Breakfast Time

Mornings are hard in my house. I'm trying a variety of things to make them go easier/faster...but for some reason I just can't get out the door in a timely fashion! One of our biggest morning sticking points is breakfast. Lovebug is still too little to send her out the door munching on something in the car, and it easily takes her 10-15 minutes to get those little bits of fruit and cherrios into her mouth (and of course, into the cats' mouths as well).

I also have food issues, and I want to make sure that she's getting a healthy breakfast (and not the coffee and poptart crap I feed myself). This has actually been a really good thing, because it's forcing me to consider my eating habits, and much of what I feed her, I can actually eat myself! And so, I present Mom and Baby morning muffins!

This is actually a variation of this recipe and this one.

Banana Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

3 eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup (I used a little less) brown sugar

2 bananas, sliced

1 cup of blueberries, fresh

5 cups of Quick Cook Oats

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

2 1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In large bowl, combine eggs, vanilla and applesauce and mix well.

Add brown sugar, bananas and blueberries (or other fruit). (You can also add chocolate chips, but add them last, if you do!)

In a separate bowl, combine oats, salt, and baking powder.

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

Add milk, and stir to combine.

Spray mini-muffin pan and large muffin pan (or use liners) with cooking spray.

Scoop mixture into muffin cups- I put one pan of minis and 1 pan of large in together. 

Bake! I put the minis in for 20 minutes, and the larges for 35 minutes. It made 36 minis and 12 large with some left over (I could have put more batter in the large cups).

This morning, I broke one up for Lovebug and served it with some pears and apples I had steamed on Sunday as well. She loved it!

So did the cats :)

Taking the Words Out of My Mouth

There's a post I've been struggling to write. Not because it's difficult to say, necessarily, but because I feel like it's already been written for me. 

I read a lot of foster/adoption blogs, and many of them express feelings and experiences similar to mine. But very few posts ring so true, and touch me so deeply, right into my inner soul, as the one I'm going to share with you in a few minutes.

Before you read it, you should know that even though the feelings expressed in this post are so true, and so right on the mark, it doesn't mean that I'll never be frustrated with things again. It doesn't mean I don't see the holes in this process, and that I don't cry and scream when things go badly. What it does mean is that everyone is human. And that you can't successfully go through an experience like fostering without becoming a bigger person.

But that doesn't mean that fostering is the only way to broaden your horizons on loving other human beings for who they are. I challenge you, after you've read this post, to question how you love your fellow humans- not just the ones you call friends and family, but the ones you'll never meet. People who struggle, who make poor choices, who hurt...

Check out That's my baby mama, a post by another foster/adoptive mom in Connecticut.

And then practice loving, and gratitude.

-Jenn