It’s back to school time again, and that means we’ll all have to be back on track with regularly scheduled meals. I don’t know about you, but it’s a rough transition for us. We tend to throw the schedule out the window during the summer, and sometimes a weekday breakfast becomes lunch, brunch, or we’ll just eat breakfast for dinner.
This year for back to school I’m determined to have a plan, and that plan includes being ready with bunch of different breakfast ideas I can use every day. Knowing what to make and making different types of dishes will help me avoid boring breakfasts, and I’ll even be able to sneak in a lot of healthy ingredients my kids might not normally eat.
Here are some of my favourite back to school breakfast ideas.
Nutella Banana Sushi
My daughter is a serious nutella fan. Before she started loving it I had no idea how amazing hazelnut spread was and how many different recipes used it. This Nutella Banana sushi is pretty basic, but it’s a healthy way to kick off the school day. From pagingfunmums.com.
| Ingredients: 1 tbsp Nutella 1 banana 1 whole wheat wrap |
Directions
Step 1
Lay your wrap on a bread board and slather with Nutella
Step 2
Place the banana on top of your chocolate coating
Step 3
Roll the wrap as you would Sushi (or a Burrito)
Step 4
Cut into 2cm sections and enjoy!
Bacon, egg, and cheese stuffed waffles
Who doesn’t love waffles? I’m a huge fan of Eggo waffles in a pinch, but when I have time I make Belgian. For this sandwich, you can use any kind of waffle batter you like or sub in Eggos when you don’t have time. Recipe from delish.com.
| Ingredients: 1 batch waffle batter 3 large eggs, scrambled 3 slices cooked bacon, chopped 1 c. shredded Cheddar 2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley |
Directions
Heat a waffle iron. Prepare waffle batter.
Pour waffle batter into waffle iron and top with equal amounts scrambled egg, bacon, and cheese. Sprinkle with parsley.
Cook until waffle is golden.
Serve with maple syrup
Easy breakfast roll ups
A flour tortilla is a great thing to have on hand at breakfast because you can use it in so many ways. This breakfast roll up is an easy way to get a dose of greens in your kids before they head out for a busy day. Recipe from homecookingmemories.com.
| Ingredients: 1 egg 1 teaspoon water or milk Salt and pepper 1 soft taco size flour tortilla (approximately 7½ – 8″ diameter) Optional fillings: baby spinach leaves, avocado, tomatoes, bacon, crumbled sausage, cheese, etc. |
Directions
In a small bowl, beat together egg and water/milk until combined. Lay tortilla out on a plate, top with cheese, if you wish to use.
Spray a pan with cooking spray that has nearly the same diameter as the tortilla. Heat pan over medium-low heat and pour egg mixture into pan. Gently tilt or swirl pan to ensure that liquid egg covers the entire bottom of the pan. Continue to cook until egg is cooked and no longer liquid. Season with salt and pepper.
Using a heat-resistant rubber spatula, help slide cooked egg directly on top of tortilla/cheese.Top egg with optional fillings. Roll up tortilla somewhat firmly, but without tearing tortilla or shifting ingredients. Cut roll-up in half and serve.
Peanut Butter Overnight Oats
Anything with chia seeds is OK in my book, and I love overnight oats more than almost any breakfast food. I do this one with almond butter because I like it, but you could try regular peanut butter too. Recipe from minimalistbaker.com
| Ingredients: 1/2 cup (120 ml) unsweetened plain almond milk 3/4 Tbsp (9 g) chia seeds 2 Tbsp (32 g) natural salted peanut butter or almond butter (creamy or crunchy) 1 Tbsp (15 ml) maple syrup (or sub coconut sugar, organic brown sugar, or stevia to taste) 1/2 cup (45 g) gluten free rolled oats Toppings Sliced banana, strawberries or raspberries Flaxseed meal or additional chia seed Granola |
Directions
To a mason jar or small bowl add almond milk, chia seeds, peanut butter, and maple syrup (or other sweetener) and stir with a spoon to combine. The peanut butter doesn’t need to be completely mixed with the almond milk (doing so leaves swirls of peanut butter to enjoy the next day).
Add oats and stir a few more times, then press down with a spoon to ensure all oats have been moistened and are immersed in almond milk.
Cover securely with a lid or plastic wrap and set in the refrigerator overnight (or for at least 6 hours).
The next day, open and enjoy as is, or garnish with desired toppings (see options above).
Overnight oats will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, though best within the first 12-24 hours.
Easy to make breakfast balls
If you always find you run out of time in the morning and your kids aren’t eating a healthy breakfast, help is just a breakfast ball away. Try these with peanut butter if your kids are fans of peanut butter, and you can omit the dark chocolate as they’re great without. Photo and recipe from kidsactivitiesblog.com.
| Ingredients: 1/4 cup of almonds (we used slivered, but you can use any) 1/4 cup of cashew pieces 1/4 cup of dried fruit (we used dried cherries, but I bet any dried fruit would work) 1/4 cup of almond butter (+ 1 teaspoon of coconut oil – omit the coconut oil if you decide to substitute with peanut butter). 2 Tablespoons of Dark Chocolate pieces 1 cup of toasted granola |
Directions
You can replace pretty much any of the ingredients – don’t like almonds? Use walnuts… skip the chocolate and throw some toffee pieces in instead… or use coconut shavings in place of the cashews (yum!).
Throw all the ingredients except for the almond butter and the granola into the food processor. I chopped them pretty chunky. The texture is fun. But if you want these to stick together better consider chopping more finely. The finer your nut meal the more dense (i.e. filling) your balls will be.
I predict breakfast will be easier this school year because I’ll be prepared with these great go-to breakfast dishes. Here’s a few small appliances you can use to make quick back to school breakfasts.
 You can make a huge batch of waffles for waffle sandwiches |
 No time to whip up a breakfast? Try the Cuisinart Breakfast Central |
 Boiled eggs are easy with Cuisinart Egg Central |
