I recently shared with a friend that my kids only eat cereal about once a week. She seemed surprised and intrigued.
First, let me say: This is a no-judgment post for any parents who give their children cereal often. I grew up on cereal and Pop-Tarts. Still, as I’ve gotten older and eat many of the same foods repetitively for lunches and dinner, I began to focus on how to vary breakfast for my family.
Most importantly, I want to share how EASY it can be and how prepping ahead of time with a few gadgets make it more manageable and fun.
Egg-ceptional Mondays
Mondays are hard! You wake up early and may feel low on energy. Make the day better by eating eggs. Here are a few ideas:
- Eggs on toast – Eat an egg cooked your favorite way on toast, an English muffin, or a bagel.
- Egg burrito – Make a scrambled egg with cheese and wrap it up in a warm tortilla.
- Omelet in a Mug – Microwave eggs with your favorite fixings in a coffee mug.
- Taco Egg Muffins – Follow the recipe and put them in the fridge or freezer for later.
- Quiche – There are so many options. Try this ham and cheese version with a cauliflower crust.
Want to let your kids cook their own eggs? I love this Dash mini griddle for cooking one egg. My kids use it to create the perfectly cooked scrambled egg. It is so easy and requires no clean-up. I have given this gadget to family and friends as holiday and birthday gifts, and everyone I know loves it.
Do you have a picky family who won’t eat eggs? Look through 100 ways to eat eggs and try to find something on this list to try.
Let Them Eat Cake Tuesdays
Congratulations, you all made it through Monday! Now it’s time to celebrate with dessert on Tuesday. Make a breakfast cake. Or do what I do – find an amazing box mix that your whole family loves.
- This is our favorite – Cinnamon swirl cake by Krusteaz. It tastes similar to a cinnamon roll or a king cake. Add eggs, oil, and water and bake it for 40 minutes. I will bake this over the weekend, cut it up, and we’ll eat slices for several days.
- Don’t like my cinnamon suggestion? There are so many ideas for healthy breakfast cakes you can serve your kids – from blueberry to apple to pumpkin coffee. Browse through them all for ideas!
Waffle Wednesdays (or Pancakes or Fritters)
You may be thinking, “You want me to make waffles or pancakes in the middle of the week? Are you crazy?”
Hey, girl…I keep it simple, remember?
- Use a ready-made mix to make it easy. My favorite brands are Pamela’s and Krusteaz.
- The right tool makes pancakes enjoyable. My youngest daughter loves llamas, and we found a mini llama pancake griddle and gave it to her for Christmas last year. She loves using it and eating her llama-shaped pancakes. Browse through options to see what would work best for your family.
- You can enhance your pancakes or waffles by adding some fruit like blueberries, bananas, or even chocolate chips.
- Our family likes to make a double or triple batch on the weekend. We use our outdoor grill to make more than a dozen, then store them and heat up leftovers later.
- Try a breakfast fritter recipe for variety too.
Oat (Ode) to Thursday
Oats have excellent health benefits. They are a good source of fiber and are known to lower blood sugar levels. But they seem dull, right? I am not going to lie… My husband and kids are not fans of oatmeal. So, they don’t eat the traditional oatmeal. However, I do cook and use oats in other ways, and I want to encourage you to do the same. Start by substituting oat flour for traditional flour in recipes.
Here are ideas for oat-filled recipes:
- Oat Flour Banana Bread – This lightens up the heavy texture of traditional banana bread. (If you don’t like bananas, try another fruit).
- No-Bake Granola Bars – This is my own recipe. It’s not the hard, tasteless grocery store granola bars, and they are so delicious and easy to assemble!
- 15 Oatmeal Recipe Ideas – These look delicious. Perhaps I should force my family to try these? And maybe your family is more willing to eat oatmeal than mine!
Fruit Fridays
It’s Fri-yay! You’ve almost made it to the weekend. Let your kids sleep in a little bit today, and then surprise them with one of these fruit-inspired breakfasts:
- Fruit smoothie – I blend two bananas, a handful of berries, a cup of milk (can use regular, coconut, almond, etc.), a cup of ice, and about three tablespoons of peanut butter for a smooth, filling breakfast that feeds my two kids. (I sometimes sneak in some veggies that my kids cannot taste with it, like a handful of spinach leaves or carrot chips.) If that doesn’t sound good to you, browse through dozens of smoothie options and tips for making them.
- Fruit, yogurt, and granola parfaits – Offer your kid’s favorite fruit that is in season. Eat fruit with yogurt and top with my no-bake granola recipe from Thursday. Layer it all like a parfait. As Donkey from the film Shrek says, “Parfaits are delicious!”
- Banana with peanut butter or Nutella – My kids will sometimes want to eat a cut-up banana with peanut butter or Nutella smeared on top. They find this breakfast filling and delicious. Use any nut butter that your family enjoys or tolerates well.
- Almost crepes – Our family uses tortillas as “ready-made crepes.” We coat the tortilla with an egg and then cook each side. Then we fill the tortilla with Greek yogurt (Chobani vanilla is my kids’ favorite) and whatever fruit we have on hand (strawberries, banana, blueberries, etc.) and top with whipped cream and a bit of powdered sugar. Making authentic crepes can be tedious and time-consuming, but our way is simpler.
- Berry Clafouti – Have you tried a berry clafouti? You should!
This recipe cooks in one large pan and is quick and easy to mix. Let it bake while you get ready in the mornings.
Weekend Breakfast Bites
The weekend is here, hooray! Use the extra time to prep for the week ahead and enjoy foods you didn’t consume during the week.
Here are ideas for weekend foods and preparation:
- Baked bacon – I love to bake bacon on weekends. That’s right – I bake it. I don’t fry it or microwave it (unless it’s to reheat it after it’s been baked). It comes out perfect in the oven every time. I bake mine for 35-40 minutes. This recipe offers great tips for baking bacon. Save that bacon grease, too, for other recipes!
- Big batches of pancakes, waffles, and eggs – Do you often use an outdoor grill on the weekend? Use it for preparing breakfast in addition to your barbecue chicken and sausage. Saturdays and Sundays are a great time to double or triple your batches of pancakes, waffles, and eggs. You can store them in the fridge or freezer for eating later. Make your egg muffins or quiche on the weekend and enjoy leftovers on “Egg-ceptional Mondays.”
- Breakfast pizza – Most kids love pizza. Have you made a breakfast pizza for your kids yet? Use a pre-made crust and decide if it should be sweet (with ingredients like apples and cinnamon) or savory (with meat and veggies). Experiment with different toppings and flavors. You can even gather around the living room and watch a movie while eating your breakfast pizza in your pajamas!
Make breakfast your family’s favorite meal of the day.
Vary up the breakfast options you offer. Get your kids involved and have them search for new recipe ideas. Spend time doing meal planning and teaching your kids their way around the kitchen.
When you and your kids need a break, let them have cereal. That is always our fallback. And please share your recipe favorites with us!
