With back to school comes back to the drawing board for easy breakfast ideas that will keep everyone properly fueled. Getting a healthy start to your day with the right breakfast is so important in boosting your metabolism and keeping your focus and concentration on task.
Pancakes/Waffles
In my experience, families making a lifestyle change have a hard time giving things like pancakes and waffles up. With the following recipes, you won’t miss the ol’ Betty Crocker-like ones from your previous life. These are healthy options, and I know I’ve hit a jackpot when a recipe is requested by every family member!
- Dutch Baby
- Blender Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
- Easy Gluten-Free Oat Waffles
- Coconut Flour Pancakes
- Crispy Grain-Free Waffles
- Grain-Free Egg-Free Waffles
Granola
Who doesn’t love granola and the crunch of cereal? We haven’t purchased a box of cereal in eons at our house, though I will keep homemade granola in stock. I even created a grain-free granola recipe we all eat and love.
Granola is something that tastes great at any time of the day as well so don’t limit it to a morning treat. You need to watch the sugar content in granola, however. Avoid packaged granola and/or watch for what they use to sweeten it. I prefer maple syrup and/or honey to sweeten mine.
Our Favorite Non-Breakfast-Food Breakfast Ideas
Admittedly not everyone is in my camp on this one — but forget about having breakfast food for breakfast. It’s overrated! I love reheating dinner in the morning. It leaves me feeling fuller and I know it’s balanced. I can get away with this one day a week with our girls, though I personally eat dinner for breakfast more often than that.
- Beans and rice
- Pizza
- Soups or stews
- Any dinner leftovers
Egg-Based Dishes
Egg dishes are so easy as you can bake them ahead of time and even freeze them (though I don’t love the texture of a frozen and reheated egg bake, but I’ll grab it in a pinch). They keep well in the fridge for the week so you can grab and go if needed, though the scrambles are something you need to make and eat as reheating those don’t go over as well. Full of protein and easy to get veggies in, these dishes pack a nutrient punch.
- Overnight Egg Bake — remember, you can always substitute almond or coconut milk and goat cheese for cheddar!
- Egg and Potato Breakfast Scramble
- Frittata
Muffins & Quick Breads
We love baked goods at our house. And now that Sunny enjoys baking as much as I do, we’ve been collecting special supplies that keep the task fun and interesting. Our new favorite supplies include:
These recipes are tasty and easy and can be served for breakfast or a quick snack later in the day.
- Grain-Free Breakfast Honey Cake
- Pumpkin Bread
- Grain-Free Banana Bread
- Strawberry Bread
- Lemon Blueberry Coffeecake
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Grain-Free Mini Donuts
Smoothies
I serve smoothies in one of two ways at our house. For breakfast on the go (in the car), I use Mason jars, either 16 ounce or 8 ounce, depending upon the kid and the day. I set aside the lids for when I use these jars as storage in the fridge and use these lids for smoothies. Just make sure you pay attention to wide or normal mouth sizes.
Now, if I want to send a smoothie for a snack or as part of their lunch later in the day, I make the smoothie the night before, put it in the freezer in this silicone squeasy container and pop it from freezer to lunchbox or backpack in the morning. By the time they get to it, they can squeasy their smoothie out and we don’t have to worry about spillage!
I always add either baby spinach, kale, or Swiss chard and either gelatin, collagen, or protein powder to our smoothies for additional nutrients. ***Note: use collagen powder if you don’t want your smoothie to gel up like Jello after a bit, otherwise gelatin is a fantastic thickener for smoothies, to have around to add to bone broth, and to make jello for the kiddos (or the mamas!).
- Strawberry Spinach Smoothie with Bananas and Gelatin
- Easy Peach Fruit Smoothie (though I would use honey or maple syrup in place of sugar in this recipe)
- Chocolate Blueberry Smoothie
- Vanilla Fruit Smoothie
- My Chocolate Milkshake Smoothie
Hot Cereal
We love hot cereal at our house, it smells good, feels good going down and is a great way to get some healthy fats into your day. Our typical toppings include stirring in either coconut oil or grass fed butter alone with ground nuts or seeds and berries or raisins and coconut flakes.
Meats
We love meat in the morning and often work in pork links, sausage, or bacon into the start of our day. I am so grateful in that we get our pastured meat from a local family farm called Pasture Adickes. Their meat is phenomenal!
