I really don’t like cooking breakfast. I really don’t like eating breakfast. I love food, but the only thing I really want to eat in the morning is some sort of sweet, starchy item (think pastry) that goes with my coffee. Before 8, that’s the only thing that sounds appetizing and, alas, it is extremely bad about expanding the love handles.
My usual morning breakfast routine is something gourmet and exciting like Raisin Bran. I am in awe of these Moms who offer all these morning food choices to their kids. Eggs? Omelet? Egg white omelet with shaved asparagus and prosciutto curls? Cheese toast? Scone with marmalade? No problem, I’ll just whip up a batch. French toast? Bacon? Oatmeal?
That doesn’t really happen in our house, like, ever. I keep going on kicks where I try to cook us up a nice hot breakfast before my husband leaves for work, and I usually do a nice job for one morning. Or two, on a good stretch. Then it’s back to bowls of cold cereal or a granola bar and a banana. (That’s my other morning standby. )
I usually make myself eat something just because I know it’s important for my metabolism and all that, but I don’t really like it. I’d actually like to change this and really, I want to get better at preparing an appetizing morning breakfast option for us all. The problem is, I have too many criteria and since I can’t find something that meets them all, I just give up and we go back to default.
My Perfect Breakfast Critera:
1. Something low carb. Sugary sweet baked goods really don’t seem like a healthy way to start the day, even though muffins do go great with coffee.
2. Something not uber high fat, like delicious bacon or sausage or cheesy omelets. Again, since the point is to start your day on a healthy note, this seems kind of like shooting yourself in the foot. Or the stomach, so to speak. I’m not opposed to eggs, as in plain ole scrambled, so maybe there’s something there…
3. Something quick. Did I mention I have 3 kids? Every moment counts in the morning. Every moment is worth its weight in gold. I do not have time for stirring pots of bubbling breakfasty foods.
4. Something easy to eat, so that my 2 kids who are sitting at the bar feeding themselves won’t end up wearing most of their breakfast. It also needs to be
5. Something they’ll like, because I just am not ready for an “Oh Yes You WILL Eat Your Food” showdown in the morning. They’re not very picky but, you know, they’re kids.
So far, like I said, the best options seem to be a semi-healthy cold cereal (like Whole Grain Cheerios or Raisin Bran) or a banana with a granola bar or piece of whole wheat toast.
But that’s all so, so boring and blech and frankly I’m just tired of it. I’d like to serve my family something a little more warm and comforting on these cold winter mornings, but I’m at a loss. So I’m polling the crowd. I am desperate for ideas, recipes, make-ahead breakfast ideas, or anything that comes close to meeting my criteria.
Or, alternately, if any of ya’ll want to show up around 7:30 or so with a batch of fresh-baked anything, I’ll drop critera #1 in an instant and pour you a cup of coffee.
Help? Please? Share? I’m dying here…and we’re almost out of Raisin Bran.
Images courtesy of D Sharon Pruitt.
I make muffins once a week. Usually they are banana oatmeal chocolate chip. I usually use white whole wheat flour (by King Arthur) and a lot of oatmeal. I use ghiradelli dark chocolate chips and only use about half a bag. The kids love them (although Jack does make a mess with them) Chris takes them to work and they are fairly healthy. The also freeze beautifully so I will often make a double batch. From start to finish they take half an hour to make and make 18 muffins for one batch. Recipe is on my blog
If we don’t do that I usually do TJ’s organic cinnamon oatmeal (which is pretty mess free) or cinnamon harvest cereal from Kashi. There are no other options, unless it’s a weekend. VERY occasionally I’ll get one of the bagel boxes from Einstein’s for the week, of which I get coupons for through their emails.
Hope that helps!
Breakfast are a challenge for me also. I am not a morning person and not in the mood to cook at that time of day. So, our breakfasts are bagels and cream cheese, oatmeal, frozen waffles with peanut butter and jelly or honey, or cereal. I try to have fruit available, too. Once a month, I make a big batch of pancakes. What we don’t eat goes in the fridge or freezer to pull out later.
I try to make a big batch of pancakes every couple of weeks as well. Also, smoothies are a big go-to breakfast in our house…1 banana, a cup or so of yogurt or kefir (think drinkable yogurt), some milk (I just kind of eyeball it) and any other frozen fruit we may have on hand (mangoes, berries, etc.). I can even throw in some baby spinach to make it extra healthy and can’t taste it. I put it in my 18-month old’s sippy cup and she guzzles it.