I’m thrilled to have Lisa of This Organic Girl back again to share some of her family’s favorite healthy breakfast ideas! She is such a wealth of knowledge about what it means to truly eat organic, and I always learn something new from her. Today she’s sharing some delicious and healthy recipes that are sure to please even the littlest members of your family! I’ll let Lisa take it from here:
I am so excited to be back doing another guest post at Maison Pur – a big thanks to Molly for the invite!
I love making my kids real food meals including breakfast. It’s a labor of love and I am so passionate about fueling their little bodies and brains with foods that will maximize their thinking potential and physical agility throughout the day.
But lets back it up for a second. We all lead busy lives with crazy work, school, sports and play schedules and at the end of the day this can leave little time for food prep. Not to mention the convenience of a box of cereal, frozen waffles or donuts is hard to ignore. So I wanted to share some of my kids breakfast ideas that are in heavy rotation at our table. After all, to get the most out of these fun schedules, lets gift our children with nutrient dense foods so they can maximize these activities. All of these are gluten-free but you can use a flour of your choice. And when possible choose organic ingredients to avoid pesticides and GMOs.
Let’s talk cereals. Even cereals that are marketed to be “healthier” options like Honey Nut Cheerios for example – which by the way I pretty much grew up on – are nutritionally void and have some concerning ingredients like:
-Refined sugar as the second ingredient followed by brown sugar syrup as the 6th ingredient
-Corn starch (GMO)
-Canola oil (GMO, hydrogenated, chemically processed)
-“natural almond flavor” (not even real almond flavor – I read that it is extracted from the pits of peaches and apricots – which I’m willing to bet requires a chemicals – I doubt General Mills is cold pressing apricot pits and naming it “natural almond flavor” – sketchy)
–Try Googling Tripotassium Phosphate or check out the CDC’s chemical safety card for it – no thanks!!!
–If you wanted me to keep going I would assume the honey here has been harvested off of bees fed canola. It never ends!
Here is their full ingredient list for Honey Nut Cheerios:
At this point what are we actually feeding our kids? A bunch of crap with a side of whole grain oats? Sweet.
Okay lets get back to some solutions. The great thing about these real food breakfasts is that they are not only nutritional but can all be made ahead of time and pulled out of the fridge that morning. Carving out some time for food prep on the weekend or a day off is the key to success here. You can do it mama.
Homemade Granola Cereal
Swap this for that box of Honey Nut! This cereals is so delicious and is great with milk, topped with fresh berries, over yogurt or even plain and the kids love it. The great thing here too is you can swap out walnuts for pecans or add dried fruit like gogi berries. blueberries or cranberries. Go crazy and add some cocoa power and make a chocolate granola or add matcha and make a green tea granola. Sub all the nuts for seeds and you have a nut-free granola for school lunches. The possibilities are endless and you can customize a version that will fit your families tastes. Here is the skeleton recipe:
Ingredients:
- 3 cups of oats
- 1 cup of pecans
- 1 cup of slivered or sliced almonds (I love getting mine organic from Nuts.com)
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup pepitas
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1 tbsp cinnamon (consider adding nutmeg, allspice, ginger)
- pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla
Directions:
- In a sauce pan, incorporate the maple syrup and coconut oil over low heat.
- Once incorporated take off heat and add vanilla, stir.
- Add all other ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread granola evenly.
- Bake at 250F for 60-80 mins stirring every 20 mins.
- Store in glass.
Homemade Pumpkin Muffins
I never met a kid who didn’t like a muffin! Making these at home ensures real whole food ingredients with none of the nasties. Let’s take a look at a Dunkin’ Donuts Muffin just to compare:
INGREDIENTS: Muffin: Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron as Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamin Mononitrate, Enzyme, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Sugar, Water, Banana Puree, Eggs, Semisweet Chocolate Chunks [Sugar, Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin (Emulsifier), Natural Flavor, Salt], Soybean Oil, Contains less than 2% of the following: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Aluminum Sulfate), Modified Corn Starch, Soy Protein Isolate, Salt, Whey (a milk derivative), Natural and Artificial Banana Flavor, Mono and Diglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Sorbitan Monostearate, Polysorbate 60, Gelatinized Wheat Starch, Propylene Glycol, Beta Carotene (Color); Topping: Sugar, Carnauba Wax; Chocolate Icing: Sugar, Water, Cocoa, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Soybean Oil, Corn Syrup, Maltodextrin, Contains 2% or less of: Dextrose, Corn Starch, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil, Salt, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Propionate (Preservatives), Soy Lecithin (Emulsifier), Agar, Artificial Flavor.
