The Breakfast Club

*disclaimer* this post has absolutely nothing to do with the 1985 cult classic (except for the music, which I love). Sorry to disappoint. It's just about breakfast.

I don't know how passionate you guys are about particular foods, but I happen to be a huge fan of breakfast foods. I love breakfast. And I don't mean some measly little grab-a-granola-bar-while-I-rush-out-the-door kind of breakfast. I'm talkin' REAL food. And for those of you who skip breakfast - intentionally or unintentionally - I don't understand you one bit. I will still be your friend, but frankly, you're weird. For those of you who share my enthusiam for All Things Breakfast - this post's for you (but you weirdo breakfast-skippers can read it, too).

I was raised a firm believer that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Growing up, my dad fixed us a lot of oatmeal, cream of wheat, cracked wheat, whole wheat, - basically any wheat variation - for breakfast on school days.




Saturday, Mom took over. and made yummy things like pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggss, coffee cake or sometimes cinnamon rolls (all made from scratch, of course).

Sunday, the cooks had the day off. It was "cold" (boxed) cereal day. Shredded Wheat, corn flakes and Cheerios (Honey Nut if we were really lucky) were pretty standard. On my mission, Kenta sent me a box of Frosted Flakes (my favorite) for my birthday, which my companion and I shared for dinner.

I have no qualms about eating "breakfast" foods for any (or all) meals.

Kenta on the other hand....I have to remind him to eat breakfast. If I haven't made muffins, he'll eat a bowl of cereal. Occasionally, he'll eat instant oatmeal. I have yet to coax (or trick) him into trying any cooked wheat variation - but I am hopeful some day he will. The ideal breakfast to him has some kind of meat/egg/potato combination. He's my Mr. Meat and Potatohead. I don't mind fixing this kind of breakfast. Eggs and meat aren't too hard to cook (although I can't stand the smell of bacon). But potatoes? Please. I hate peeling and slicing them. I don't have room in my freezer for frozen hash browns. I usually just omit them from the breakfast menu altogether.
Until now.

Brace yourselves.

Maybe you've heard of it already, but it's completely new to me.

Last week Kenta helped our bishop and his wife fix their computer, so they had us over for dinner and sent us home with this:

That, my friends, is a carton of dehydrated hashbrowns. Don't believe me? Check out their website.

We were excited to try them out, so Saturday night, I decided to fix brinner (I am a big fan of brinner).

I was curious to see what these hashbrowns were all about. Now, I'm a big supporter of do-it-yourself, made from scratch cooking. Shoot, I grind my own wheat and make my own sandwhich bread every week. BUT - I do believe there is a place in this world for potato pearls. And now I believe there is a place for hashbrowns-in-a-carton.

I opened up the carton

Poured some out

Then added some water and stuck it in the microwave for a few minutes.

Next, I stuck them in the frying pan (oops. I forgot to get a picture of that) until they browned.

A feast fit for a king:

If that wasn't enough, I also prepared some powdered milk (also from our bishop's wife) which Kenta placed in the picture above. For those of you who, like me, have been scarred for life by Storehouse powdered milk - you gotta give this stuff a try. It does not have a blue tint. It does not taste like dirt. It actually tastes like milk! I was amazed. Kenta even drank it. It comes in chocolate, too. Food storage just got infinitely cooler.

Next time you can't think of anything to make for dinner, might I suggest having brinner? It's fast, easy and sooooo tasty. And mark your calendars - February 24th is National Pancake Day at IHOP. Free pancakes and tasty butter pecan syrup.....hmmmmm....I think I know what I'll be doing.