One of the most common questions I get asked is “what do you feed your family for breakfast?” Although we have been eating real food for almost 7 years, moving away from having breakfast cereal for us really only started at the start of 2017. Over the last 12 months, we have migrated away from having breakfast cereal – I still have Gluten Free Weetbix in the pantry but we may have it once a fortnight. It’s important to say, this article is not about judging those of you who have breakfast cereal at all, the fact you’re ensuring your kids get breakfast before going to school is fantastic. However, since I get asked for breakfast ideas so frequently, I just thought I would share photos of different breakfasts we have. Please excuse the photos – they are just quick iphone snapshots – no styling, just popped on the breakfast table, snap before the kids eat my arm off.
Our Breakfast Is Still A Work In Progress
I want to also point out that breakfast is still a work in progress for our family. We have moved away from our dependency on cereal but I still know I can do better. With that said, I am not beating myself up about it. I improve little bit by little bit so it’s an easy change and then it becomes a way of life. What I will be tackling in next part of 2018 is how to incorporate at least one vegetable into breakfast too. Even today, as I prepare my families food, I’m always asking myself this simple question – “what can I add to make this meal more nutritious”. To give you an idea of this, I have included my thoughts on how I could make each of these breakfasts more nutritious. I hope this helps.
At the bottom of this article, I’ve also included some links to other education articles around breakfast that you might find valuable.
Some Notes On Time
You may look at these breakfasts and think I don’t have time for that, but seriously with a bit of planning in advance and some preparation, most of these breakfasts can be pretty quick too. I have included notes on each one about preparation.
What We’ve Been Eating For Breakfast
Oh So Versatile Muesli
The name of this muesli says it all – I use it in so many different ways. In this pic, I let the kids build their own breakfast bowl – pop in some muesli, some fruit salad, some natural greek yoghurt – yum! I also served this with a green smoothie. Grab the recipe for the muesli here and the green smoothie here. To make this even more nutritious, I could add some diced cucumber and shredded mint to the fruit salad. (note, we use a few of Naughty Naturopath Mum’s beautiful bushflower essences each day and so we usually have these with breakfast so we remember to take them).
Make this ahead in a big batch. Too easy.
Breakfast Banana Sushi
This is just my simple pikelet recipe with some LSA (Linseed, Sunflower and Almond) Flour used for extra fibre and protein. Then a banana cut in half and wrapped inside the large pancake, then cut into smaller sushi sized pieces. To add vegetables to this and make it more nutritious, I will add a juice as a side to have with it – perhaps carrot, small amount of celery, green apple, orange and ginger, with some water and ice blended in too.
I make a big batch of pancakes on Sunday and pop some in the freezer. Pull them out the night before, splash a little water on both sides and refresh them by warming in a frying pan. About 30 seconds a side.
Savoury Brekkie
Leftovers for brekkie – this was leftover mince from Shepherds Pie we had for dinner, served with some rye sourdough and half an avocado with dukkah. I don’t have my Shepherd’s Pie recipe up on the blog – it’s kind of a bit of this, and a bit of that. But I will take a bit more care next time I make it because it’s a favourite meal for our family. To make this more nutritious, I could put the mince on a bed of baby spinach and add a couple of cherry tomatoes to the side.
I always make a rye sourdough loaf on the weekend, cut it up and pop it in the freezer. This is as simple as throwing the frozen slices into the toaster whilst reheating the leftovers.
Chocolate Banana Ice Cream With Muesli
Ok so this may sound like a dessert but packed into this ice cream is 2 frozen bananas, 2 tablespoons of cacao powder, 1 avocado, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup desiccated coconut. I blended up the frozen bananas then added all the other ingredients, added a splash of coconut milk and blended again. Then topped with the oh so versatile muesli recipe. Adding avocado, egg and coconut loads this breakfast with good fats which are important for brain function and keeping tummies full and the egg adds some protein too. Throwing in a handful of baby spinach will make this more nutritious.
My thermomix makes light work of this – it seriously takes less than 2 minutes.
A Roadie Brekky – Overnight Oats
This is our go to roadie brekky – the brekky we have when we’re hitting the road early in the morning. It’s rolled oats, sultanas, seeds (sunflower and pepitas) soaked overnight in Coco Quench milk. We’ve got green apple chunks and natural Greek yoghurt to load up on the oats too. Rilien doesn’t like his overnight oats with all the milk soaked in so he likes to add a bit extra in the morning like in this photo. The rest of us love the oats deliciously softened from soaking overnight. To make this more nutritious, add some grated apple and carrot. I could also serve this with a juice – watermelon, cucumber, lime, mint and ginger would go nice I think.
To make overnight oats, I simply throw in enough oats for the whole family (maybe 2 cups), add the sultanas, and seeds, then tip in about a tablespoon of whey off the yoghurt, and then pour the milk over the top until the oats are covered. Seal then if it’s not super hot, you can leave this on the kitchen bench overnight or pop it in the fridge. Please use rolled oats, not instant oats because the instant oats have been smashed so they cook quicker but it’s in doing this, the nourishment of the outside of the oats has been removed.