A bunch of garbage here: enriched flour with a bunch of additives, sugar, soy (endocrine disruptor), “natural flavor” (no one knows what this is), HFCS, Aluminum phosphate, aluminum sulfate (metals). corn starch (GMO), artificial flavors (chemicals)….and it just continues downhill from there!
Save the drama dunks – there is a new muffin in town and it’s stealing the show. Make these at the beginning of the week and serve them up for breakfast topped with a nut butter – so good! Use them as a snack on the go, in lunch boxes or freeze for next week.
This recipe has been adapted from 100 Days of Real Food Whole Grain Pumpkin Muffins.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups of gluten-free organic flour blend or flour of your choice – I like the organic Arrowhead Mills Heritage Blend.
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup melted butter or ghee
- 1 cup pumpkin puree – I like the Whole Foods Market organic puree that comes in a box to avoid cans.
Directions:
- Mix all dry ingredients together.
- Beat eggs, honey and butter together (make sure butter is not hot or it will cook the egg).
- Mix wet and dry together.
- Fold in the pumpkin puree.
- Coat muffin tin with ghee and fill.
- Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes.
- Makes 10-12 muffins or 20-24 mini muffins. Store in fridge or freezer.
Mini Quiche
My 4 year-old loves these and I’m pretty sure it’s just because of the “pie crust” bottom. My 2 year-old won’t touch these yet but I haven’t given up. He also wouldn’t even look at a scrambled egg for the first two years of his life and then one day I put a bite on his plate and he ate it – I almost died! So still modeling with him on this one but it is a great, protein and veggie packed breakfast that will keep kids bellies full and brains functioning.
I would start with a cheese one and see if that flies then from there you can play with adding in veggies and meat. Again so many good options here, broccoli, ham, bacon, tomato, pepper, onion, 100% grass-fed chopped hotdog – work with what your kids like. To avoid texture aversions consider pureeing 1/4 of an onion and 1/4 of a yellow pepper and sub for the broccoli – this will look just like a cheese quiche but BOOM more veggies!
These are great for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack. They keep in the fridge or freezer. Serve with ketchup or your kid’s fave dipping sauce…grated cheese or whatever will make it fly.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup gluten-free blend or flour of your choice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 tbsp butter melted
- 4 eggs
- 1 – 1 1/2 cups milk or milk substitute
- 1/2 cup grated cheese or cheese substitute
- 1/2 cup broccoli fine chop
Directions:
- Grease a muffin tin with ghee.
- Blend flour, salt and butter until crumbly.
- Line the bottom of each muffin cup with flour mixture and press down to make the crust.
- Sprinkle a bit of cheese and broccoli in each cup.
- Blend the egg and milk in a blender and pour into each cup – under filled by just a hair.
- Bake at 400 for about 20-22 minutes until eggs are set and lightly browned on top.
Keep in fridge or freeze.
This recipe is adapted from 100 Days of Real Food.
Green Pancakes
My kids love these – pancakes with blended spinach. Spinach is pretty mild in flavor so if you can make it pass with the fun green factor then you got a morning dose of veggies in the bag.
Top these with nut butters or jelly or pair with a side of pastured/organic bacon to round out this meal with a little protein. Of course Grade A real maple syrup is always a great option too especially if it gets kids excited about eating. These keep in the fridge for the week or store great in the freezer for next week. Easy to warm in the oven or microwave in the morning and go. And if you are really on the go – slap ‘em together and make a green pancake nut butter and jelly sandwich for the car ride. You got this mama!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of flour (gluten-free organic blend or flour of your choice)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 cup of milk or nut milk
- 1 good handful of fresh spinach
- 1 egg
- 1-2 Tablespoons of honey
Directions:
- Combine dry ingredients.
- Blend wet ingredients and spinach.
- Mix together.
- If too dry add more milk.
- Butter a pan with ghee and cook cakes until light brown on each side.
More Ideas
French toast sticks with maple syrup – cook french toast and then slice into strips for finger food and easy dipping.
Oatmeal Bar – heat 1 cup of oats with 1 cup of milk/milk substitute and 1 cup of water on the stove for about 10 mins. Serve with fresh and/or dried fruit, nuts and nut butters. Lets kids “build their own.”
Scrambled eggs and avocado slices – I beat my eggs in the blender which makes them a perfect consistency for scrambling. Serve with sliced or diced avocado. I love this as a breakfast – so nutrient and protein dense!
Breakfast picnic – toast, fresh fruit and nuts. This is usually what my kids eat when mama sleeps in and dada feeds them.
Any of these breakfasts can be served with a side of green smoothie, breakfast meat or fresh fruit – have fun experimenting!
Thanks so much for reading! I hope these ideas are helpful. What are your real food breakfast staples?
