Breakfast foods for 10 and 13 year old - give me some ideas please!

Anyone have any ideas of breakfast foods for kids - ages 10 and 13. Picky eaters who eat too much processed food? (My husband buys processed stuff - I generally do not)

Are you trying to compete with salty, sugary, fatty processed breakfast foods? As in, offer nutritional whole foods that they will prefer? Because if so, I think that's a tall order.

There's no breakfast food more wholesome than oatmeal. It can be jazzed up to an extent with berries, nuts, sweeteners, and fats. (Many people like butter, or even cubes of cheese, in their porridge.) But bottom line, if you can't get your husband on the same page with you about the foods that are brought into the home, you probably can't get your kids to routinely eat oatmeal if they have frosted poptarts and frozen sausages as options.

Dan Boone wrote:Are you trying to compete with salty, sugary, fatty processed breakfast foods? As in, offer nutritional whole foods that they will prefer? Because if so, I think that's a tall order.

There's no breakfast food more wholesome than oatmeal. It can be jazzed up to an extent with berries, nuts, sweeteners, and fats. (Many people like butter, or even cubes of cheese, in their porridge.) But bottom line, if you can't get your husband on the same page with you about the foods that are brought into the home, you probably can't get your kids to routinely eat oatmeal if they have frosted poptarts and frozen sausages as options.

Yes, they love their carbs and sugar.

I've gotten a few of them (10 year old twins) to eat the oatmeal. But they get bored. And my 13 year old won't eat it

Great ideas for jazzing it up!

Check out Leah's pictures and recipe for puff pancakes. In our house we called them Dutch babies. My kids loved eating them plain (though that might be an acquired taste) or with fresh fruit and a little honey. My son would eat 3/4th a pan almost every morning when he was just 3 to 4 years old!

Peanut butter is really good in oatmeal. For years, I would put old fashioned oats with a big handful of mixed nuts and dried fruits, some ground flax seed, and peanut butter in a heavy (hand made) ceramin bowl (don't forget a little salt!). Then I'd put the kettle on to boil and take a shower. The whistling of the kettle would pull me from the shower, and I'd pour the boiling water over the oatmeal fixin's then cover the bowl with a lid and multiple towels (plus a few hot pads layered in). Then I'd go get dressed. When I was ready to go, the oatmeal was ready to eat. I liked it better that way, not as gooey from stirring. I ate it while driving to work.

Popovers are delicious and nutritious - they are like the puff pancakes in a muffin pan.

You can make really good waffles with a combination of chickpea flour and um, I forgot. Some other non-wheat flour. My friend made them for me this weekend and I was surprised how they just tasted like normal waffles (OK, like whole wheat waffles). Anyway, they didn't taste like falafel at all.

I cook porrage with home made jam . Looks pink kids love it also with home made reduced sugar "nutella"

David

soaked pancakes from the nourishing traditions cookbook are a hit with my boys, they could eat them every morning if I would let them. Noah loves pancakes so I nerded out and found a recipe that is good for them as opposed to an aunt Jemima type concept. Whole organic grains, soaked overnight in kefir (basically yogurt) then in the morning add butter, salt, baking soda and two smashed up bananas, blended well and fried on the griddle. they have either raw honey or real maple syrup or healthy jam.

I would love to see a picture of those pancakes! Is the grain ever blended into flour? Or goo? Or can you see the individual grains still in the pancakes?

If they really love fat and sugar then maybe there's something missing. I realized that all these vegetarians in our school eat a lot of sweet.
It is a lie that fat and saturated animal fat is bad for you. How about fried eggs with bacon and bread? Or better scrambled eggs, we like them with onion or green onion and fresh chili.
Maybe they like fried rice with an egg on the top?
If it is too early for such a thing simply pack them something more for lunch. Many people simply cannot eat in the morning.
I think it is really important to give growing kids enough fat (not oil).
Another trick is to make kids cook themselves. It saves you a lot of time. A good cookbook is a great present. My kids are doing curries at the moment.

My first thought on seeing the subject line was homemade granola with plain yogurt and fruit butter or canned fruit (or fresh in season). If you make your own granola, you can cut way down on the sugar over grocery store types. I just use a little honey and maple syrup to a large batch so the main flavors are nutty and toasty with just a hint of sweetness, then the fruit can sweeten the dish to taste. If it's the squishiness of the oatmeal that your 13 year old objects to, the granola might be a better fit.