Prepare these before you go to bed – this takes 2 minutes, then it’s ready to be spooned out in the morning. Easy peasy.
Pancakes, Strawberry, Banana (and Cream for a good fat Treat)
Another brekky using my simple pikelet recipe (adding in LSA again). Served with strawberries, banana slices and a little dollop of full cream for some good fats. It also makes the brekky feel really special because we don’t have a lot of cream. I served this to the kids to celebrate the last day of school term. Our kids usually eat 2-3 of these sized pancakes. They have one like this, then load the next one up with 100% peanut butter. This was also served with their current favourite green smoothie – recipe here.
Batch cook your pancakes on the weekend, and freeze. Defrost in the fridge the night before you want to use them, wet your finger tips and gently splash the water over the pancakes, then refresh in a frying pan to warm.
Lazy Bones Banana Bread
I make this bread almost every weekend. It’s so simple to make that I call it lazy – pretty much throw the ingredients in, mix and bake. I bake it on a Sunday, cut it up and freeze it – perfect to pull out and toast for brekky or to butter and let defrost in the lunchbox. Grab the recipe here. Again to make this more nutritious, adding a vegetable juice or smoothie would be good.
This is usually on high rotation in the bus meaning I generally bake a loaf on the weekend, the cut it up and freeze it. Pop it straight into the toaster frozen. Simple as.
Porridge
You’d be amazed at how filling a bowl of porridge can be. When we first started having porridge, I used to get the kids to pour on a little full fat cream to help them eat it. Now they both happily eat it topped with a bit of fruit. Sometimes for something different, we sprinkle some a mix of cacao powder and cinnamon on it. Mmm, I will have to put my thinking hat on as to how to get some vegetables with this one. The kids are usually full after a bowl of porridge so giving them a juice or smoothie maybe too much. Perhaps I could reduce the quantity of porridge and serve it with the vegetable juice or smoothie.
This is probably one of the longer cooking items but I usually put it on whilst doing something else. Not a biggy.
Blueberry Pancake Bites with Green Smoothie
I got this pancake bites recipe from Kylie at Kidgredients. I just used my simple pikelet recipe (replacing some of the flour with LSA), then popped them in my mini muffin tray, plopped blueberry’s on top with a few coconut flakes. I’m pretty ok with this breakfast – it’s got a mix of fruit, veg (spinach) and yoghurt in the smoothie for some protein and dairy plus flours for fibre.
Premake the pancake bites on the weekend and freeze. Defrost overnight. Our kids eat them cold but you could always warm in the oven if you wished.
Chocolate Chia Pudding
Chia seeds are a nutritional powerhouse. They are high in fibre which is awesome for our digestive system, are a great source of protein to help keep tummies full, and have a good supply of Omega 3’s for brain function. But some people have a problem with the consistency of chia. When we first started having chia pudding, the kids thought they were slimy so I used to blitz them up to a meal and make them into puddings. To get them used to the feeling of the little seeds, I used them to make some biscuits too – this is how they got used to being exposed to chia seeds whole. Now of course, some years later, they happily eat the slimy seeds. It’s all about exposure, exposure, exposure. Here’s there recipe for my banana chocolate chia pudding. To make this more nutritious, I could blend in some raw cashews and an avocado too.
This is a make ahead breakfast – simple to prepare – maybe 2 minutes, then in the fridge overnight. Spoon out.
Cheese on Toast
Our kids love melted cheese, so this breakfast is always exciting. I always serve it with an avocado on the side or at least sliced under the cheese for a bit extra nutrition. I could boost this even further by having avocado, tomato and cheese or making it avocado with feta for something different.
This does take a little longer than cereal but it’s much better for the kids and they are worth it the extra 2-3 minutes.
Breakfast Parfait
Ok so I didn’t take a picture of this one but it’s so simple. Make a big batch of the Oh So Versatile Muesli, pop a few spoonfuls of that in the bottom of a glass, add some cut up fruit, then top with natural Greek yoghurt, then add some more muesli to the top of that. Then layer with some more fruit and yoghurt. This is such a pretty breakfast to look at too. Sorry about the no photo.
Less than 2 minutes to make if you’ve made the batch of muesli on the weekend.
Bircher Muesli
Another make ahead breakfast using rolled oats. Here’s a link to a Facebook Live showing how I make Bircher Muesli.
Articles You May Find Interesting
Breakfast Cereal Is My Downfall – this article was written in response to a mum feeling guilty about having breakfast cereal.
A Week Without Breakfast Cereal – another look at breakfast options.
Healthy Breakfast Recipes – I love Georgia Harding from Well Nourished‘s recipes. This is a great roundup of healthy breakfast recipes.