Healthy Breakfast before School

[anna08]

We are big fans of whole wheat mini-bagels - with peanut butter or make an egg (stir one egg in a glass with a fork then microwave for 45 seconds) and cheese sandwich with them (easy to eat one-handed in the car.) Also great for tuna melts when home for lunch. They come in a bag of 12.

My kids also like greek yogurt mixed with honey and chopped walnuts on cinnamon raisin bread. This is from Ellie Krieger's So Easy cookbook.

I like to make chocolate vitamuffins from the mix (5gms fiber per muffin) and add banana, dried fruit, nuts or chocolate chips prior to baking. Chocolate is my vice

For those who do smoothies with frozen bananas - do you freeze your own or do you buy them? Do you slice them up and then freeze them? TIA

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

We are big fans of whole wheat mini-bagels - with peanut butter or make an egg (stir one egg in a glass with a fork then microwave for 45 seconds) and cheese sandwich with them (easy to eat one-handed in the car.) Also great for tuna melts when home for lunch. They come in a bag of 12.

My kids also like greek yogurt mixed with honey and chopped walnuts on cinnamon raisin bread. This is from Ellie Krieger's So Easy cookbook.

I like to make chocolate vitamuffins from the mix (5gms fiber per muffin) and add banana, dried fruit, nuts or chocolate chips prior to baking. Chocolate is my vice

For those who do smoothies with frozen bananas - do you freeze your own or do you buy them? Do you slice them up and then freeze them? TIA

I usually just slice them in 2 and toss them in snack baggies. Then I break in half before I toss it into the blender.

 

[NotUrsula]

I think her favorite is Kefir. Kefir is like a smoothie type drink, pre-made. It's organic, high in calcium and also high in protein. It comes in several flavors, her favorite is probably peach, but you can also get blueberry, strawberry, raspberry among others.

Kefir is fermented milk with flavorings added. It always contains some alcohol in its "natural" state, so you might want to be careful with it for a kid in a sport that drug-tests; unless you are sure that it has been processed to remove the alcohol.

As to us, I've got a teenaged boy. He normally eats a sandwich or a muffin, washed down with about a quart of 1% milk.

 

[r&kmommy]

Such yummy breakfast ideas!!! DD LOVES breakfast and (literally) doesn't function til she eats it. Her current favorite is peanut butter on wheat crackers and a glass of milk. My son, OTOH is just like me and can take or leave breakfast. I make him eat it on days when he has camp or swim lessons or other thing where he needs energy. I do NOT make him eat it during the school year, as he gets up at 7:30 and eats lunch at 11:20. He (always) drinks a glass of milk to wash down his allergy pill and that's usually it. Once in a blue moon he'll go on a breakfast kick and want breakfast every day for a week or two... that's rare though.

 

[bookgirl]

We are big fans of whole wheat mini-bagels - with peanut butter or make an egg (stir one egg in a glass with a fork then microwave for 45 seconds) and cheese sandwich with them (easy to eat one-handed in the car.) Also great for tuna melts when home for lunch. They come in a bag of 12.

My kids also like greek yogurt mixed with honey and chopped walnuts on cinnamon raisin bread. This is from Ellie Krieger's So Easy cookbook.

I like to make chocolate vitamuffins from the mix (5gms fiber per muffin) and add banana, dried fruit, nuts or chocolate chips prior to baking. Chocolate is my vice

For those who do smoothies with frozen bananas - do you freeze your own or do you buy them? Do you slice them up and then freeze them? TIA

I buy banannas a lot but only like them while still firm so as soon as they get too soft for me to eat alone, I peel them, cut them in to chunks and freeze them on a plate in the freezer. Once frozen I put them into a baggie and pull them out as I need them.

 

[jessicaprice]

You can keep changing breakfast everyday. In the rush of morning, serve some items like fruit mix, boiled eggs or scrambled egg for protein, milk for calcium, etc.

 

[luvmythree]

We do baggie omelets and they are so easy to reheat.

