I’m not much of a cook, but I tend to be more inspired over the summer with breakfast recipes and baked goodies. One reason the warm weather prompts me to “cook” is the abundant fig tree in our back yard that blooms in July and August. Too many figs to let go bad. And the second reason I might break out a pan or two, I’m on summer vacation! A great time to try new breakfast ideas and make sure my husband eats. He has a bad habit of skipping meals when I’m not around.

Having just stopped by the grocery store, I decided to make a favorite rice cake breakfast or snack; berries and cream. It’s a Quaker Oats recipe that’s really easy to make (this is coming from a kitchen dunce):

• caramel rice cake
• 1/8 c. cream cheese
• 1/8 c. cottage cheese
• 1 teaspoon sugar (or sweetner of your choice)
• 1 tablespoon raspberry jam
• blueberries, raspberries, or any berry you like

Mix the cottage cheese, cream cheese, and sugar together in a bowl. Spread the jam directly on the rice cake, next spread the cream mix, top with berries. Yum! No cooking necessary. To save money I buy generic rice cakes that are half the price of the Quaker Oats ones (unless of course you can find a coupon or they’re on sale, then go for the name brand!). I also pick berries that are in season and on sale as well. I love raspberries, but this week they weren’t on sale, so I opted for blueberries only. The raspberry jam fills that void nicely.

Now some good reads:

• Planting Dollars with Financial Baby Steps. He compares taking baby steps to an old Bill Murray movie, which I love, What About Bob? Ryan also makes some very good points.
• Len Penzo with Having Fun Yet? 9 Ways to Ensure Your Road Trip Sucks. This post hit upon some old memories, like riding in an over-flowing station wagon through Yellowstone Park, for instance. Not so fun at the time, but those memories make for great conversation (and complaining!)
• Bucksome Boomer with Is it Better for Rent or Buy? What a great complement to my most recent posts about my decision to keep renting for a bit longer.
• Financial Samurai with Personal Finance Bloggers Cause US Retail Sales to Plunge! Perhaps Sam is giving us too much credit. But I’ll take the credit when it’s given!