Breakfast Ideas - Overland Park,KS

When my son was just starting to eat solid foods, I would mix him up a bowl of applesauce with chunks of graham crackers, which get a little soggy, and he loved it. Try using the applesauce like jelly for the older one, let her do it herself if you have time for the mess. She will at least get a kick out of it. : )

My son loves french toast. You could also try fruit salads (that you could make together with plastic knives and ripe fruit). I think my son has had part of an avocado for breakfast almost every day since he started solid foods!!

R.

My kids like breakfast burritos (I just scramble up some eggs, add cheese and mild salsa, veggies if I have them and put in a small tortilla). They also like to eat breakfast potatoes (hashbrowns, potatoes o'brien, etc...). We usually do cereal or eggs and toast, but when I have time I enjoy fixing other things as well. My kids are also 2 and 1, reverse order of yours--boy then girl.

I make my kids frog in the hole. Put some butter in a skillet and butter one side of bread. With a glass cut a hole in the bread. Put the side with no butter in the skillet and crack the egg and put it in the hole in the bread. And then toss on the little circle of bread. Hope this helps!

Banana coins - slice a banana into coins. Dip in pancake mix, then cook on skillet as you would a pancake. It's delicious!

I don't have a picky eater so I don't really have a problem with this. However familyfun.com has wonderful ideas/recipes for kids, including fruit kabobs and other fun ways of getting your children to eat, kraftfoods.com is another good place to get recipe ideas. Here is a recipe to try (from kraft) although it may not work due to the meat problem but it is covered in syrup.:)

Stuffed French Toast: (makes 2 sandwiches)
4 slices cinnamon raisin bread
1/4 cup philadelphia cream cheese spread
8 slices shaved honey ham
2 eggs
2tbs. milk
2 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. maple falvored or pancake syrup

spread cream cheese onto 2 of the bread sices.
Top with ham; cover with 2 remaining bread slices.
lightly press edges of each sandwich together to seal.

Beat eggs, milk and sugar with fork in pie plate or square baking dishuntil well blended. Dip sandwiches into egg mixture, turning over to evenly moisten both sides.

Spray large non-stick pan with cooking spray; heat on medium heat, add sandwiches; cook for 2 min. on each side or until golden brown on both sides and serve with syrup.

if you are bored with traditional breakfast foods, why not feed them lunch for breakfast or breakfast for lunch? leftover pizza or macaroni and cheese is always fun for breakfast. a lot of times we have PB&J sandwiches for breakfast or quesadillas. what about biscuits and gravy? you can make the gravy fat free (if fat is a concern) and meat free if necessary. here is an usual breakfast recipe we like, though we don't have it often since it has plenty of fat/sugar---it's a nice occasional treat:

Breakfast Bars

½ cup margarine
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup nonfat dry milk
4 cups cheerios (or whatever you have on hand—we like a combination of cheerios and rice krispies)
¼ cup orange flavored instant drink
32 large marshmallows or 3 cups mini

Butter square pan. Melt butter and marshmallows. Stir in peanut butter until melted. Stir in milk and breakfast drink. Fold in cheerios. with buttered hands, press into pan.

My notes: My mom made these for us and I have no idea where she got the recipe. It sounds weird but they are really good. The original recipe called for ¼ cup of raisins to be stirred in as well, though we normally leave them out. I also use less margarine than the recipe calls for. If I double the recipe, I use ¾ cup margarine and a 16 oz. Bag of mini marshmallows and press into a 9 x 13 pan.

Here is also a breakfast casserole we like:

Spaghetti, Bacon & Eggs!

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
8 ounces Spaghetti
1/2 pound Bacon ( i prefer turkey bacon)
4 Eggs -- beaten
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese -- grated
1/2 cup Light Cream (or skim milk)
Parmesan cheese -- (additional)

In a large pan, cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile,cook bacon by placing on a cookie sheet and baking in oven at 350 degrees F until crispy. Drain bacon on paper towels and crumble. Set bacon aside. In a medium bowl, mix eggs, Parmesan cheese and cream. Drain spaghetti and return to the pan. Stir in egg mixture. Toss and cook until egg mixture is done and coats spaghetti. Stir in bacon and serve immediately with additional Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

one last recipe:
Breakfast Cookies

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 whole egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup cheddar cheese -- grated
1/2 cup lean ham -- cooked and minced

Cream butter; gradually add sugar, beating well at medium speed of an electric mixer. (reduced calorie marg. will separate while beating.) Add egg and vanilla, beating well. Combine flour and soda; add to butter mixture, stirring well. Stir in oats, cheese and ham. Drop dough by 2 level teaspoonfuls per cookie 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets that have been coated with cooking spray; flatten slightly. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.
Yield: 2 1/2 dozen

Hi J.,

We rotate the same things too (unfortunately). How about toast with peanut butter? Or, we do 'cheese toast' - just a slice of cheese on bread and pop it in the toaster oven. My kids eat sliced apples every morning. If other fruits are in season...they eat those too...bananas and grapes are staples at our house as well. Will yours drink a fruit/protein smoothie? Mine also like blueberry muffins and raisin bran muffins...make them ahead of time, like on Sunday, and reheat them...if they last that long! Also, I have a sausage cheddar muffin my kids like. But, mostly my kids love toaster strudels, cereal, French toast stix, and waffles.

