Food

 Thank you Revolution Foods for sponsoring this post. My kids like pancakes and I need quick options!

The re-entry period back into the hustle and bustle of back to school is brutal. I think adrenaline and excitement pushed us last week. It was short lived,  this week the 5a alarm has been introduced to the snooze button and everybody is starting to drag in the mornings.

We’re just a week in folks. Just a week in.

The awesome part about re-entry is you can add something back into the routine weekly to ease the transition. This week, extracurricular activities are being reintroduced and next week I am getting back to batching things during the weekend to make our mornings less hectic.

One of the best time saving activities that I have done in the past is cooking breakfast for the week and simply reheating in the morning. I’ve shared my make ahead breakfast sandwiches, however they require a little more work, cooking and clean up time than I would like for days that I am in a hurry. When I just want to get it done pancakes are the move.

Breakfast Hero by Revolution Foods makes light work of making pancakes in a hurry. I can grab a pre-filled carton out of the freezer, let it thaw and pour. With decent sized pancakes I can easily get 15 pancakes out of one carton, enough for a week’s worth of breakfast. A 15 second reheat in the morning beats cooking every morning hands down.

The first week of school, my daughter’s teacher sent a note home specifying their lunch time and mentioning they are hungry before then and feel free to send in a snack. While I do send an additional snack, my goal is to make sure they walk out of here having eaten a healthy breakfast, and with 12-14 grams of whole grains, six grams of protein per serving, and no artificial colors or flavors Breakfast Hero meets the criteria in a variety of offerings.

To effectively store your pre-made pancakes you will need:

Plastic or Glass Storage Container with Airtight Lid

Plastic Wrap or Aluminum Foil

Pancakes

Once I’ve cooked all of the pancakes, I let them cool, wrap them in plastic wrap and insert them into a container with an airtight lid. In the mornings, I either reheat them in the oven or wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave for about 10 sec.

Our schedule this year involves activities in the evenings Monday – Thursday. Being able to eat and snack with minimal effort in minimal time is the goal. Revolution Foods offers a variety of meal options that are  perfect for on-the-go nutrition for school, work or play and quick meal solutions from breakfast to dinner. They are hosting a fun Giveaway that will provide you with month’s supply of Revolution Foods to help ease the re-entry transition to back to school.

Enter to win the Revolution Foods Giveaway here!

Dusts my apron off to bring you this oven roasted rotisserie style chicken…

Often I see a car in my area with a sticker on it that says something about loving your family by cooking them good food. Don’t quote me on it, but it is something to that tune and I believe that is so true. Life is tiring enough, might as well eat good food.

We’ve been rotating the same quick meals over and over these past two months. The children head back to school on Monday which means I’m back to meal prepping. I’ve been perusing a few new cookbooks I’ve picked up and I am exciting about trying out some new recipes and sharing them here.

Sunday, I relied on an old faithful recipe for oven roasted rotisserie style chicken slow cooked in the oven. If you don’t have a rotisserie at home, slow cooking and using a flavorful dry rub will give you the same effect. I do suggest using a roasting pan to make sure you get the crispy skin on top.

Oven Roasted Rotisserie Style Chicken

This dry rub is so simple and I’m absolutely sure you already have everything in your pantry to whip this up.

Wash your chicken well, and pat the skin dry. {There is an article floating around about whether or not to wash chicken prior to cooking. I always wash mine.}

Then you want to coat the chicken with olive oil, if you are in the mood to be unhealthy use melted butter like me!

Once you’ve smeared on your flavorful liquid of choice rub in the spices. The chicken is now ready for the oven.

After 2.5 hours cooked at 300 degrees let the chicken set for about 10 minutes before digging in.

If you are being intentional about making your life easier during the week, you will have leftover meat so think about other recipes you can use with the leftovers like pulled chicken sandwiches, chicken salad or quesadillas or omelets. Here is a recipe I made with pulled chicken that was really quick and tasty.