If a more savory option would be preferred, quiches and fritattas are good hot or cold and are easy to make with whatever scraps and leftovers are on hand. I make my quiche crust right in the pan (1 cup whole wheat flour, dash salt, 1/2 cup softened butter - smash together with your hands, then press into the bottom and up the sides, prick and par bake a bit before filling) so there's no hassle with rolling pins and counter space and flour everywhere. Breakfast burritos are good too, and everyone can mix and match ingredients to have what they like.

For special occasions, everyone loves cinnamon rolls. I make a filling of just ground raisins, rehydrated a bit, with lots of cinnamon and some butter. Dough is a basic bread dough, on the soft side. For icing, cream cheese and milk blended up with some raisins or dates and a little vanilla. You can make similar sweet rolls with other fillings too - any jam is tasty. I made some particularly awesome ones with leftover cranberry sauce the day after Thanksgiving.

Julia Winter wrote:I would love to see a picture of those pancakes! Is the grain ever blended into flour? Or goo? Or can you see the individual grains still in the pancakes?

Oops, I meant whole grain flour. Look just like regular pancakes but the soaking neutralizes phytic acid and other irritants in the flour, a step the box mixes skip.

There is a recipe in a book called Lip Smackin Backpackin called Cherry Walnut Cous Cous Porridge. The price of the book is worth it for that recipe alone! To this date, I have found no one of any age who doesn't love the stuff. It's filling, it's relatively good for you and it is easy to make. I tend to make it in big batches and then just seal it away for when I feel like having something delicious.

Multi-grain toast buttered thickly with avocado. Topped with turkey bacon. Lots of flavors and textures and most of the fat is the good stuff found in avocado.

Based on how my body interacts with food, I think that the worst possible thing a person can do to a body is to give it a high carbohydrate breakfast first thing in the morning. Because that sets up a dependency on high carbohydrate foods for the rest of the day...

I have a lot more energy and can do tons more work in a day if I skip breakfast... But if sufficient peer pressure is exerted I'll eat non-carbohydrate foods: jerky, sausage, eggs, cheese, bacon, ham, etc. Protein and fat definitely seem to be the best sort of breakfast for me.

As far as husband buying junk food.... I learned a long time ago that if I want to keep wheat out of my meals that the simplest way to do it is to do the shopping and the cooking.

High protein for me too. If I ate frosted flakes, I'd have to sleep it off and I'd be hungry by 11 am.

I'm kind of tainted because i've just finished reading "Grain Brain" by Dr Perlmutter (about the link between gluten/sugar/carbs and Alzeimers/dementia/obesity/type 2 diabetes) and "Sugar - The world corrupted from slavery to obesity" by James Walvin.  If I had my time again, I'd remove 99.9% of sugar and carbs from my family's diet. I had no idea back then the absolutely detrimental effects of sugar on health, and how it's added to virtually everything to get us addicted to buying crap food that tastes soooo good. here in Europe everything has to carry an ingredient listing - organic lemon yoghurt? 12g sugar in each small pot - thats 3 teaspoons wtf???

Realistically, how on earth you wean children away from sugar, when they've been conditioned to expect it I just do not know. Has anyone tried the "well darlin' this is it, or go without" that my mother used on me when I got picky? ;o) My husband's grandchildren are an absolute nightmare to feed - they appear to eat nothing but pizza or stuff that looks like something they would find in Pizza Hut. Am I a wicked person to be looking forward to the day when they stay for a while without their parents facilitating their food 'preferences' ?

After 58 years of starting my day with a (large) bowl of breakfast cereal laced with a layer of sugar,  I now have homemade soup and that fills me up till lunch. I am a sugar addict and some days all I can think about is eating something sweet. An understanding of what it'll do to my body if I give in, keeps me on the waggon.  

With the knowledge I have now, I'm convinced that the best legacy a parent could pass on to a child is the capacity to do without sugar (and carbs that break down into sugar in the body). Read those two books I've mentioned and see what you think.

