CALIFORNIA – PERFECT

by Rose Elder

For some reason when I wake up my creativity is kind of shut off. I’m not sure if it’s only that or that my brain is blocked with the annoyance of not being able to feed Nicholas certain things like nut spreads or EGGS! I love eggs. So if you are on my same boat, I wanted to share with you my 7 to-go easy breakfast ideas that I make for my family. I will hopefully give you a week worth of ideas.

Eggs are my big to-go’s. I like them cooked every possible way: scrambled, fried, poached, over-easy, soft boiled, hard boiled. Since Nicholas can’t have eggs I’ve had to become more creative. Some of my recipes below have eggs or the option to add an egg. I have noticed that if I have eggs in the morning I can wait longer to have lunch than if I eat yogurt and granola, or anything else really. I am a protein kind of gal. I tried to go vegan after watching that documentary on Netflix “What the Health” that talks about how “terrible” meat is for us, but I lasted like two days and I probably cheated too!

I gave up dairy and gluten about three years ago. Dairy because it’s just another processed food and it messes with my digestion. Plus my skin has never looked better since I gave it up. My large pores are completely gone! I gave up wheat mostly because of Nicholas’ allergy and also because unless you find organic non-GMO wheat, is better to avoid it.

Anyways, back to breakfast time.

I am getting smarter about little ways to limit the sugar intake for my boys in the morning. It is actually pretty hard to do. Most processed foods have added sugar, processed oils and conservatives. As moms we have to be smart at learning how to read labels if we choose processed foods for our kids. No blame in that, we all need a fast way to get us out of the house.
I realized the granola I was buying had 10 grams of sugar per 3/4 of a cup. These are actually over two teaspoons of sugar for 3/4 of a cup. It isn’t terrible when you give half of the serving amount to your kids, but you are still feeding them a teaspoon of sugar only in the granola. Most granolas aside form having added sugars, they also have added oils and can also be high in sodium. So even though this particular granola is organic, non-GMO, and doesn’t have an excess of sodium, it does have cane sugar as the second ingredient, and soy oil as the third!

If you serve it with yogurt you better choose a plain yogurt because flavored yogurts have so much sugar. If you are not careful you are giving your child in a small vanilla yogurt about 20 grams of sugar. That is about 6 teaspoons of sugar when you combine it with a serving of granola. All that sugar in a 30-40 lb child can’t be good.

The smart way to do it would be to look at all the granola brands and find the one with less grams of sugars (specially refined sugars) and unhealthy fats (or even make your own granola)  and use an organic plain yogurt instead. That would be a total of 10 grams of sugar instead of 25 grams. You also have to beware of hidden sugars in purchased bread loafs. Juices are kind of the same thing, unless you make it on the spot or in your cold press juicer, you are giving your kid large amounts of sugar with very little benefits. Nutrients don’t last when the fiber and pulp is removed from a fruit, like we do in juice. So after a day most nutrients are gone. I never purchase juices for my boys unless we have it made right there on the spot. I never ever buy the prepackaged stuff. If I make my own and serve them half of a small cup. I honestly rarely do.

7 Easy Breakfast Ideas

• I finally created the right recipe for my Acai Bowls. Not too icy and not too watery but perfectly creamy. I use 1 banana, 1 packet of Zambazoon Organic Acai, and 1 small “So Delicious” plain coconut yogurt. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy a healthy and filling breakfast.

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• Home made oatmeal with apple and cinnamon. You can add a little bit of home made apple juice to the water you cook the oatmeal in as a natural sweetener or use a couple of drops of Organic Stevia. You can garnish it with your favorite berries or banana slices.

• Chia pudding. I generally do 3/4 of a cup of chia seeds per 2.5 cups of vegetable milk like almond of coconut. I’m sure it would also be delish with organic rice milk. Prepare it the night before. You can add Stevia to sweeten it. I also like to add blueberries and strawberries and a little bit of  vanilla and cinnamon.

• Organic chicken sausages. I love the ones that are sold at my local Costco. You basically just heat them up et voila! They have only like 4 ingredients and they are organic with no nitrates or preservatives. I pair them with a milkshake made with mango and banana in coconut milk. Add a teaspoon of ground chia seeds as your omega source in the milkshake. I sweeten my milkshakes with organic Stevia.

• A simple soft boiled organic egg with organic non-GMO whole grain toast (or gluten-free toast). I buy Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread (no added sugars) or  Dave’s Killer Bread. You can add a side of organic berries or banana. Berries are low on sugar content.

• For a special treat on the weekends I will make some kind of gluten free and dairy free pastry. I just buy King Arthur mixes, I haven’t gotten the hang of baking gluten-free on my own. If we are in the mood for something savory I make a sausage patty and egg sandwich. At Costco I can find sausage patties from Greenfield. They don’t use any hormones or antibiotics and all their meat is vegetarian fed and gluten free. A good tip is to slice your toast in half to avoid eating too much bread.

I would love to hear more breakfast ideas from you! Calling vegan moms, or moms that have children with an egg allergy: What do you make for breakfast.  I am always looking for new healthy and delicious ideas that my kids will love.