Quick & Easy Breakfast

[digitS']

Here I am, retired comfortably to the lazyboy after breakfast and some minor chores. No, I'm not out scraping ice off the windshield on this frigid morning and heading off to work. Breakfast? Sure, I'll have a second one soon — so nice to have the "coffee break" here at home but I do miss the gatherings of coworkers sitting for a few minutes at a big table.

Many people skip right past a breakfast before leaving the house. The estimates are that it's nearly 1/4 of American adults and the number is even worse for high school kids. Oh my ! Time and hunger are the determinants but motivation increases with the years as, apparently, with the realization that energy reserves become depleted by late morning.

At the same time, nutrition experts say that as many as 90% of Americans don't eat enough fruit and vegetables. I made a conscious effort to increase my morning fruit consumption a few years ago. Three servings before the starches didn't work out as well as I hoped. I didn't have the appetite to eat that much fruit ... not with my boxes of (highly processed) breakfast cereal beckoning me from the end of the counter. Nevertheless, my fruit servings did increase. One way that has continued is by putting stuff in that cereal. I could almost benefit from a larger bowl but 1/2 fruit makes sense. This morning, it was a microwaved d'Anjou pear, chopped. I use bananas, of course, but raisins and dried cranberries often find their way into the bowl. A second breakfast is coming up in moments! What can I have??? Well, I won't put it in with cereal ~ need to switch to whole wheat toast ~ apple sauce. Oh, wait a minute! Apple sauce is good on toast .

Steve, & coffee

 

[Zeedman]

What can I have??? Well, I won't put it in with cereal ~ need to switch to whole wheat toast ~ apple sauce. Oh, wait a minute! Apple sauce is good on toast .

Oh yes it is. I used to make apple butter, but apple sauce is just as good & more versatile.

I often question the relative merits of eating an early breakfast, versus not breaking the fast till noon. Now that I am retired & less active, an early breakfast makes me drowsy in mid-morning. So I just have a coffee or two (with one of those maybe being mixed with a protein shake) and have breakfast as lunch.

But when I was working, I needed to eat a light breakfast to avoid getting weak-kneed in mid-morning. That would be followed by a light lunch at the noon break. I also drank coffee later in the day than I do now.

I too miss the break room banter with my co-workers, it was always a lot of fun.

 

[ducks4you]

Heavy breakfast does weigh you down.
But, no breakfast at all makes me nauseous.
Gotta be a happy medium.
Also, heavy dinner isn't good, either.
We should be looking forward to eating more vegetables from our gardens!!

 

[heirloomgal]

I've always found breakfast is relative to when and what I ate the evening before. If I'm counting calories and have my last small meal at 5 pm, I'm ready for a full Thanksgiving dinner the next morning...EARLY the next morning.

 

[Dahlia]

Breakfast this morning of 2 coffees with cream and toasted homemade banana bread with butter.

 

[canesisters]

I work nights so pretty much everything in my world is backwards.
I get up around 4ish PM. Usually have a large coffee before leaving the house at 6pm or on the way in.
9pm break is breakfast time, usually some fruit.
Midnight is lunch... which could be anything depending on how the last few nights have gone & how much energy I've had between shifts. Might be pot roast, a salad, something fast food grabbed on the way in, or vending machine garbage.
5am break is usually more fruit if anything at all.
7:30am dinner on the way home is often a breakfast biscuit and, if I'm struggling to stay awake, a large iced coffee of some kind.

 

[Phaedra]

Did you have a fixed breakfast? I am more curious about this.

I can't have same or similar things every morning, just can't. So my FIL used to have a pot of warm herbal tea, and then mixed some jam in yogurt. He ate that everyday for more than 20 years - same blend of tea, same jam, same yogurt - can't imagine. But it did save a lot of work, i guess.

Now DH shows a similar tendency...he is totally fine with two slices of toast, some salami, cheese, a huge (yes, huge) cup of black tea - then he is ready to work.

 

[digitS']

I don't even have much appreciation for all the same cold cereal in the same bowl.

If there is a choice in the boxes on the shelf, why not mix them? So simple to put together Honeynut and regular Cheerios with Kashi with sliced banana and a sprinkle of raisins — like I am eating right now. The same oolong with the carefully balanced blend of an herbal tea to drink. Three additional and different hot drinks planned for later today. It's just a matter of scheduling and having a few resources at hand.

Probably a reason for many people becoming stuck in a rut is that they try dramatically different this and that. Unsurprisingly, they are often disappointed and scurry back to the usual. Tinkering is simple and has little risk.

 

[flowerbug]

some people find pleasure in diversity and complexity and i'm quite ok with that, but at times i do like the same thing and am quite happy with it - forexample tapioca pudding made with really good vanilla. i can eat that for days, but then when i'm done with it i won't want it again for a while. i'd been on a plain bran flakes warmed up breakfast cereal and had that several times a week for breakfast, but recent months i've gotten away from it. i have one last box of it to finish up and maybe we won't buy it any more until i decide i will start eating it again - in the meantime i have a lot of oatmeal i need to use up plus some other cereals i will be happy to eat.

give me a good chili and i can eat that for a week at a time including breakfast - i think we're getting due to make some and i have peppers in the freezer to use in that - Mom won't touch my version so we'll make two batches at least.

same with music - at times i want certain music and that is good and then other times i'm in the mood for something unusual - now i'm playing some Christmas music - it is light and somewhat redone versions with variations (no singing) and it is different enough but the key is that it is also not so intrusive that i have to pay any attention to it and it can play in the background for a few hours and Mom is happy to have it playing when she's napping. i play my own wild and crazy stuff when she's not around.

 

[Zeedman]

I don't even have much appreciation for all the same cold cereal in the same bowl.

If there is a choice in the boxes on the shelf, why not mix them? So simple to put together Honeynut and regular Cheerios with Kashi with sliced banana and a sprinkle of raisins — like I am eating right now. The same oolong with the carefully balanced blend of an herbal tea to drink. Three additional and different hot drinks planned for later today. It's just a matter of scheduling and having a few resources at hand.

Probably a reason for many people becoming stuck in a rut is that they try dramatically different this and that. Unsurprisingly, they are often disappointed and scurry back to the usual. Tinkering is simple and has little risk.

This thread has made me realize that my breakfast diet has changed. without my noticing. I previously ate very little processed dry cereal (although when I did, I usually mixed 2-3 kinds).

But I preferred a home-made hot cereal:
- a mix of whole grains (rolled oats, blue or fresh-ground corn meal, wheat germ, teff)
- seeds such as amaranth, sesame, chia, flax and pumpkin (ground up just before cooking) and whole buckwheat
- ground almonds and/or pecans.
- dried raisins, craisins, or chopped dry mango

The seeds, nuts, and fruit gave it plenty of flavor even with nothing added; but if made without fruit, I usually added maple syrup or brown sugar to the bowl (DW used monk fruit sweetener). I make a kettle at a time, and that lasts a week.

Don't know for sure why I stopped making it. It's healthier than almost anything in a box, and I have bags of most of the ingredients in the freezer. Think I'll make a kettle full tonight, just in time for the 'polar vortex'.