breakfast for dinner

my kids love breakfast for dinner. in fact, most people i know love breakfast for dinner. it's quick, cheap, and easy. really, we'd do it once a week if my hubby didn't hate it so much. and the crazy thing about him hating breakfast for dinner is that, working nights, he gets up and eats dinner as his breakfast. try and wrap your head around his dislike of such an awesome concept given the facts, because it boggles my mind.

lucky for the kids and i, with hubby working nights and going to school in the afternoon, there are sometimes days where i pack him food to take because he doesn't have time to eat dinner at home with us. ok, it's not lucky, honestly it sucks not having him home, but i make it up to them with food that gets covered in syrup, and then they're ok with it.

my favorite go-to is a french toast casserole. basically, it's layers of bread lined in a greased pan, covered with a mix of eggs and milk and sugar, all of which can be assembled in advance. it's so much easy to bake in the oven, instead of dredging each individual piece of bread through the custard mix and then frying or grilling on a griddle. i have recipes that are labeled as "over night french toast," but it works to just do it a few hours before and let it sit. sometimes i mix in nuts or raisins, and sometimes, if i'm feeling crazy, i cover it with a crunchy crumble topping.

the kids also like baked oatmeal. it's like eating a bowl of oatmeal with a fork. or eating a warm and mushy granola bar. i think it's strange they like it so much, because lumpy and fish aren't really fans of a regular bowl of oatmeal, but baked up and cut into squares make it taste better i guess.

the great thing about those dishes, besides being easy and make-ahead, is that they are endlessly adaptable. i can throw all sorts of random bits in and my kids will eat it up. it's especially nice because not only can i use up what i have laying around, i can change it for the season. and it's fall now, so that means apples! still, my absolute favorite breakfast/apple creation has to be pancakes, because it's ridiculously easy.

i start with complete pancake mix, the kind that you only have to add water to. but instead of just water, i also add applesauce and cinnamon. and if i'm feeling really crazy, i'll add a little bit of molasses, ground ginger, and ground cloves, because then it tastes like a cross between apple pie and gingerbread. and if my kids have been especially good, or they're having an especially alexander type day, i'll mix some apple juice and cinnamon and powder sugar together, and let them use that instead of plain old maple syrup.

honestly, those pancakes are so quick and easy, i'll even consider making them for breakfast. though eating them for dinner is much more fun.