If you are just transitioning to a more whole foods diet and your kids are more in the Captain Crunch and Pop-Tart crowd than the tofu and sprouts crowd, breakfast time can seem a little daunting especially when you’re in a hurry. Just because mornings are busy and you need a quick meal doesn’t mean you have to grab the Pop-Tart box or run through McDonald’s drive-thru.
Here are five quick and easy breakfasts even your pickiest eaters will love!
- Smoothies. Making a smoothie is quicker than pouring a bowl of cereal and milk. You can use what you have on hand and you don’t need a specific recipe. No need to pull out a cookbook! Use any and all combinations of fruit, almond milk, rice milk, or banana milk. You can add some almond butter for a thicker and more filling “milk”shake. For an added nutritional punch, throw in a teaspoon or two of ground flax seeds. The whole family will love them!
- Whole grains breads. Any whole grain bread, bagel, pita or roll can make a delicious, nutritious breakfast food. How quick is toasting a bagel? Top that with a healthy fruit spread, organic butter, nut butter or honey for a delicious treat. Just be very careful to read your ingredients and make sure your whole grain bread is a healthy one. Avoid high fructose corn syrup and any bread with unsavory ingredients. A good rule of thumb is if your child can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it. A great way to make sure your bread is of the highest quality is to bake it yourself! Watch for an upcoming tutorial on quick and easy bread baking. Once you bake your own bread, store bought will never measure up again!
- Fruit, nature’s “fast food”. Fruit by itself or in combination with a whole grain bread or cereal is a wonderful filling breakfast! You can serve this just as a whole fruit or you can chop up several fruits for a quick fruit salad. Prepare fruit salad the night before for added convenience. I think fruit salad is best after a night in the refrigerator. The blended flavors make it that much better!
- Whole grain cereals. Homemade granola can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. Also, baked oatmeal can be done overnight in a crockpot. Top either with fresh fruit, pure maple syrup or dried fruits and nuts and you have a hearty satisfying breakfast.
- Waffles and pancakes. I saved this one for last because it does take some advance preparation in order to be a quick breakfast. But, it’s worth the effort and the children will sing your praises when you serve these. Just make up a batch of your favorite whole grain waffle or pancake recipe, make bunches of them and freeze them. In the morning, you toast a frozen waffle just as you would a storebought frozen waffle. The only difference is your whole grain version is lacking the perservatives, trans fat and genetically modified ingredients. What a great trade-off. I’ll be sharing my favorite blender waffle recipe in an upcoming post so stay tuned!
With these quick breakfast ideas, you can serve your children food that you can feel good about and that they will love. Everybody wins! These are a few of the breakfast ideas that work for me.
What do you feed your children for breakfast especially on mornings where you are on the run?
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A very quick, easy breakfast is muesli. I soak steel-cut oats overnight in a mixture of juice and water. Then in the morning you can add fruit, nuts, seeds, or even just eat it as-is. Makes a nice summer breakfast, and much healthier than boxed cereals!
Great ideas! Homemade is definitely a lot better.
We like all of those above, too, although I need to make more fruit salads. I usually end up cutting a piece of fruit like apple or banana then pairing with peanut butter. 
We also like egg sandwiches with homemade bread or oatmeal. A lot of different homemade items like muffins, scones, etc. I make up ahead of time then freeze, so we can just pop in the microwave. 
Have a great Wednesday!
Sherry
Great ideas! My kids have just recently gotten into smoothies- how fun is it to have a “milkshake” for breakfast?
I eat homemade granola pretty much every morning, myself. The only thing I’d add? Eggs! Such high quality protein, quick, and very kid-friendly.
I was just thinking about smoothies yesterday as a possible way to sneak in more nutrition. Good idea adding flax seed!
My big boys are weird – they prefer last nights leftovers for breakfast. But if we had a healthy dinner, then I know they are having a healthy breakfast!
Mmm, I can’t wait for the blender waffle recipe.
Now, to go pull some pumpkin muffins out of the freezer…
Making a smoothie is quicker than pouring a bowl of cereal and milk.
What am I missing?! For me, smoothies are pretty time-consuming, what with washing and coring fruits and then having to clean the blender blade immediately.
My favorite summer breakfast is Tomato Toast, and my 5-year-old likes it too!
Hi Becca,
You aren’t missing a thing! I keep my fruit washed in the fridge or frozen in the freezer. My smoothies usually consist of a frozen banana or two, some frozen (or fresh if I have them) blueberries or strawberries, a little rice or almond milk and a handful of something green (spinach, kale, collards). For me, that’s grabbing about three or four quick things from the fridge or freezer and blending them up. The most time consuming part is grinding the flax seeds but that’s not too bad either. I keep them in my fridge and grind them in a coffee grinder that sits on my counter.
To clean my blender, I just give it an initial rinse, then fill halfway with water and blend. Turn upside down on a towel to dry and it’s clean as a whistle and ready for the next smoothie!
Thanks for answering my question! What I’ve been missing is cleaning the blender by running it with water in it–instead of taking it apart and cleaning it by hand–I don’t know why I never thought of that!