What is quick, easy and healthy that I can feed my kids for breakfast? As the school year begins many of us are scrambling to find healthy meals for our families. This week I thought I would share a simple healthy breakfast idea. In the fast pace of life, if your house is anything like mine, I am sure many of you are trying to balance getting yourself ready, lunches, kids up showered, dressed and ready, last minute papers signed for school, and oh let’s make sure they actually eat breakfast too. My kids used to eat A LOT of frozen French toast sticks, frozen waffles, frozen pancakes and bagels for breakfast. While these are quick, easy and convenient, they are also loaded with lots of added sugars (high frusctose corn syrup), added colors and artificial ingredients. Many of our kids love loading up on these carbs and then find themselves hungry later in the mornings. Not only do they have what I call “bad stuff” in them our bodies don’t need, they also don’t contain many nutrients in them that our bodies DO need.
Over the next couple months I will spend more time talking about some of the dangers of artificial ingredients in many of our everyday staple foods that our kids are consuming and the potential health issues that could result from the continued consumption of these chemicals being added to our foods. I will also talk about some of the key nutrients our kids do need and how we can start bringing more of these nutrients into their diets. But to get us off to a good start, I wanted to share a specific take away for you on how to make your own home made breakfasts. Some days I make these the morning of and other times I make the batter in advance to make lots of fresh homemade waffles and pancakes for the week. They are very simple and easy to do.
I try to make these as healthy as possible and also try to sneak in some other healthy 
ingredients. The kids don’t even know these other ingredients are in them and still love them. I have two different kinds of waffle makers to change it up. One is the babycake machine which you can find at your local Kohls. The other is a Belgium waffle maker. This week, I chose the waffle sticks.
Recipe
- 1 ¾ cup Stone Ground Flour – I use Bob’s Red Mill Stone Ground Wheat Flour. It is made from stone ground 100% whole wheat flour, so I know there are nutrients in them. I will share more on Whole Grains and why it is important to find ingredients that say 100% Wheat. This brand also has 4 grams of fiber per serving.
- 2 Tbs Sugar – I use Agave Nectar which is a natural form of sugar instead of refined white sugar
- 1 Tbs Baking Powder
- ¼ Tsp Salt
- 2 Eggs – I use Egglands Best Eggs (or any other Cage Free Egg), as they have Omega 3’s as well as Vitamin D in them.
- 1 ¾ cup milk – I use Almond Milk and the kids don’t seem to know the difference. If your child can’t have nuts, you can always try Coconut or Soy Milk. Dairy is a HOT topic (for another blog as well). If your family uses regular milk, that is fine too and works for this recipe
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 Tsp vanilla
- 3 Tbs Flaxseed – I also sneak in some Flaxseed. (Another way to get some Omega 3’s) It looks like there are little flakes in the batter, but does not change the taste
- 3 Tbs Protein Powder – Sometimes I also sneak in some Protein Power as an added boost for the morning.
- Two of my kids like Chocolate Chips, so I will sprinkle some REAL Chocolate Chips into their waffles or pancakes. (Someone asked about chocolate in the webinar, I will talk a bit more about chocolate and the benefits of it in a future blog. Cacoa has some GREAT health benefits, but you need to ensure that you are choosing the right kinds of Cacao, which is why this makes for its own blog)
- I have also experimented with putting blueberries and strawberries in the batter too. If I don’t do that, I usually serve blueberries or strawberries on top of their waffles or pancakes.
If there are extras left over, they can be used as snacks for later on in the day OR they can be frozen for later use. I usually package them up in little baggie servings so it is easy for the kids to just grab a snack later in the day, or for breakfast the next mornings.
Each week I share a bit more with you on why I chose each of these particular products and the different nutrients found in them. I will expand on each of the ingredients I chose and why this particular ingredient. It has taken me a long time to understand why to choose these, so I figure I would share bits and pieces with you so that it makes it easier to absorb.
If you try the recipe let me know how it works out, or feel free to share any other good homemade recipes that your family loves.