Breakfast has always been sort of hit or miss around my house. Mornings are a rush to get out the door, and there’s little time to plot nutrition. Sad to admit, but I snatch up whole wheat toast and a cup of coffee, and I’m gone. Now that mindful eating has entered my thinking, I’ve started taking a look at what’s missing. How do I build a better breakfast? Can I wrap up the nutrition I need into a power start to the day with a quick grab and go?
Adding fruit and yogurt to the morning is a definite improvement and fast. But after days of adding nuts and berries and chia seeds to concoction, the yogurt-and-fruit appeal can wear a little thin. Where’s the excitement? Cooking up a poached or scrambled eggs takes only minutes, but even minutes can seem too long.
What’s missing here? We’re hearing a lot about fiber, and I wanted to pack in more. One of my favorite forms of fiber is good ol’ cholesterol-lowering, heart-helping oats. I love a bowl of oatmeal, but again, how much can you vary oatmeal and not still have…oatmeal?
Plus, I’m in a hurry, and even a short pause for cooking oatmeal or scrambling eggs is time awastin’. Trying to eat a bowl of oatmeal in the car at a stoplight is too tricky for the under-caffeinated and semi-conscious.
So those are my demands for a nutritious breakfast. Transform my fruit, yogurt, oatmeal standard into something else that’s tasty, convenient, fast and portable. I went looking for a combo that would meet those requirements. I found it in a Banana Oat Greek Yogurt Muffin recipe from Running With Spoons. And I found significantly less: No oil. No flour. Not much sugar.
These are the ingredients:
- Plain Greek yogurt
- 2 medium ripe bananas 2 large eggs
- Rolled oats
- Brown sugar
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Chocolate chips
I whipped the recipe up in my blender on Sunday. Since my muffin tin went the way of all little-used kitchen utensils in the last move, I went back to the Internet for instructions on converting muffin baking to loaf pan baking. Lower the over temperature by 50 degrees, the conversion instructions said, and insert toothpick to test for doneness.
The result is delicious and filling.
So now I am thinking I’ll experiment. Will the Running With Spoons strategy of eliminating flour and oil and mixing all ingredients in the blender work if I substitute pears or apples for bananas?
I found a Ginger Pear Bread recipe on allrecipes that look’s promising. I’m going to experiment this weekend with some modifications based on the Running With Spoons game plan.
Turns out that Amanda, who writes the Running With Spoons blog, holds a certificate in health coaching from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and is working on a degree in holistic nutrition from the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. I went out looking for an all-round breakfast package and discovered a recipe creator who anticipated my nutrition wish list.
There is a movement afoot to offer us ways to add nutrition to breakfast. Self lays out a plan to build a better breakfast. More healthy breakfast recipes are available at Eating Well. And Cooking Light offers up some nutritious breakfast ideas.
