Smooth sailing in the morning

I think I've shared here before that each school morning I make a hot breakfast and pack a lunch for my 17 year-old daughter, Rebecca. This isn't exactly newsworthy, except to her two older sisters who, rather unjustly, were left to fend for themselves in the mornings, often throwing a few granola bars in the their backpack when they were short of time.

I know. I painfully regret those granola bars as they sort of ruined my run for mother of the year.

At any rate, I've got a good gig going now. It's a bit complicated, but bear with me -- there is a recipe coming your way.

Each morning at 5 AM I shuffle to the bottom of the stairs to make sure Becca is up. Sometimes I shout up for confirmation. Once she answers, I hurry back to bed and burrow into the darkness and covers. I do love the burrowing. Then, at 5:35 I get up and head into the kitchen. I pop a sausage and egg cup into the microwave for one minute, assemble the lunch I'd prepared the night before (place refrigerated and pantry items into a brown sack), and pull out a place setting for breakfast. This takes me 2-3 minutes. So when Becca rounds the stairs at 5:40, everything is ready and waiting. We read a chapter in the scriptures together as she eats, say a quick prayer, and then she scoots off to seminary.

And then, wait for it, I GO BACK TO BED. 

Until 6:30, when I get up for real. I know it sounds ridiculous, but those few minutes back in bed mentally get me ready for the day. I just love it.

My message for you is that I'm getting credit for breakfast AND lunch for only 2-3 minutes worth of effort in the mornings (and you can too). Plus, both of my kids LOVE these sausage and egg cups for breakfast. They are ridiculously easy to put together and seem destined to promote my pursuit of mother o' the year.

Here's how they go. (I originally found these in Primal Cravings (a cookbook I love), but I've seen variations all over the interwebs.)

Collect:
6 ramekins
6 eggs
1 breakfast sausage (like Jimmy Dean)
green onions
salt/pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Divide the sausage into six portions. I just cut the tube in half and then squeeze out three sections per side into the ramekins. Then smoosh (I'm highly technical) the sausage into the bottom of the ramekin and up the sides to form a crust. A meat crust! Try it . . . you'll like it. Crack one egg into each meat crust. Top with green onions and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Like so . . .

Ever try to edit a photo of raw meat for color? It's weird. And difficult.

Then bake for 30 minutes. Voila! I let them cool, wrap each individually in plastic wrap, and then throw them in the refrigerator for early morning retrieval.

Excuse the messiness of the ramekin. I realized after baking that to be truly photo-worthy, I needed to wipe off the sausage remnants prior to baking. But ain't nobody got time for that. In short, it's not much to look at, but my kids have yet to leave a morsel untouched. It's a family favorite for sure.

Here's to three minute breakfasts and peaceful mornings . . .