For each baggie we use 2 eggs beaten and then put in the baggie. Then we fill it with whatever they want. If they want bacon/sausage/ham in it I pre-cook that and then add it. We add green peppers, cheese, onions, mushrooms or whatever. Then we seal and "burp" the baggie to get the air out of it, squish all the ingredients around in there to get them dispersed throughout the baggie and drop them in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes. The first 6 minutes it's on med-high and the last 4 I turn it down to low and let them simmer. We put them in the fridge and then re-heat them on a plate for about 30 seconds.

Some people are uncomfortable with this due to the plastic baggies *doesn't bother us* but it sure is easy!

Another one we do often
Biscuit sandwiches.

Make biscuits (I use canned biscuits). Cook bacon until crisp enough for 1 slice per biscuit. Cook fried eggs until the yolks are hard.

Split each biscuit, put one slice bacon, one egg, and one slice of your favorite cheese. Wrap up in plastic wrap and freeze. To serve, unwrap a sandwich and place on a plate, cover with a paper towel and zap in the microwave until hot.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

So do you just make them (baggie omelets) all together earlier in the week? They don't turn rubbery? I have seen the concept, just never tried it, and never thought of it as a do ahead!

 

[RumpleMom]

You all have been talking about Greek yogurt, so I bought some and put it in DH's lunch, instead of the usual lowfat Dannon. Holy cow, he hated the stuff! He said it tasted like chalky pudding. It was vanilla. Are the other flavors any better?

 

[semo233]

It is definately a different taste....I actually use fat free plain greek yogurt instead of sour cream, so you know it is not the same as regular yogurt. I don't like the flavored greek yogurts either. One PP mentioned mixing plain greek yogurt with honey and spreading on a bagel or cinnamon raisin bread....instead of cream cheese....I might try that!

I gave in and bought my daughter Lean Hot Pockets with eggs and ham. She often doesn't want breakfast and has lunch at 10:30, so the fact that she will eat SOMETHING is better than nothing. They have less than / about 300 hundred calories and less than 8g fat. I even bought disposable coffee cups with the lids so that she might drink hot cocoa with milk during the winter on the way to school, but she wasn't very interested.

 

[tzolkin]

I freeze many things so the kids can have a quick breakfast without me cooking every morning.

We always have pumpkin pancakes in the freezer- often with whole wheat, flax seed, and applesauce or other fruit. I freeze them in 4 stacks inside gallon-sized bags-- the kids can take just one or several.

I'll also bake several different kinds of muffins (regular and mini-sized) and breads (banana with chocolate chips, zucchini, etc) all in one afternoon and freeze them. The kids like to eat them for breakfast (pop in the microwave) or take some as snacks in their lunches (thawed by lunchtime).


I was hesitant to freeze stuff at first, but it the texture and taste are perfectly fine when reheated.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

well, now i want pumpkin pancakes. this is an evil thread!

 

[BarbWB]

You all have been talking about Greek yogurt, so I bought some and put it in DH's lunch, instead of the usual lowfat Dannon. Holy cow, he hated the stuff! He said it tasted like chalky pudding. It was vanilla. Are the other flavors any better?

I don't buy the flavored stuff AND I don't buy the fat free. I get 2% Fage brand and add some honey for sweetener with fresh berries and nuts.

If you eat it plain, it does taste like sour cream. There are some Fage cups that have a small container of honey on the side, or you could send a little honey packet in a lunch.

 

[disneymama83]

Pancakes, baked oatmeal, muffins...etc. You could always do some smaller batches of french toast, cinnamon rolls or maybe cinnamon pull aparts in muffin tins and then just pop those in while everyone is in the shower? Wrapping a pancake around a sausage link and rolling it up so it fits in a baggie, or cutting the french toast in to 'sticks' so it fits in a small cup they can throw away, maybe with a bit of syrup or honey drizzled in the bottom so they can dip the french toast or pancakes...etc. Frozen waffles with peanut butter and honey spread on them or breakfast sandwiches/burritos are always quick and easy too.

