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?

[WallyBantersJunkBox]

Sarah thanks for the granola recipe, I have a load of oats in the cupboard but didn't want to make flapjacks or crumble so I might make this today.

Do you just store it in tupperware once it's made?

Working out the weight it's less than 9% sugar with the 3 tablespoons of honey.

Not all cereal is bad - weetabix, shredded wheat and shreddies aren't too bad, especially with some yog and fruit to make a rounded meal.

[combust22]

sputnick- I am not sure how it happened.OH and I adore good food, but neither of us have sweet tooth, so when my children were very young they were never fed puddings or yogurts ( they hate dairy).

From a year they were exposed to a wide variety of food and by three could expertly open and devour the meat from prawns or tuck into a bowl of mussels. They loved some fresh stir fried bok choi with ginger or a papaya with freshly squeezed lime juice. They would devour home made chapatis, but pre- packed shop bought ones would be left at the side of the plate.

Maybe I am lucky that my kids don't have a sweet tooth- they don't much like cereal either and don't drink milk. THey don't like biscuits either as they taste " too sweet" and "factory made" - their words.

My DD still has a chocolate Easter egg unopened in her room. I notice a packet of Starburst sweets given to him by his gran lie also unopened in on his bedside table where they have sat for two weeks. If offered some home made channa on puri though and he would be into the kitchen like a shot.

[SputnikSausage]

Wow. That is amazing. My toddler eats widely too. We don't buy cereal or bread and make every meal from scratch (with the odd exception, we're not perfect). But she does have a very sweet tooth and if I let her would eat biscuits until she was sick.

Will think on. Thanks

[Cakebaker35]

Porridge oats but not cooked, with milk and a handful of raisins. Keeps me and dd going for hours. Also have mini shredded wheat and weetabix, they're better choices for cereal lovers.

[SoftKittyWarmKitty]

I've recently become seriously addicted to Aldi croissants and I've been having one for breakfast most days for the past couple of weeks. Before my addiction began I'd have cheese on toast or a combination of some/all of poached egg/slice of naice ham/baked beans/tinned toms on toast. If I was less hungry I'd have a toasted teacake, crumpet or a small bowl of Bran Flakes. Recently on holiday I had a lovely big cooked breakfast every day, which was such a treat. People at work think I'm strange for eating things like beans on toast for breakfast but at least I'm not troughing chocolate by 11am!

DS absolutely loves cereal so I try and stick with buying relatively healthy ones like Bran Flakes, mini shredded wheat etc, with things like Coco Pos being a weekend cereal. No matter how much I try and tempt him, he can't be persuaded away from his cereal.

[CharlotteCollins]

I don't really understand what's wrong with cereals. I mean, cheese and yoghurt are processed, too - as is bread.

The cereals we like are the ones sweetened with dried fruit. Fruit n fibre, blueberry wheats, Special K with berries. Are they any better than others?

And what is wrong with Cheerios? It's only got about a teaspoon of sugar in a serving - does that imply a high-sugar diet?

Can anyone lessen my confusion?!

[Logarhythm]

Some background info on cereals
"Drop that spoon! The truth about breakfast cereals"

[CharlotteCollins]

That link's not working for me, Log.

[Logarhythm]

www.theguardian.com/business/2010/nov/23/food-book-extract-felicity-lawrence

Try this one

[pixiespride]

This is what DS (7) has
Porridge
Egg either boiled poached or scrambled
Toast and butter
Yoghurt and grapes or apple sometimes puréed fruit
Cheese with breadsticks or oatcakes or similar
Croissants sometimes at weekends
Milk or water to drink
Often eat same as him as he struggles as not hungry in am and he seems to eat more then.
Bircher sounds like good idea will give it a try.

[CharlotteCollins]

Thanks, Logarhythm - that worked and was very interesting reading. I feel a lot less confused now. (Not to mention reassured about the fact I was feeling confused in the first place!)

[MinimalistMommi]

We never have toast here because they have sandwiches at lunch. They have either stove top porridge or organic muesli only sweetened with dried fruit. They have a piece of fruit each and water.

