Gabe and I used to fantasize about the day when our kids could get out of bed and help themselves to breakfast. We thought of this as a major milestone in our parenting career and had visions of us lingering in bed with coffee in one hand and the paper in the other. Parents with babies in tow take note; someday this day will arrive and it will be every bit as wonderful as you can imagine.

Weekday mornings don’t allow for much lingering on our part. There are lunches to pack, school bags to get in order, dishes from last night’s party to tend to, and the most important thing – coffee to be made. To help avoid too much chaos (some is just unavoidable) we keep breakfast during the week very simple. Most often it’s cereal. I’ll admit it. But when I have life somewhat in order cereal comes in the form of whole grain puffs lightly sweetened with maple syrup and flavored with cocoa powder. I like to tuck in all sorts of puffed grains and by the time they are coated in a deeply colored cocoa syrup the kids really have no idea what they are getting into. Their most important task during breakfast – turn their milk into chocolate milk, which this cereal does so beautifully. There are enough whole grains from the cereal, plus we pair it with an 8 ounce glass of milk for an additional 8 grams of high-quality protein to help my munchkins start the day and give them energy to deal with math class before the lunch bell rings.

My favorite part? I can make a huge batch, relatively quickly so they have breakfast they can serve themselves all throughout the week.

*This post is sponsored by Milk Life. As always, the words, recipe, and images are my own. Thanks for supporting that brands that support me in doing the work I love.

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Whole Grain Cocoa Cereal

Author Ashley Rodriguez

Ingredients

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted

14 cups puffed cereal

1 cup puffed quinoa

1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

1/4 teaspoon sea salt (or more to taste)

Add ins:

Coconut flakes

Nuts

Oatmeal

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 300° F

In a small saucepan combine the coconut oil, maple syrup, and cocoa powder. Stir well and bring to a simmer.

In a large bowl combine the puffed cereal, quinoa, sesame seeds, and any other add ins you may like.

Add the cocoa mixture to the puffed cereals and stir well to coat. Transfer this to a large sheet tray (or two) lined with parchment. Bake for 20 minutes stirring halfway through.

Let the cereal cool before storing in an airtight container for up to three weeks.

Pair with an 8 ounce glass of milk.

“You are actually the granddaughter of two dairy farmers.” My dad said in an email after he saw my post about the visit to the dairy farm. I had forgotten that his dad ran a small dairy until my my dad was 5 years old. In fact my grandfather went to Ag school in Holland before he moved to America when he was 18 years old. So even more than I remembered the love of dairy runs deep in this family.

Which may explain why I’ve been so eager to try this particular recipe for so long. The one in which chicken shimmies into a dutch oven and makes friends with bacon (who wouldn’t be friends with bacon?), lemon peel (which makes your hands smell of the best perfume), rosemary (plucked from my newly planted herb garden), nutmeg (because it felt right) and milk.

It’s my take on a recipe that I credit Jamie Oliver for because that’s where I first heard about Chicken Braised in Milk. Jamie uses lemon, sage and cinnamon which sounds fine too, in fact there are so many herb and spice combinations that I think would do quite nicely here but let us agree to never, not ever, never leave out the lemon because that is what makes the sauce curdle.

No wait, don’t run away screaming, curdling is a good thing in this case. Unless you want your food to be purely aesthetically pleasing and not just plain delicious? Because I’ll tell you what, this dish may not win any beauty pageants but based on ease and flavor alone, we have ourselves a winner.

Be sure to use whole milk here. I personally would think of no other, it’s what we always have in our fridge, right next to the cream and butter. But I remember when my mom would gush about her whole milk childhood and I would cringe at the thought as I crunched on my cereal doused in 2%. Now anything other than whole just seems silly. I think both of my grandfathers would be proud.

Here especially we need that extra bit of fat. What happens in the pot is a bit of food magic when the lemon meets the milk and then they become fast friends and that friendship leaves you with a sauce that is yes, indeed broken, but broken like ricotta is broken: Meaning we make curds and those curds are flavored with chicken drippings and all the other fragrant and wonderful things we put into that pot (remember the bacon!)

Also, let’s remember the last post where we talked about quality and I introduced you to the Werkhoven family. The family who spends their days making sure they have barns filled with happy cows. So there are fans and fresh beds of sand, little bits of corn candy (not actual candy – the cows just love corn kernels that much) that the cows love to dig for because happy cows make the best and most milk. So we honor and value the work families like this do by buying great quality milk which we then cover our chicken with to get the most tender, flavorful and simple roast. And because I am the granddaughter of two DUTCH dairy farmers there are also potatoes along with my chicken cooked in milk.

Chicken Braised in Milk with Lemon, Rosemary and Bacon

Serves 4

One 3-pound (1 1/2-kilogram) chicken

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons butter or olive oil

5 pieces of bacon, thinly sliced

1 large shallot, roughly chopped

1/4 cup fresh rosemary leaves

Zest of 2 lemons, peeled in thick strips with a vegetable peeler

10 garlic cloves, skins left on

pinch freshly grated nutmeg

2 cups whole milk

1 - 2 pounds baby new potatoes

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Add the butter or olive oil to a large dutch oven set over high heat. Sear the chicken, getting the skin good and crisp and deep golden all over.

To the pot add the bacon, shallots, rosemary, lemon peels, garlic, a pinch of nutmeg along with the milk. I added some potatoes to the top of the pot too because why dirty two pots when I can just dirty one? Throw in another pinch of salt for those potatoes.

Slide the pot into the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Baste the chicken with the juices occasionally throughout the cooking. If you find the liquid evaporating too quickly you can add the lid.

Carefully remove the chicken and potatoes from the pot and onto a platter. Spoon the now separated sauce all over. Sure, it’s not too pretty but one doesn’t mind after the first bite. If you like a pop of green you can garnish with fresh herbs.