnamon Rolls, and Whole Wheat Bread
• Crystal at Money Saving Mom talks about browning meat for future use and cooked up a huge batch of whole wheat waffles.
• Lauren at Home With Olivia has some awesome looking chocolate chip cookies, homemade bread, waffles, and chicken breast cooked for later use.

I am not new to baking days, but these ladies look like they are doing an amazing job. I just cringe at what my kitchen is going to look like after I’m finished cooking and baking for the weekend. I do like the clean as you go method, otherwise I might be found lying on my kitchen floor whining about all the dishes that have to be done.

Most mornings, it’s a struggle to come up with something for breakfast that is not only quick, but nutritious. My daughters and I get up at the bright and early hour of 6:30 am so that they can be out the door by 7:05 am to catch the school bus. This gives them about thirty minutes of get ready time since they spend about five minutes of that time trying to wake-up. I am not a morning person, and neither are my daughters.

During this brief thirty minute window, they must get ready and somehow manage to consume something that resembles a nutritious breakfast. One of our favorite breakfasts is an egg in a hole (pronounced egginahole at our house), sometimes referred to as an egg in the basket. This is a good breakfast because it provides protein, the egg, and whole grain from the bread we use.

Some of the breakfast items that I can serve them can actually be prepared ahead of time to not only speed up breakfast time throughout the week, but give us a wider variety of items to eat for breakfast since some of the items are time consuming. My daughters and myself sat down and prepared a menu for the week consisting of breakfast recipes that they would enjoy. We will start our week long menu of breakfasts next week, but will prepare some of the items on Sunday afternoon. Everything prepared on Sunday can either be stored in the freezer or refrigerator for the week, excluding items that have to be made the day of.

I can’t believe that we are one-fourth of the way through the school year already and I am just now thinking about something like this. I am excited about all the possibilities for breakfast, and can’t wait to start our first Sunday cooking session. It will be a fun time to spend with the girls, teach them time management skills, and of course there will be food tasting as well.

Our first week’s planned menu is:

• Pigs in a blanket
• Banana Bread
• Egg In A Hole
• Quiche Lorraine
• Cereal or Oatmeal

The neat thing about each Sunday cooking session is that we will prepare far to much for one weeks consumption and we’ll be able to freeze some items for future use. Some of the items we plan on cooking can be used for leftovers at lunch if it is too much for breakfast for the entire week, like the Quiche Lorraine. Breakfast is one of the times we’re able to implement fiber into our diet, so I have asked my daughters to eat cereal or oatmeal at least one day of the week. We will also supplement meals with whatever fresh fruit we have on hand since it changes from week to week, based on what is on sale.