Let’s Talk About Breakfast Baby, Let’s Talk About…

by Brooke on August 24, 2010

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I love breakfast food and could eat it all day long.  In fact, some days I have been known to eat breakfast foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Whether your dishes are sweet or savory you can make breakfast foods fit into any meal and still have a balanced diet.  Following the healthy plate model:  Breakfast consists of 1/3 grains, 1/3 fruit, and 1/3 protein. Lunch and dinner consists of fill 1/2 your plate with vegetables, 1/4 protein, and 1/4 grains.  Breakfast could be the usual one bowl of cereal with a banana.  Lunch you could get creative and have a savory crepe with melted cheese and vegetable medley of your choice or egg and vegetable scrabbler with toast.  Dinner could include a vegetable quiche with a side of asparagus or a  potato and vegetable frittata with a homemade biscuit.

Try these healthycooking breakfast tips in your next meal to reduce cholesterol, fat, and/or calories:

* Use eggs whites when making french toast.  It cuts down the calories and eliminates cholesterol, which is found only in the yolk.

* Use unsweetened apple sauce instead of butter, lard, shortening or oil in homemade muffins and bread.  You can also try substituing using three ripe, very well-mashed bananas, instead of 1/2 cup oil as well.

* Try using egg whites, less yolks or egg beaters when making scrambled eggs, breakfast casseroles, or breakfast scrabblers.

* Try using whole-wheat flour when making panckes or waffles.

* Use fat-free milk or 1% milk instead of whole or reduced-fat (2%) milk in recipes.

* Replace salt with herbs, spices, or salt-free seasonings like Mrs. Dash.

This past Sunday, I decided to have breakfast for dinner.  I made a stuffed pepper southwest egg scrambler with blueberry zucchini bread.  I used the blueberry zucchini bread recipe from the Farmer’s Market section of my WIC cooking book.  I use to make this bread once a week when I worked at WIC and still enjoy eating it!  To make the  stuffed pepper southwest egg scrambler:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of bell peppers (any color). Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward.  Note:  If the pepper will not stay upright you can always cut the bottom off of it.  May take an hour to roast, so keep checking until pepper is tender.  When the pepper(s) is/are done cooking begin to cook egg scrambler.  I used Southwest Egg Beaters to reduce the calories, cholesterol, and cooking time.  However, you can always make the southwest egg scrabbler from scratch by combing your favorite vegetables with eggs!

What are your favorite breakfast foods and how can you make them healthier?

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Christina Sherry August 24, 2010 at 1:28 pm

Great post Brooke! I am a must-do-breakfast-person. I usually make a homemade egg-sandwich with eggbeaters, veggies sausage and a whole-wheat English muffin – keeps me full throughout the morning. However, there are some mornings when I need something that is a bit quicker and I found this recipe for homemade protein bars. I tried it this weekend, and they are delicious! Not only a good choice for breakfast, but for anytime.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/protein-bars-recipe/index.html

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Summer August 24, 2010 at 2:56 pm

Hey- you made the pepper! It looks great.

It’s amazing to me how many people will skip breakfast. I can tell you for almost all the 24-hour recalls I conduct- skipping breakfast is a trend among the obese and overweight crowd. I’d be on the floor if I didn’t eat 1 hour within waking up. Want a sure fire way to gain weight or sabotage your weight loss? Skip breakfast.

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