[SnottySundays]

We had a great breakfast here today - pancakes with berries. The pancakes were made from mashed banana, a bit of cream cheese, oats, spelt flour, bicarb soda, ground seed mix, this was soaked overnight and loosened with some milk this morning. No added sugar, just natural sugars (except my husband who had maple syrup on his, but they really didn't need it thanks to the banana).

Some good ideas on this thread!

My DD and I have also recently discovered overnight oats/ Bircher muesli, especially good made with chopped mango and strawberries. She polishes that one off very quickly!

[CharlotteCollins]

DC3 woke up this morning and asked to make an omelette! I told the other two about the article Log linked to and they decided to have some too, with salad and toast.

It was all delicious. Much nicer than cardboard with sugar and salt added! :o

[CharlotteCollins]

OP, you still around? How's it going with your DCs?

[fuzzpig]

Hi sorry I am here have been reading avidly and noting all the ideas! Looking forward to reading the linked articles too.

We are going away on Tuesday and will be having cooked breakfasts so my plan is to use those few days to break the cycle IYSWIM? They've got some dregs of bags to use up but I don't want to buy more.

Thanks for all the replies, this is a great thread and seems like others are finding it useful too! :)

[Marmiteandjamislush]

How about fruit faces? We do this a lot for dessert too and our 2 love having competitions to see who can make the funniest. We sometimes put cheese out and hard boiled eggs and nuts too. My youngest is not big on warm eggs but eat them cold, so may be try that?

older one likes these

[onlychildinreality]

Could someone link to a tried and tested Bircher muesli recipe please? I tried one I found just Googling and it was pretty bland and the oats were v dry. I love that Moma stuff too but it's too pricey.
And is Bircher muesli the same thing as overnight oats?

[Breadandwine]

Thanks for that link, LovingKent - I heartily endorse all she says about cooking with kids!

I teach a course of [Family Learning] breadmaking to kids and I've always said 'If you can't make a mess when you're breadmaking - when can you make a mess!'

And, on a practical note, making the cleaning up fun can turn kids into washer-uppers for life!

About breakfast - since starting intermittent fasting (5:2 WOL) I've given up breakfast. This is perhaps not an option for kids, but bear in mind that cereal is high calorie - or, as this site suggests, the equivalent of candy.

And if you were to look at the beginnings of breakfast in our society, you'll see it was invented by a guy called Kellog, who was desirous of eradicating masturbation!

[Logarhythm]

To be fair breadandwine your link is referring to American breakfast cereals and if you ever thought breakfast cereals in the uk were junky rubbish - you would be blown away by the pile of crap in an American Breakfast Cereal, even the equivalent cereal available in the UK had more crap in it - artificial colours, flavours, preservatives, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Hydrogenated fats....in fact finding any recognisable real food in the ingredients proved to be a challenge.
They boast that a food contains real sugar and that's when you know the quality of the food is really poor!

[Cakebaker35]

breadandwine I think we were eating breakfast a long time before mr Kellogg told us to in the uk

[lildottie]

really interesting thread. I have always been a cereal lover, favouring "healthy" cereals such as cornflakes, weetabix etc. I've always found it odd that dh never eats cereal, favouring a single banana, malt loaf or eggs. I can see reading this that perhaps I am the "odd" one. I do eat cooked porridge in the winter, but not this time of year when its hot, so I think I will give the overnight oats a go. anyone got anymore ideas on those. I'm not a great fruit lover so I need a way of hiding it in there!

[Logarhythm]

Lildottie - there's no need to eat fruit - vegetables are much better, you get the goodness without the sugar hit. Just have a salad for breakfast instead.

[tenderbuttons]

Cheese muffins (it's the second recipe down on this link but I make it with extra cheese and no bacon).

Nice and easy to make the night before for an instant breakfast.

[tenderbuttons]

Also, the savoury drop scones at the bottom of this recipe are brilliant too (disclaimer: I am not sponsored by Hugh FW but he does have some good breakfast recipes)