Until recently my daughter would finish her substantial plate of cinnamon waffles while I was still clutching hot tea and waiting for my oatmeal to cook. I’ve recently remedied this problem by preparing my steel cut oats in the slow-cooker the night before after my daughter was asleep, enabling us to eat breakfast together every morning. Prepping steel cut oats in the slow cooker overnight is an extremely popular winter breakfast, but I hadn’t tried it myself until this month. Once I realized how well the method works I started doing it weekly, piling in the oats after bedtime and digging into my hot cereal alongside my daughter the next morning. The leftovers of each batch were stored in a loaf pan so all week I could cut out a big slice and warm it up in an instant each morning.

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Last week I noticed my stash of frozen bananas had grown a little too large. I always have at least three in there for emergency banana bread, but during the holidays I didn’t bake any so the pile had grown to nine. We were in need of some fresh snack food so this was perfect timing. Underneath the bananas I also found the last of the pecans I’d use to make Spiced Pecan Snowballs for Christmas. With these two things in hand, an hour until school let out, I decided to whip up a fresh loaf of banana and top it with an crunchy pecan streusel. I had never topped banana bread with anything before, but there is a first time for everything, right?

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I have to finish off the slow-cooker challenge with something that the adults will love: slow cooker cocktails. I mean, who doesn’t love a good cocktail in the middle of winter? I know I do. I love to keep hot punches warm in the slow cooker when we entertain, mulled cider and mulled wine work particularly well. Knowing this I decided to winterize one of our favorite summer drinks and have it waiting for dinner guests on evening.

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With breakfast and dinner under control I decided to try a new technique with my slow cooker: baking. We were going out of town for a long weekend in Boston and I wanted to pack some sweets to take along with us. I’d already had some success with a batch of Martha Stewart’s slow cooker brownies and wanted to attempt something else. A simple pound cake seemed like a good place to start. I know they transport well and can be adapted any number of ways. With a jar of nutella on hand I decided to swirl it in to the batter, along with some chocolate chips and give it a whirl.

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As evidenced by the extensive family breakfast recipe list I’ve accumulated we take breakfast very seriously in this house. I got this from my parents, we always ate big breakfasts each morning growing up. My mother, a teacher, rightfully acknowledged that a healthy breakfast is a great way for both children and adults to start the day. I’ve carried on this tradition with my daughter, we eat breakfast together every morning. Of course, just because we consider breakfast a necessity – we all wake up with growling tummies – it doesn’t mean it has to be boring or difficult to make. Here are eight of our favorite hot breakfasts. I make a lot of these after my daughter is asleep. Or, they are classic powernap recipes and come together in a moment’s notice. Here is to wishing you a warm, cozy winter morning full of hot breakfasts!

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Today I am chatting with my friend Georgia Pellegrini about her new book, Girl Hunter: Revolutionizing the Way We Eat, One Hunt at a Time. I read this book in two days flat and loved every second of it. It is all about Georgia’s personal journey to learn about the origins of her food and ultimately solve her own ominvore’s dilemma. This message resonated with me because where I grew up in Cooperstown, New York many of the families I knew hunted in the fall to feed their families all winter. It was not about sport and recklessness, it was about feeding a family responsibly and inexpensively, as well as respecting the wildlife in the area. Families depended, and still do, on hunting to put food on the table. Instead of . They could not afford, and didn’t really like, factory farmed meat in the grocery store I am so excited that Georgia is here today to share her story. To win a copy of her book see below!

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Panko Crusted Caramelized Onion Spicy Spinach Dip * White Truffle Potato Chips * Giant Deconstructed Salad * Rosemary Fig Goat Cheese Spread with Baguette * Pepperoni & Mozzarella Stromboli * Peppermint Patty Brownies * Butterscotch Chocolate Chunk Blondies