Baked oatmeal -sounds yummy and healthy! Do you have a special recipe for that? Thanks!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Sliced bananna with a heaping scoop of peanut butter. It keeps me full for hours and no mid morning hunger pangs. Often times I am not even hungry for lunch. Sometimes I sprinkle a few chocolate chips on it too.

 

[TxRabbit]

Baked oatmeal -sounds yummy and healthy! Do you have a special recipe for that? Thanks!

Oatmeal is also a neat thing to do in the crock pot. You need real rolled oats, not quick oats. You can add dried and fresh fruit. Makes a nice big batch that saves well for reheating during the week. I like to use steel cut oats too. Just another idea...

 

[disneymama83]

Oatmeal is also a neat thing to do in the crock pot. You need real rolled oats, not quick oats. You can add dried and fresh fruit. Makes a nice big batch that saves well for reheating during the week. I like to use steel cut oats too. Just another idea...

Thanks! This is great!

 

[chimo2u]

Oatmeal is also a neat thing to do in the crock pot. You need real rolled oats, not quick oats. You can add dried and fresh fruit. Makes a nice big batch that saves well for reheating during the week. I like to use steel cut oats too. Just another idea...

I just bought a big box of Steel cut oats from Costco and am desperate to try and find a way to incorporate them into my diet! I thought cooking them ahead for the week was a great idea.

Using the crock pot sounds even better!! Do you have the quotient of oats to water/milk and the cook time that you use for the crock pot? Also what types of add-ins have you tried that you find yummy? I would like to do this for the week ahead, hubby, kids and myself might just stop to microwave some oats in the morning as I've heard they last well into the week!!

Thanks for your help

 

[TxRabbit]

I just bought a big box of Steel cut oats from Costco and am desperate to try and find a way to incorporate them into my diet! I thought cooking them ahead for the week was a great idea.

Using the crock pot sounds even better!! Do you have the quotient of oats to water/milk and the cook time that you use for the crock pot? Also what types of add-ins have you tried that you find yummy? I would like to do this for the week ahead, hubby, kids and myself might just stop to microwave some oats in the morning as I've heard they last well into the week!!

Thanks for your help

This is from the "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook"

Overnight Steel-Cut Oatmeal

1 cup steel-cut oats
4 cups water

This is the ratio. This is supposed to serve 2.This makes a moderately thick porridge. Cut back by 1/2 to 1 cup on the water if you like a thicker oatmeal. Cook for 8 to 9 hours, or overnight, until tender.

Creamy Oatmeal with Dried Fruit

1 cup steel-cut oats
2/3 cup dried tart cherries or sweetened dried cranberries
1/3 cup chopped dried figs
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
4-1/2 cups water
1/2 cup half-and-half or evaporated milk

Combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours, or overnight, until tender.

I have not ever done the plain recipe. I loved the idea of all the dried fruits in the oatmeal and do this one. I find that in my humid Houston, my steel-cut oats don't seem to take quite as long as the recipe dictates to cook, but it varies with the season.

I look at the recipe and see 1-1/3 cups dried fruit and just put in whatever sounds good. The tart cherries and cranberries are a very yummy addition to the sweetness of anything else. I've used raisins for the figs. Or dried blueberries for a splurge. This recipe is supposed to serve 3, but I find that this is so filling for me, I'm not sure that I make as big a serving as they are calculating.

I have even added fresh cooking apples. The get more mushy than the dried fruit but I like cooked apples.

I just keep this in the fridge and microwave it in a bowl. Add a bit of cool milk and salt and it is so good.

HTH!

 

[Free4Life11]

Simplest breakfast ever:

1 Ezekiel English muffin
1/4 cup cartoned egg whites
1 slice swiss cheese

Pop the muffin in the toaster. While it's toasing, pour the egg whites into a bowl and nuke for 1 minute. When that's finished, place the slice of cheese on top and melt for 10 seconds. Put the egg white/cheese in between the muffin and you have a quick and easy breakfast sandwich. Add some spinach or a tomato slice to make it even healthier.

Around 250 calories, 3 gram fat, and low sodium is about 300 mg.