Healthy Breakfast Options with Kiddos

One of the hardest part about cooking healthy for my kids is breakfast time.  I'm tired and the kids are hungry...not a good combination.  I am not a big breakfast person myself.  And when you have little ones going off to school at 7 am it's not easy to cook this fabulous breakfast every morning.  SO, here are the breakfast options I have for school age, pre-k and toddlers for quick, easy, & healthy!




School age:
For my daughter, she loves cereal & oatmeal..  Both quick options!
But no boxed packet oatmeal here!  That stuff is loaded with sugar and chemicals.  I buy the big box of 100% whole wheat quick cooking oats.  Here is my "recipe" for Addy's morning oatmeal:

• 1/3 c 100% whole wheat quick cooking oats
• 2 tsp stevia (yes she likes it sweet)  You can do less if desired
• 1 tablespoon agave syrup (or raw honey)

Put oats in bowl with 1/2c water
Stir in Stevia
Microwave for 1 min.  Watch carefully to not boil over.
Drizzle agave over top 
Enjoy!

She loves it kinda plain but you could jazz this up with some frozen berries, some nut butter on top, etc..

Now for my other kiddos that aren't in school yet.  They LOVE cereal.  It is more like an unnatural obsession....  Before I converted our diet, they would eat fruit loops, lucky charms, any sugary colorful cereal you could find.  So, converting their cereal to "clean" was really hard.  It had taken me about 8 months but finally they don't even ask for those cereals anymore when they see them on the cereal aisle at the store.  So, I used my fooducate app on my iphone and literally scanned every cereal on that aisle one day at walmart and I found that most cereals FAIL.  Too much sugar, added chemicals, artificial colors, etc..  It was depressing.  Now what was I going to serve them for breakfast??  Well I found an amazing brand called "Mom's Best Naturals".  At our local walmart, they have 2 flavors: a frosted mini wheat copy cat and a cinnamon toast crunch look alike.  They are VERY affordable, as cheap as all the main brand cereals.  And they passed on Fooducate!  Low sugar, no added chemicals or artificial colors!! Also, I found that my kiddos like kix too.  They also passed on my fooducate app.  Low sugar, no chemicals or colors.  (They even like to eat kix in a little bowl as a movie snack or after school snack).  And the other cereal I always have on hand is Cheerios (not fancy cheerios, just the original)...another one that isn't highly processed. 

 I love cereal!!!

My 1 and 2 year olds love their toast!  Nothing fancy, just some whole wheat (no fructose corn syrup added) bread toasted with a little Earth Balance butter and a touch of cinnamon sugar!

My 2 year old loves her yogurt!  I think it's because it is one of the only foods she can feed herself very well.  If yoiu've read my previous post, you know that she likes fruity yogurt.  Most yogurt is highly processed and has TONS of sugar.  Might as well just give them a snickers bar!  But, I do the greek yogurt with fruit, such as Chobani

 On special days, usually weekends, I make pancakes for the little guys.  But no bisquick here!!  I have a recipe that is literally just as easy but no added chemicals or preservatives!  (from www.graciouspantry.com)

• 1.5 c whole wheat pastry flour
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 1 c liquid (typically milk, dairy or non-dairy)
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract1 tsp cinnamon
  Whisk ww pastry flour & baking soda.  Add in all other ingredients.  Mix well so it's smooth.  & make your pancakes!

My kids LOVE these pancakes even better than the boxed kind.  They are sweet and have a light cinnamon flavor.  If you don't want the cinnamon flavor, you can omit the cinnamon all together.  

Now what do the kiddos have to have with their pancakes?  A glass (or tippy cup) of milk of course!  I opt for the organic milk.  You can buy it at your local grocery store and lucky for me our local walmart sells organic milk!  Now you may be wondering what the benefits are of organic milk....well that's a whole blog in itself!  I'll explain later.  Just trust me...it's for the best.  I tried to get my kids off dairy milk all together.  But they love it too much.  I tried soy.  I tried rice milk..  I tried it all.  I can get away with replacing milk in recipes when they won't notice it.  But they will not just drink a big glass of soy milk :/  So, if your kids will drink soy or rice milk then more power to you!

Another option is good old fashioned fruit.  Really in my opinion the absolute most healthy thing you can eat in the morning.  My babies love to eat bananas with breakfast.  

Now we come to mama's breakfast...don't judge me!!!

 

OK so it looks more like milk than coffee.  Ha!  So below is the one non-clean food item I have every day that I am looking to replace.

It is full of bad stuff...  I just try not to look at the ingredient list.  I have made my own creamer in hopes of replacing good ole coffee mate, but it went horribly wrong and tasted disgusting.  My next shot is to try out the Natural Bliss coffee creamer.  It does have heavy cream in it, but still better than all the chemicals in coffee mate.  The problem is I LOVE the french vanilla flavor.  So, milk would just not work for me...

In addition to the coffee, I like a good banana.  It is very filling and tides me over till lunch.  I do not eat until I'm hungry though.  Which may not be until 10 or 10:30 some mornings.  My tummy is just not ready for breakfast yet!  But everyone is different.

When I run in the morning, I like to get a good breakfast in addition to the coffee.  I make a nice bowl of 100% whole wheat oats with some frozen organic berries, and just a little agave on top.  The berries make it pretty sweet as it is. 

Well no fancy breakfast here!  Who really has time for that anyway?  I sure wish I did...maybe some day when the kids are older?  Thanks for reading!!