This post is sponsored by Coles.
I admit I am a bit of a breakfast tyrant. I like my girls to have a filling, healthy breakfast and I generally discourage packaged breakfast cereal (porridge excepted), especially on school days. As a teacher I believe eating a good breakfast is essential to sustained concentration which obviously has a direct impact upon overall school performance.
So what do my girls eat? On an ordinary school morning breakfast currently looks a bit like this…
Fruit:
My girls are both mad for blueberries and will often start with a small bowl of fresh (when they are in season) or frozen blueberries. Strawberries and orange slices are also popular. Oftentimes we will mix this up with a fruit smoothie – blueberry, strawberry and banana are their favourite smoothie flavours.
While they eat their fruit or drink their smoothies I am generally preparing the rest of their breakfast.
Protein and Carbohydrate:
Option 1: Baked beans and a slice of toast (Immy’s current preference).
Option 2: Porridge with milk or rice milk. AJ will have hers with mashed or pureed fruit. Immy prefers hers without fruit. On special occasions our porridge is topped with coloured sprinkles.
Cereal: When Immy does really feel like a packaged cereal (which is actually quite rare as she is so used to having other things) the school day choice is Weet Bix.
Drink:
Water or milk, the latter on days that smoothies are off the menu.
As for me, I have to eat breakfast or else I feel tired and grouchy by 10am! Breakfast for me is generally two slices of gluten free toast thickly spread with avocado and a cup of black tea. Which is completely lacking in imagination as I have been eating the same thing pretty much everyday for about 20 months now – since we first starting looking into AJ’s food intolerances. So it is most definitely time to find some new breakfast alternatives.
Fortunately this isn’t difficult as this month Coles is sharing a range of easy, cost effective recipes and healthy breakfast meal ideas on Facebook, in the April edition of the Coles magazine and their weekly store catalogues. As it is estimated that half of all adults and one in seven children are skipping breakfast at least once a week, Coles has put forward the challenge to us all – to live healthy by eating a good breakfast regularly.
You can join the Coles #7daybreakfast challenge for a great start to the day for your family. I will be trying a few new recipes this week and will share how I am doing via Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Join me by tagging @Childhood101 and adding the hashtag #7daybreakfast. If you are looking for inspiration, check out the Coles website for healthy breakfast ideas (or gluten free recipes). I would love to see what you and you’re kids are eating.
To get the challenge started I whipped up a batch of homemade baked beans this morning as AJ and I can’t eat tinned baked beans and I have really missed them. AJ gobbled down a bowl, I enjoyed a good-sized dollop on my toast and Immy had both hands up for the Beans & Egg variation you will find below. Enjoy!
Homemade Baked Beans Recipe
You will need:
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 rashes bacon or 1 chorizo sausage, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste
- 1 400gm can diced tomatoes
- 1 400gm can borlotti or cannellini beans
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped (optional)
- Eggs – 1 per person (optional – see variation below)
To make:
- Heat oil in a frying pan and cook onion and garlic for 1-2 minutes until soft.
- Add bacon and cook until bacon is crispy.
- Add tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, then add paprika, sugar and tinned tomatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes. If you find your little ones prefer a smooth baked bean sauce, you can remove the sauce from the pan at this stage and blend it with a hand mixer (obviously this is completely optional). Return the blended sauce to the pan before continuing.
- Stir through cannelloni beans, parsley, salt and pepper and simmer for a further 2 minutes.
- Serve warm.
Beans and Eggs Variation
Prepare baked beans through to the completion of step 4 and then make a series of wells in the beans in the frypan. Crack one egg into each well and cover with a clear lid. Cook until eggs reach desired consistency. Scoop beans and eggs out onto plate and garnish with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.
I would love to know. What do your family enjoy for breakfast? Are school day breakfasts different from weekend breakfasts?
Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. More importantly, she is a Mum who believes wholeheartedly in the value of children learning through play, the importance of quality early education, and the togetherness of family.
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