It's a healthy breakfast thread!

[fuzzpig]

Really determined to finally ditch (or at least reduce) the cereal. The DCs only like really sugary/chocolatey stuff

I'm thinking of switching to cereal only at weekends.

DD (7) is fairly easy going and loves eggs, but DS (nearly 5) won't eat them. Well, he will eat a little bit, but only with dramatic sighs and eye rolling and I don't think it's worth the stress in the mornings.

He likes cheese on toast - decent wholemeal bread with seeds with either Red Leicester or cheddar. That's better than cereal right?

Not sure what else to do really. Neither will eat porridge no matter how I do it.

I like the idea of fruity pancakes and stuff but is that actually any better in terms of sugar?

I find the secret with porridge is letting the dcs make their own - and they make it just how they like it!

You could make extra of favourite dinners and do special leftovers breakfasts a couple of times a week. eg if they like spag bol, they could have some bolognaise sauce and grated cheese on some toast (or just with pasta), chilli would work too. Do they like fish? Tuna or sardine and cheese toasties would be a good protein hit. Can take some time to transition, but really there is no reason that the first meal of the day needs to be sweet (that's what dessert is for )

I love avocado on toast.

Seeded wholemeal bread or rye bread, toasted lightly, splash of olive oil and mashed avocado on top. (My husband puts a few flakes of sea salt on his too, it does bring out the taste but I prefer it without).

Delicious! The only problem is that I always want a second one...

p.s. I forgot to add, what about egg and bacon - scrambled egg and bacon can both be done in the microwave, boiled or fried eggs don´t take very long to make. Also you can get Frankfurter type sausages and heat them in the microwave or a pan of hot water - put them in a hot dog bun or just serve chopped into rings with a dab of ketchup. Other alternatives could be cheese on toast, beans on toast, or scrambled eggs with grated cheese / little chunks of ham in (also doable in the microwave).

We have a few traditional Chinese breakfasts that can be quite good.
Rice congee is good (1/2 cup of rice with lots of water then boiled until porridge consistency, easy if you do in rice cooker) eat it with pickles and or eggs.
My husband likes barley and red azuki bean soup with a very small amount of honey.

Smoothies are always a winner if we are pressed for time. I usually add some chia seed meal to smoothies to up the nutritional content.
If you blend frozen berries or bananas or berries with a bit of water/milk it turns out like icecream.

Sunny

Pearl barley porridge... (hope this isn't too vague - I made up the recipe, anything goes!)

Boil barley with 1/2 milk and water, (it's about one cup of barley to three cups of liquid) and a cinnamon stick/whole cloves if you have them. Add honey/sweetener/sugar to taste.

When cooked, throw in chopped nuts, dried fruit, maybe a bit of cream.

I usually make a batch and then reheat a little each morning, adding a bit of milk to loosen it up.

Can anyone give me a good Bircher muesli recipe?

We do microwave porridge in this. I include a handful of frozen blueberries on the top which give flavour and I think help a bit in stopping the porridge boiling over so much. My son only agrees to eat a few sorts of veg, so I really like that he has a morning dose of blueberries, and they are cheapest frozen.

I have also tried low carb pancakes with my son and they were a very big hit - cream cheese, ground almonds and egg. The recipe is somewhere on the low carb diet boards...

What about french toast/eggy toast? Good source of protein and gets egg into your egg-hater? (just don't call it eggy toast in front of him!)

I would generally avoid honey/maple syrup etc (especially agave!) if you want to cut down on sugars - fructose is really what you need to aim to reduce, so rice malt syrup is fantastic and is fructose-free. Stevia is also ok especially in things where you don't notice the funny after-taste.

On the porridge front, I mix chia seeds and flax seeds with the oats, along with some shredded coconut, a good dollop of coconut oil and some cinnamon. I top it off with rice malt syrup to avoid adding fructose.

We tried green juicing - juice some kale or spinach and then some fruit and maybe whizz through some avocado. The kids rebelled though, but the are loads of recipes on the net, if you have a juicer already it's worth a go.

