Pondered Primed Perfected: shortcuts

A.K.A. The Pizza Cutter

I don't know about you but I'm always looking for ways to make my life simpler. I have a couple kids of my own and I watch a few others during the day. Sometimes I have a full fledged preschool in my home. Feeding 10 kids breakfast isn't so bad...but having a few tricks up my sleeve definitely makes it run smoother. I will have to share a few of my tips for making mealtime enjoyable for everyone, but today I'm sharing my Mealtime Magic TimeSaver!

Have you introduced your waffles and pancakes to the pizza cutter yet?

A few cuts in one direction...

A few more cuts going across the other way...

Makes bite-sized pieces out of a waffle lickity-split!

That means more mouths eating breakfast instead of saying "Is it done yet?"

Of course there will always be "rebels" in the group. Those kids that need to dance to the beat of their own drums. Like holding their Nutella covered waffle in their hands. :)

But wait!!!Breakfast isn't all this mealtime magic timesaver is good for...

My three favorite kitchen gadgets

(lt-rt: pizza cutter, cheese slicer, chef's brush)

Use a chef's brush or pastry brush to put a thin coat of butter on tortillas before cooking. I use a non-stick skillet but a tiny bit of butter when cooking just makes a quesadilla taste so much better.

Use a cheese slicer to get nice thin cuts of cheese. It takes far less time than grating the cheese, and because it's so thin it melts really quickly. (I love using this for cheese and crackers too.)

Once that quesadilla's all toasty and melted, grab that pizza cutter and cut it into some wedges. (Or bite sized pieces for a toddler).

Oh the melted cheese!!!

Fast, simple, crowd pleasing! That's what I like.

Did I mention how much I love melted cheese?

I prepared this tray for my boy, Alex, who's feeling a little under the weather today. I thought some cheesy goodness with a special message would be just what he needed...

Then I remembered that he's my little rebel, and doesn't much like quesadilla's...or crackers in his soup...so he got grilled cheese and plain tomato instead...with lots of LOVE and chocolate milk.