Back to school breakfast cookies

Most schools in Tennessee have already gone back to school.  Our classes won't be starting til the end of the month, but I've been test baking these yummy breakfast cookies.  Em sent me the recipe and after a teensy tweak I've not had a single complaint.   

Big hit with boys and farm workers alike.  Made with no sugar, lots of protein, healthy coconut oil and chia, I think they might be a perfect fit into your back to school breakfast program.  

:: Breakfast cookies::

makes approx 2 dozen

preheat oven to 325

3 over ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 c nut butter

3 fresh eggs, room temp

3 T coconut oil, not quite liquified

1 c ground oatmeal, or quick oats

1/4 c chia seeds

1/3 c unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 c raisins

1/2 choc chips, or just press into cookie tops

 

Mash bananas in a medium mixing bowl.  Add nut butter and stir well to combine.  Add eggs and coconut oil, then oats, chia, coconut and raisins.  Let the soupy-ish batter sit for about 10 minutes while you get the parchment paper out and line your cookie sheets. 

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls and press down a little bit.  They don't spread, so whatever shape they are when you put them into the oven they will be when you pull them out.  

Bake for about 25-30 minutes (mine take 27)- you might want to rotate your pans about half way through, but it's not necessary.  

They really are that easy to make.  You won't be disappointed, and I think with the chocolate chips, even picky eaters will try them...

Enjoy!

linked at WFMW  and:

Expect The Unexpected

I was so worried about how I felt about Number 4 starting kindergarten

that I didn't anticipate Number 3's fear and nervousness about starting second grade.

 I was so amazed at Number 2's confidence and excitement about school starting and being in 5th grade

 that I did not prepare myself for the shock that I felt seeing Number 1 (now a TEENAGER) head off to EIGHTH grade.*

All 4 boys had a great first day, liked their teachers 

and made new friends. 

A new chapter begins.

Another day, another story,

*Broken arm courtesy of a skimboard fall on vacation. For your information, an arm can be actually broken, yet not cause unbearable pain. Better to go to the doctor a week later, that not at all. AND 8th grade boys kind of dig having a cast. All that cast-signing and re-telling of the surfer dude story.

A Radical Practice

We've practiced something new almost every month this year, but we're getting radical in August.  We are going way beyond a commitment to read a chapter from James, or a short devotional at the breakfast table.  

I can't be the only mom out there who feels like it's a war.  Screen time vs chores.  The wii vs reading aloud.   Math vs Facebook.  The almost constant battle of cajoling and timer-setting.  we can't seem to break the repetitive cycle of the situation escalating to banshee screams {mine} and  eventual restrictions because cats or chickens didn't get fed before another round of Call of Duty had to be finished. 
  

I want my family time back, not the baintrain intent on a TV as their main source of entertainment and communication.  I don't believe the best way to spend my mothering time is acting as a mediator of turns and games and shows.  I want our home and family to grow and be transformed, not stagnate in a brackish backwater habit that is not working for us.  I want out conversation to be about Here.

This practice will certainly be a taxing challenge for me too.  No more getting my work done while they are occupied in front of a screen.  So what?  It promises rewards and dividends too great to be overlooked: Peace. Quiet.  No more refereeing ridiculous arguments about virtual games.  

Time to use all our other forms of entertainment, you know, the old fashioned kind: reading, cards, board games, and more lego and imagination.  Time to relate and chat and hopefully grow and reboot as a family.  Time to enjoy our last full month of summer and squeeze every last drop from the cup of outdoor fun.  Time to adjust to the school/homework groove, which begins on the twentieth. 

We're two days in.  It's not something they would have chosen to practice (and they've been very vocal about that fact), but we are having more fun and less fights.  Mexicanjupingbain actually asked me if I'd listen to him read a book this afternoon.  And at the end of our raucous card game of War last night limabain exclaimed, "That was really fun!"  

It was music to my battle weary ears...

What about you?  Have you ever gone screen free as a family or considered it??

Lib
linked to WFMW 
 

5

Number 4 is...
1) Brilliant
2) Sweet
3) Hilarious
4) Photogenic
5) FIVE