B is for Breakfast: A Special Family Bonding

Yes, I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  My Grandma Bonnie always made sure that we had plenty of food to get our day started when we visited her house.  I'll never forget the long table with family gathered around and endless bowls of grits, eggs, sausage, bacon, country or tomato gravy, and biscuits, biscuits, biscuits.  

The biscuits were my favorite part.  They melted in your mouth and their platter seemed to never go empty.  Eula was the cook at Grandma Bonnie's and she had a "secret" recipe for those little bites of delight.  (No one in our family ever quite figured out how to make Eula Biscuits, but several tried.)  With Eula and Grandma Bonnie in the kitchen, life was good.  Those two sets of hands knew how to serve up love and they did just that.  

That admitted, we don't always have the hardiest breakfast around.  I was trained better, but Pop Tarts, cereal, grits, or oatmeal are our usual fare.  It's quick and easy and helps us get started around here.

The MainMost does make an awesome waffle, though, and some Saturday mornings he treats us to them.  Except not lately -- because we haven't had a free weekend in MONTHS.  Seriously, it's been MONTHS since we have awakened with absolutely nowhere to go.  Until last weekend.

FINALLY, a weekend arrived and we were free.  Across the board, we were free.  Woo-hoo!  

The MainMost and I woke up and we had breakfast on the mind.  It was really fun just hanging out in the kitchen, dancing to the music he had blaring in the living room, and deciding what kind of a smorgasbord we could prepare for the kiddos with the ingredients we had on hand.

And I think we did pretty good.

The MainMost chopped ham leftover from supper during the week.  I chopped onions and bell peppers from the refrigerator and freezer.   He got busy cooking and I started cracking eggs.  Omelets in the making?  Oh, yeah!  Add a little salt, pepper, milk, and cheese makes for super-yum.

Of course, the perfect breakfast also has to have the perfect biscuit.  Since we can't make those delicious Eula Biscuits, we've spent years trying to find something close enough.  My mother-in-love first shared the Formula L Biscuit Mix with us and it is some special stuff.  If you want a good Southern biscuit, this is what you need.  A little buttermilk makes for pure heaven in a bite, but regular milk ain't bad either.

The BEST biscuit mix we've found

The MainMost is a stickler for perfectly-shaped biscuits (instead of the "crazy" biscuits I usually make) and he uses the round screwtop of a canning lid to get them that way.  Aren't they pretty?

For our grand finale, we decided that country-fried potatoes would hit the spot.  I've heard my husband talk about his Grandma's fried potatoes for as long as I can remember so I chopped all of the potatoes we had in the house and added a chopped onion to the bowl.  A little salt, a little pepper, a coating of flour, and hot bacon grease and the potatoes were sizzling on the stovetop with sensational smells wafting through the house.

There was coffee and orange juice and chocolate milk -- and smiles and laughter all around.  We even found a "Saturday morning cartoon" for our entertainment.  It was wonderful having a Saturday to hang out at home and we had a good time making breakfast for the kids.  Of course, I wish I'd taken the time to take a picture of our plated masterpiece, but we were so hungry we dove right in and I forgot.  The rain fell steady all day long and the MainMost decided we should rearrange our bedroom.   Hmmm . . . it was a good thing we had that power breakfast to start our day.  It really was our most important meal.

What family breakfast memories do you have?  What recipes do you pass down to your children?

I'd love to hear from you.  Please share.

I'm linking up with my friends Cristi (over at Through the Calm and Through the Storm) and Meg (over at Adventures with Jude) for the Blogging Through the Alphabet Challenge.  Stop by for more alphabet adventures.  We'd love to have you join us on our journey from A to Z.

 

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