I live in Bakersfield, California. I have a love/not love relationship with this quirky town. On one hand, it is full of the most amazing people. Bakersfieldians are loyal, hardworking, tenacious, fun-loving, and scrappy. We have to be. In the summers, it can be well over 105 degrees for days- weeks!- on end. We are relatively close to both the mountains and the ocean. Great hiking trails are less than an hour away. On a clear day, mountains are visible to the east, south, and west.

On the other hand, we deal with the heat and the heat and the smog that sneaks in from the Bay Area. Every Bakersfieldian asks themselves right about this time every year, “why do I live here?”

But then- finally- the heat breaks. Local coffee shops start offering pumpkin-y hot drinks. High school football season is in full swing. A cracked car window early in the morning hints at the crisp fall air to come.

And we remember.

We love it here.

I love it here. My family is here. My dear friends are here. My beloved church body is here. Sometimes my kids go to school, and those schools are here. It’s pretty special.

One thing I’ve gotten to do over the past three years is visit with Bakersfield’s Channel 29 pretty regularly, sharing tips and tricks for incorporating great nutrition into the lives of busy families. I love getting to reach out to my town in this way, and the morning news crew at KBAK have become almost family. I miss arriving to the newsroom early in the morning, lugging three bags of ingredients and cutlery and servingware. This is another casualty of COVID. But I do enjoy the ease of using Zoom to talk all things food and nutrition early in the morning.

This week, we talked about some super easy breakfast recipes to make your newly minted homeschool mornings a little smoother.

You can view it here if you’re so inclined.

Here are the recipes mentioned. They are a few of my (easy) faves. What do you think? Will you try them out this week?

(PS- that says 1 + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract!).

Have a great week! Remember to breathe, and also remember kids are incredibly resilient. It doesn’t have to be perfect.