Hmm, hope I haven't alienated anyone! I do sincerely wish you the very best of luck in finding a solution, but IMHO i reckon something without carbs and sugar could give them a healthy start to their day.

Lesley

ps. Your kids are smart right? (They have a permie mum!) let them read the books that explain what sugar is doing to their bodies and how commercial interests are manipulating them into ill health later? Might help swing it if they have the information to make an informed decision?

When I was a kid a real treat for breakfast was french toast. Whole wheat bread soaked in egg a bit of milk and maybe vanilla and cinnamon, then fried. Top it with syrup or jam, you could probably even go with peanut butter. This still has a lot of sugar, but one piece of bread will soak up more than one egg. This is a protien boost in a tasty form that is a treat for kids and easy to make. So should be no fights on eating a healthier breakfast.

No kids but something that has tempted nieces and nephews upon visits is what we call an Egyptian Egg Sandwich that is basically a fried piece of bread in butter with the center cut out and an egg added.

Another twist is what we call “savory pancakes” that I have heard are also called hoe-cakes. Basically pancake mix with cubed cheese, chopped onions, hot peppers (optional) salt, pepper & oil and some water or milk. They are very thick going into the pan and need to be flipped quickly to prevent burning. Take a bit longer to cook completely through. We do them as a quick pick-up dinner as they take almost no time and easy cleanup.

Otherwise we eat steel cut oatmeal almost every morning with lots of fruit. We buy a 50 lb bag periodically and go through it at a surprising clip.

I have 5 kids, variety of eater preferences. Some or happy with eggs, meat, fruit. Others crave carbs. For the carb cravers, I use carbs as bait...eat a good helping of real food to earn your carbs. This means they get protein and fat, partially fill up, and thus eat less carbs. But carb rewards do motivate them to simply and quickly eat what they might otherwise complain about..

I just want to put a plug in for fermented foods. My son is not a fan, but my two year old daughter loves ogi (fermented millet porridge) and fermented oatmeal, as well as my sourdough bread. She particularly seems to like the mix of something sweet (like jam) or savory (like peanut butter) with the sourness, which gives a nice tangy flavor that processed foods can't compete with.

Another thing I've noticed is that my kids really like to eat something either that they've seen me prepare or that they have helped prepare. So they are excited about trying what I make and eat, and that helps me get them to try more things (not that they always like them).


Matt

Bacon.



You're welcome.

Burritos, burgers,  beef stew , porkchops,  chicjen drumsticks, almost anything you might normally eat for dinner.
'Mericans tend to eat a protein heavy dinner, and a carbheavy breakfast.
I get sleepy eating simple carbs,  so I try to eat my heavy proteins early in the day and save pancakes for dessert, at night.

when my daughter was 13 I took her up to the US to study for a year and the big factor was convenience and time (i.e. hard time getting out of bed). I made big batches of things she enjoyed and could eat with her hands as she walked to the bus stop: pocket type things full of tofu scramble (I was vegan at the time but you could just as easily make it with eggs, ham, cheese, etc), quesadillas, french toast, anpan (baked japanese buns filled with sweet red bean paste), steamed chinese buns filled with whatever I had laying around. I tried to make sure everything had a high enough fat/protein content to keep her going for a while.
Maybe find out what they would like and engage them in making a week`s worth with you?

“Cold oats”, AKA chia pudding;

Soak oats and spoonful of chia, nuts, fruits or seeds in milk/nut milk overnight in a mason jar.

There are infinite possibilities when you start with chia and oats!

This has been a hit with my picky eater!

I've always loved couscous with a little bit of honey and cinnamon and mandarin oranges (canned or "cuties" -- canned does give a little tinny taste to it). Potato hash, eggs, pancakes/waffles (with either real maple syrup or homemade blueberry), grits (plain) with salt and butter (hubs like sugar and butter) or cheesy grits, fruit crepes, and after our trip to China, (rice) noodle soup.

My parents did not have that delimma when I was a kid.

We ate what was put on the table or went hungry.

It's a different world today...........