Hope this helps!
J.

I see that you have received lots of response. Here is one more. We love this for breakfast or a snack and it is easy to make at night and pop in the oven in the morning or just make it in the morning per your routine. This is like a pull-apart or monkey bread!
2 cans of biscuits-texas style or large ones are best-we like flaky
cinnamon/sugar mixture (I keep this mixed up in my cabinet at all times)
1/2 to 1 stick of butter (your preference)
Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces with kitchen shears. Melt the butter in a 1 to 2 qt baking dish, place all the biscuits in the baking dish, sprinkle as much cinnamon/sugar as desired, stir, adding more cinn/sugar as needed. Bake per instructions on biscuit can. YUM!!
you can also adjust this for dinner, replacing the cinn/sugar with garlic powder!!

One thing that my niece and nephew love is breakfast casserole. This is how I make it:

1 can of flaky layers biscuits
5 or 6 eggs
1 roll of sausage (optional)
shredded cheese

Separate the layers of the biscuit to completely cover the bottom of the cookie sheet. If you put sausage on it, cook that, then spreak over the top of the biscuits. Mix the eggs together, and pour on that, and sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake at the temperature required for the biscuits, but keep an eye on it, as it can get brown very fast.

What about muffins, homeade breads, fruits, yogurt, smoothies, cinnimon toast, or even pop tarts and granola bars? Tried these yet?

My whole family loves breakfast pizza. I buy a already made pizza crust, make gravy for the sauce (packaged is just fine) brown sausage or any meat you want (or none), scramble about six eggs, layer all these ingredients already cooked with gravy first, then add shredded cheese to the top and brown it in the oven on 425. I sometimes add some bell pepper and onions too. The good thing about this is that you can just experiment and add the things you like. Every time we have someone stay over they request this pizza. It is easy and pretty quick to make. If you don't have time in the mornings I have also made this the night before, wrapped it up and just popped it in the oven the next morning.

Fruit and nut pancakes are also really good, just add any fruit or nuts to your pancake batter. One of my kids favorites are also omelettes. The good thing about anything with eggs is that you can put anything you want in them and have them several times a week with something different inside. My kids love just cheese, or with green and red peppers, sometimes I add ham or the real bacon bits. Its a good way to get them to eat breakfast meat because you really only use a little. My kids love helping with the omelettes. I let them put all the fillings that they want inside and they enjoy that.

My kids were not wanting to eat breakfast at all. We went through the same things you have and then they were tired of the same things. I have tried the muffins and they really did like them (strawberry and choc.chip, I have also started giving them Gogart, I freeze it and they really like it. I feel a little better about this then donuts. My mom made a good point about why does it have to be breakfast foods. She will give them left over dinner or a can of soup etc. At first I felt a little weird about it but then I starting thinking soup for breakfast is better then nothing.
Good Luck!

My children love monkey bread,

4 cans of cheap biscuits
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon

Mix 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Cut up biscuits into 1/3 peices, and coat in mixture and lay into a greased bundt pan. Then take the remaining ingrediants and place in a pot and melt together on the stove until it simmers. Pour mixture over the biscuits and bake at 400 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes. May add nuts if you like.

Hi J.,
How about muffins, or do-nuts you know make them from biscuits and they could add powdered sugar or cinnamon and sugar, how about pancakes but you add strawberries or blueberries to the batter. what about cereal bars I read in the new issue of parents magazine I think that the cereal bars with milk in them are good because kids get the calcium they need. Also on the back of the gerber baby cereal it says to add rice cereal and a little bit of applesauce to the pancakes (the addition of these gives an additional boost of iron and vitamin c.
here is the recipe
apple-cinnamon pancakes
follow the directions for your pancake mix but:
add 1/4 cup gerber rice cereal
and 1 tub 2.5 0z 1st foods applesauce (I would think you could get a bigger one depending on how much you are gonna make.) combine all ingredients in mixing bowl and cook as normal.
hope this helps a little W. P.S. I'm saying the donuts because it was something fun for use to do when we were kids and although your kids are younger you could still let them put the toppings on them even jelly or sprinkles. I know your probably trying to get them to eat healthy but at this point you might be doing good just to get them to eat if you know what I'm saying.

You should try egg tacos. I hated toeat breakfast foodsgrowingup, butmy mom finally tried tacos/burritos I was all over the. Try them with different types of salsa or guacamole. Even throw in left over veggies of meat from the night before. Good luck.

My three year old daughter loves to eat what my mom always called "toad in the holes" which is simply a slice of bread with a hole in the middle of it placed in a frying pan with melted butter then drop an egg in the hole and fry it until the egg is cooked and bread toasty. I sometimes put a piece of cheese on it for her as well. She loves them. Have you tried French toast or biscuits and gravy? those are usually real go getters here too.