Fresh, hot bread for breakfast

It's winter, and that means the kids don't want to get out of bed. Let me tell you how to get them up without any argument.

1. Buy a bread machine
2. Use it!

Seriously. That is all there is to it.

Not only will it get your kids out of bed, dressed and downstairs, it is just about the best breakfast you can feed them, and it takes five minutes prep time, total.

Think about it.

Before you go to bed, you put the ingredients in the machine, and you set the timer so it is done thirty minutes to an hour before they have to get up. The smell of fresh-baked bread will get them out of bed. You take a loaf of bread from the bread machine and put it on the table with the requisite fruit bowl (mine currently resides on the kitchen shelves, at a level Zoe can reach it and help herself to a piece of fruit any time she wants) and whatever spreads you and yours prefer.



Give everyone a hearty slice of warm bread, a cup of yogurt and a piece of fruit and you just gave your kids - and yourself - a head start on the day with a truly healthy breakfast.

Cranberry-Pecan Breakfast Bread

1 Tablespoon butter
1/3 Cup dried cranberries
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 Cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 Cup flour
1/3 Cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 Tablespoon yeast

Put ingredients in bread machine in the order listed. Set the timer so the bread is finished about a half hour before you have to get up. Go to bed.

Wake up to the smell of baking bread, and you are virtually guaranteed to have a day that doesn't suck.

It's my birthday - I get breakfast in bed

After nearly 28 years of marriage, three kids and 72 cumulative years of parenting, we have come out the other side and remembered why we liked one another so damned much in the first place. We have also taken a vow to never eat another fish stick nor another serving of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.

In honor of my 24th consecutive 23rd birthday, I got breakfast in bed. Let's just say that I am not the only person in this house who can cook.

Witness...

Vanilla-pear pancakes and turkey sausage!

Dice a fresh pear into approximately 1/2" cubes
Make a bastardized version of a compote from the pear by tossing in a medium hot skillet with a tablespoon of butter and toss for a couple of minutes. Add a tablespoon of lemon juice, a tablespoon of vanilla and two tablespoons of brown sugar.
Cook down for a couple of minutes.
Remove from heat.

Mix up enough pancake mix to make 6-8 pancakes, stir in the pear mixture, and make pancakes per the usual way. Serve with butter and maple syrup, and sausage links. We don't do pork in this house, so turkey - or Morningstar Farms vegetarian links - it is.