How to expand your breakfast repertoire

By JANET K. KEELER

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 8, 2001

Sometimes breakfast gets boring, and often it takes more time and energy than we think we have.

If mornings are madcap free-for-alls at your house, consider doing prep work the night before. When you're making dinner, chop up veggies for omelets or make a fritatta that can be refrigerated and reheated in the morning. Breakfast burritos can be made the night before, cooled, then wrapped in plastic. Reheat in the microwave.

Children and adults should eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Try to work at least one in at breakfast.

Most important, find foods your children will eat, aside from doughnuts and sugary cereals. The offerings don't have to scream breakfast to be breakfast.

Ideas to get you started:

Grilled sandwiches. Almost anything can be stuck between two pieces of bread and grilled to great satisfaction. Cheddar with apple slices; Monterey jack with pear wedges; bacon (leftover from the day before) and provolone; ham and cheese on cinnamon raisin bread.

Burritos. Especially good for vegetarians. Warm a flour tortilla, whole wheat if you can find it, and wrap away. Consider: scrambled eggs, chopped tomatoes and cheese; tofu sauteed with green peppers and tomatoes, topped with cheese and salsa; refried beans and salsa; bananas and peanut butter.

Bagel sandwiches. Look for the smaller varieties such as Lenders and dress them up with cream cheese and black olives; bacon and cheese; scrambled eggs and sausage patties; cream cheese mixed with finely chopped veggies; peanut butter plain or blended with raisins or shredded carrots.

Quesadillas. Almost anything that works on a grilled sandwich or a burrito works for a quesadilla. One quesadilla made from a large tortilla will feed two, maybe three, kids. Try a mild cheese with leftover chicken; refried beans, chopped tomatoes, sour cream and cheddar; peanut butter, honey and raisins. Bake in the oven or warm in a skillet until the cheese melts, flipping once.

Smoothies. If your kids want to drink their breakfasts, this is a nutritious way to send them out the door. Smoothies are basically a cup each of fruit and milk or yogurt blended with ice. A tablespoon of protein powder adds oomph.

Leftovers. If it was good enough for dinner, it's good enough for breakfast. Heat up spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, meatloaf, stew or baked chicken. Dish out pasta or rice salad. Load a pita with tuna or egg salad.

Crackers. Kids love making things with crackers. Find a multigrain variety and construct minisandwiches of salami and cheese; peanut butter and honey; cream cheese and strawberry jam. Big stuff. When you have time, make a batch of zucchini muffins or several loaves of banana bread. Freeze them until needed. Low-fat cream cheese or a thick vanilla yogurt such as Yoplait make healthy, tasty toppings for muffins. Assemble a breakfast casserole (see accompanying recipe) on Monday night and pop it into the oven as soon as you can on Tuesday morning. If you make pancakes on Sunday, double the batch and freeze them. They can be microwaved as easily as store-bought ones.

Always on hand. Sometimes your kids will have to grab and eat. Stock your kitchen with these: string cheese, yogurt, small apples, hard-boiled eggs, frozen waffle sticks, English muffins, peanut butter, carrot sticks, raisins.

Don't forget. There's always biscuits and sausage, cheese grits, cottage cheese and peaches, cold cereal and strawberries, yogurt and granola, oatmeal, cornbeef hash, hash browns, and eggs: fried, over-easy, poached, soft-boiled or scrambled.

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