1- egg fried rice (if they like chinese food)
2- egg burritos or egg quesadillas (these are nice made ahead, then   frozen & microwaved at breakfast time)
3- bread pudding (yes, sweet, but one option, no worse than french toast)
4- home made egg mc muffins (egg, deli ham or sausage patty, a little   cheese)
5- A "walking breakfast" same as macmuffin only on toasted hamburger bun
6- As a teen I liked chili "pie" - ladle a scoop on hot chili in a small fritos bag after crunching down the fritos, top with a bit of shredded cheese (or sour cream if you are into it) and eat from bag using a plastic spoon.  You could do the same with doritos & taco flavored meat and beans, just for a change
7- Grilled cheese sandwich
8- Home made french toast sticks - make, freeze, put in toaster when  needed
9- GORP made with cheerios or other breakfast food of choice, dried fruit, and nuts of choice  I'd try to avoid the M&Ms but for die-hards, maybe just a few of the mini-size sprinkled in there
10- "Paleo" roll ups- deli turkey or rolled around a string cheese stick with a dip of mayo or salsa depending on taste.  Budding athletes seem to go for these.  
11- Deviled eggs? Pickled eggs?  Boiled eggs texture are made for eating on the move.  
12- On the off chance your kiddos do not find cottage cheese "yucky" you can mix it with water pack tuna for a tuna cheese salad; with art. sweetener & cinnamon for a (weight watchers) toast spread
13- Speaking of toast, how about the old Brit breakfast of baked beans over toast? Add shredded cheese (2 TB = 1/2 oz instead of 4 TB to save fat calories but looks & tastes equally decadent)

I hated eggs from childhood until my 20s when I discovered how to vary the flavor with omelets, so these are some of my non-traditional breakfasts over the years.  I wish oatmeal was not so dull; fortunately granola has many options.  Corn meal mush is also interesting and tastes better than it sounds

Personally, I'm more into a savory breakfast, but I don't eat until I've been awake for a few hours, so maybe my brain is already primed for the idea of "lunch."  I really used to love cold leftovers as a kid; admittedly a lot of it was on the junky side--pizza, Chinese take-out, Stovetop stuffing, fried chicken fingers, spaghetti, mac and cheese, hamburgers or hot dogs, you get the idea.  I still like cold leftovers, but I prefer my first meal to be something a little lighter.  

A lot of East Asian cultures start the day with a bowl of rice and a bowl of soup (a light, brothy soup, not like a cream base or blended or thickened like a stew), and I really like that.  Chicken broth and rice is filling and hydrating and, most importantly to me, easy to assemble and easy to eat.  It's better with some leftover meat or vegetables tossed in.

I always have leftover polenta or cooked rice/ whole grains or potatoes in the fridge, so I build from there.  A lot of days I just add cheese to anything, nuke it, and call it good enough.  If I want to eat it cold, I just add some kind of sauce or salad dressing; I add in leftover veg/ proteins here, too.  I like pickled vegetables and rice with some of the juice drizzled over the rice with a splash of soy sauce.  I also mix soy sauce with some chopped garlic and a little apricot or plum jam or ginger syrup and mix into rice; this is really good with broccoli or some other vegetable with a hint of bitter.  Sometimes I'll eat my carbs with a side of almonds or cashews.  

For something sweet, I'll add some jam to cold rice or polenta; pumpkin butter in polenta tastes a lot like pumpkin pie.  Sometimes if I'm craving a little fat or something heavier, I'll add some yogurt along with the jam.  Dried fruit plumped in hot water (or tea) is really nice, too.

Some of my other favorite breakfasts as a kid (probably not super healthy, but could be made healthier):
-banana bread with cream cheese
-peanut butter and banana sandwich (also tortillas spread w/ peanut butter and rolled around banana, or banana "hot dogs")
-tortillas rolled up with cheese and ranch dressing
-tuna salad (standalone or a sandwich/ with crackers/ lettuce wraps)
-plain unsweetened/ lightly sweet cereal like shredded wheat/ chex/ cheerios eaten dry with cubes of cheese (like cheese and crackers; sometimes I'd have ring bologna or cubed Lebanon bologna too [it's a PA Dutch thing])
-rice pudding
-cold french toast or pancakes (my Mom used to do breakfast-for-dinner a lot)
-hard boiled eggs or red beet eggs (another PA Dutch thing)

Bacon Pancakes Anyone?

have your kids tried maltomeal?