I also give them homemade ice cream with fresh fruit in the summer for breakfast. Made with eggs, cream and milk with sugar....it's not too bad.

DS is 5 and has either peanut butter and banana on toast, scrambled eggs and spinach, porridge (made with almond milk, chia and flax and sunflower seeds stirred in, drizzled with honey), bacon and fried egg butty or fritters (mash banana, grate apple, mix with almond meal and fry into patties)

For my 3 and 6 year olds it tends to be pancakes made with rice and spelt flour, extra eggs and Greek yogurt (no sugar) served with lots of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup or a smoothie (banana, blueberries, Greek yog, cream and coconut oil) with sausages-Sainsbury's do some wee organic ones which cook in 5 mins so very handy even when short of time.

They do also like bagels, tattie scones, croissants and cheerios but I try to limit those.

I like eggs in various forms, Greek yog with blueberries, cold meats & cheese or leftovers.

This thread is making me feel horribly inadequate!! My DDs have, and love, Weetabix pretty much every morning!

Going to try and mix it up now - especially for DD2. She's yet to meet a meal she doesn't like. DD1 is a horse of a different colour but I might be able to get her to go beyond toast and peanut butter.

DS often has "German breakfast" which is matzo crackers (the small ones the size of cream crackers) or Choice Grain crackers, cheese, ham, sliced cucumber, gherkins, maybe a bit of chorizo if we have it, possibly some of those pickled white anchovies.

When do you people get up?!

I get up at 6.15 and we just have weetabix (porridge in winter) and toast in the morning but it's still a mad dash with lots of shouting until we leave at 8 am.

LOL cucumbers, you said what I was thinking...

I don't think any one in our house has any carbs or drinks other than water at breakfast to be honest but over the years they have had all sorts.
At the moment one (teenager) cooks himself bacon and eggs. I have bacon and eggs. No one has toast.
My older son makes an omlet before work, no bread or anything like that with it. My daughter takes her breakfast to eat at work and that will be veg and protein. Not sure about other teenager as he gets up at lunch time so I think his lunch is what he eats first - he's cooking plain fish today with olive oil.

However I have never imposed my largely paleo eating on them. It is entirely up to them what they eat and in fact what I really am glad I have bred is teenagers able to debate subjects, pick my views apart and make mincemeat of them. In fact they had a school debate in one subject on sugar v good fats and one was pleased good fats won (and so was I - he knows my views on that).

DC eat breakfast at 7.45-8, we leave at 8.30.

That's why I microwave one porridge and the other is overnight the night before in the fridge.

I eat mine at work after I have taken them to school.

One thing that strikes me as quite odd when I think about it. Why do we have different food at breakfast anyway? I suppose time is a factor for some but chicken salad doesn't take long and last nights leftovers takes no time at all.

Anyone know the answer to this?

my DD is helpfully up at 5:19am every fucking morning....so lots of time to make porridge

It's just ingrained into us here I think. My friend will eat a chicken salad for breakfast no problem and says she feels much healthier for it.

My DD's two favourite breakfasts are the River Cottage Toddler Cookbook's blueberry pancakes and apple porridge with steamed mashed apple mixed into it and then a dollop of jam.

I love both of these too and when I make a batch of steamed apple I also do two or three portions in one go so that I can freeze the leftovers. Then when I need it quick I just defrost the apple in the microwave and mix into the porridge.

When I had gestational diabetes, the diabetes consultant helpfully said that she ate chicken salad for breakfast. It seemed a bit too different to my normal routine at the time. But I have had this in the past week, and yes, it is really quick and easy if there is some left over roast chicken and a salad pack in the fridge.

I make mine with organic large oats which don't go so mushy and just water. It goes lovely and creamy without any milk.

Soaking (even it's just a few minutes) helps with the consistency . We eat it with molasses and cinammon and sometimes uncooked with some ground almonds or whole walnuts or not