Food Fridays

Breakfast....the most important meal of the day!

 Breakfast was my first meal I decided to "make over" this year.  It felt like all we did was eat cereal on weekdays and pancakes on the weekends.  As a SAHM one of the bonuses is that I have time in the morning to fix breakfast.    My children wake up hungry and asking for breakfast.  So I needed some quick and easy options.  Here is a collection of the things I do for breakfast.  At this point I try to give the kids 7 different breakfast with no repeats.  To achieve this I need all my favorite kitchen appliances (crockpot, bread maker, oven, tupperware, freezer and dehydrator).  It always makes me feel super accomplished that I filled their belly's while expanding their palettes a bit. Our dinners got a "makeover" too (that is another post)...but lunch is just an unlucky meal, it still remains totally boring or leftovers.  Hoping to tackle that soon.

 This is zucchini bread.  Only one of my kids like it, but I have an alternate recipe that uses cocoa powder...I think this will make a good breakfast snack if it were a bit sweeter. But it is a great way to get a serving of veggies in them before 8 am...thanks for the idea deceptively delicious.  Add a fruit salad and it's a terrific way to get vegetables, fruit and whole grain in one meal.

 Who can resist hot cereal.  We do versions of cream of wheat, oatmeal, flax seeds and warmed up cereals.  They like it best when I add cinnamon and brown sugar. But to cut sugar I use agave syrup, maple syrup or brown rice syrup.   We've also added apple sauce, dried fruit, protein powder, chocolate chips and yogurt to make other versions.

 One of the favorites in the smith house is pancakes.  These of course are milk and egg free.  I experiment with this recipe all the time.  Sometimes it works out well, others are a flop.  The best swap yet is adding applesauce for the oil (the vegan version call for 6 Tbs, which I can't stomach putting in).  I can freeze these bad boys and pull them out when I'm feeling lazy.  They also make terrific sandwiches.   Believe it or not I've even wrapped these in a napkin stuffed them in my pocket and had a great snack when we're out and about for the kids. I can change this recipe slightly and make waffles too!

 This is our homemade applesauce.  I wish it was apple butter, but better luck next time.  The kids eat this for breakfast with some whole grain english muffins or toasted wheat bread.  Yum!

 The muffin.  In our house they come in mini size (like this one)  or bigger versions.  Thanks to vegan cookbooks and online recipe searches I can make just about any type of muffin.  This is pumpkin spice muffin...but we've also made banana bread muffins, chunky apple muffins, blueberry muffins, strawberry muffins, zucchini muffins (they didn't know), carrot cake muffins and vanilla muffins that I piped a bit of raspberry preserve for a jelly donut effect.  I also add in a serving of vegetables and the kids have no clue. Why am I getting hungry as I type this?  Muffins also freeze well and thaw well, so I usually have about 6 in the freezer at all times.  Add a bit of icing and voila I have a cupcake for those b-day parties that sneak up on me.

 Cold cereal.  Boring...but a necessity.  Did I mention my kids eat 2 to 3 kid sized bowls of this each time I serve it.  We usually do grainy type cereals with no more than 5g of sugar.  But sometimes I break out the fruit loops, Gav calls them "fwoot woops."..sometimes I just want to hear him say it in the morning.  Those times I mix the sugary cereal with puffed rice, kix of something else a bit healthier for my itty bitties.

 Enjoy life is a brand that makes allergen free products.  Although they can be pricey they are worth their weight in gold for those with allergies.  This photo is the trail mix and granola.  These items usually contain tree nuts or are processed with them.  We use these in yogurt (soy of course) to make fantastic yogurt parfaits.  I was really missing the real thing, so whenever we get to the mall for a meal I usually go for a yogurt parfait, I love them so much I could eat it for dinner!  Thanks Enjoy Life!

 These are the fixings for our favorite clif bar recipe.  Found it here. We use brown puffed rice or wheat cereal, sun butter, brown rice syrup, protein powder and dried fruit.  Can you believe I own a food dehydrator?  Yikes.  Anyhow these are simple and the kids love to play around with what we put in.  One time we made chocolate cherry ones that everyone was wild for.  Not only are they safe for my munchin, they are really cheap and healthy! 

 Pita Chips for breakfast?  Yes, cinnamon ones made with super delicious yogurt or tofutti dips. I sometimes add in our soy protein powder, fresh fruit, cinnamon or nutmeg.  The possibilities are endless and my kids love dips, so why not?

 

Do you know this is homemade fruit roll ups or fruit leathers?  We call them fruit candy to entice the kids...but whatever you call them they are 100% dehydrated fruit...nothing else.  When I was in my 20s if you ever told me I'd be making homemade fruit rolls up, I'd have laughed so hard that I'd have fallen off my chair.  Who knew?  These are a great addition to breakfast toast especially in the winter when fruit is so $$$

 

This is popping fresh pilsbury dough right out of the can.  The magic of chemicals mean these are safe.  Sometimes I use homemade dough too.  If you slather these with a teaspoon of jelly they become french pastries (or some simpler version).  We have also popped in a few chocolate chips to make chocolate crossants.  Also the soy butter comes in a chocolate version that reminds me of nutella.  I thought this would be a good spread as well and the kids weren't fans.

I'm always looking for suggestions of new foods.  If you have any ideas for breakfast please, oh please, SHARE!