New Ideas for Breakfast

If you're like me, you get tired of the same old breakfast foods every time you eat breakfast. First of all, it's rare that I eat breakfast (I know, I know, I'm working on it). But when I do eat breakfast I don't always want pancakes or eggs or sausage or hash browns or cereal. So I've come up with a few things you can have that still fit under breakfast and can be just as filling:

Granola & Yogurt (instead of cereal & milk)
My hang-up was (and still is) that I can't stand putting milk in cereal. My problem wasn't so much putting the milk in the cereal, it was that I would NOT drink the milk afterwards. It had those little cereal bits inside and that just grossed me out too bad to even look at it. So I usually would throw the milk away; a waste, I know. So one day my wife encouraged me to try yogurt instead of milk. I was hesitant at first, but I fell in love with it. Now, I'm not a big cereal person, but I love a good tasting granola. This is just one reason I love Whole Foods Market. They have an array of granolas you can try. My favorite so far is cherry vanilla. What I add to that is Trader Joe's French vanilla yogurt and you have a definite winner! If you don't have either store option, you can usually find some brand of granola in your local grocer and I recommend any kind of vanilla yogurt, although if you can find French vanilla that would be even better.

Applesauce toast (instead of regular toast and jelly)
This is definitely a twist on toast. Again, my wife is the culprit for this one. Here's how you make it - on a slice of toast put on a layer of applesauce, then add another piece of toast like you're making a sandwich. In a skillet, put a little butter and let it heat up. Then put the sandwich in the skillet to let the toast get brown for a while. I recommend about 3-5 minutes as you don't want it to burn. After that, flip the sandwich and let the other side get brown. You may need to add a little more butter so it won't burn on you. Once completed, take the sandwich out of the skillet and put it on a paper towel to drain it of any excess grease from the skillet. And there you have it - applesauce toast. Even your children would love this one!

Quiche (instead of just scrambled eggs)
This one is for those willing to make it. There are so many variations of quiche that I dare not give you a single recipe. The basics of a quiche is a pie crust (store-bought or homemade), eggs, and whatever you want to fill it with. I recommend spinach and mushroom with some Italian seasoning, or perhaps turkey bacon to really complete the breakfast feel. Whatever your flare, the options are endless. Check out foodnetwork.com or epicurious.com or recipezaar.com for some ideas.

Chicken Sausage (instead of pork sausage links or patties)
I know most are used to Brown-n-Serve or Bob Evans or similar brands for sausage links or patties, but if you can give chicken sausage a try. This might be more of an extravagant buy for some, but I implore you to try it at least once. Your sausage experience will never be the same! For example, I tried a chicken sausage from Sam's Club which is chicken sausage with mozzarella cheese inside. It's great for pastas but you can also have it for breakfast. I've seen other stores that have spinach and feta cheese and the like. If you're REALLY ambitious and have the equipment, you can make your own!

Smoothies (instead of orange juice or milk)
This would be a great way to get your fruit in and possibly your dairy as well. You can pick most any fruit that's in season and blend it together with a little sugar and either milk or yogurt. It might be better to freeze the fruit in advance so you get more of a slushy smoothie; it's not required to do so though, it just depends on how you like your smoothie. Go for a mix of berries and melons at times. If you're more exotic, try mangoes and papaya from time to time. Want to keep it simple? Strawberries and bananas are a good mixture. Or you can just do one fruit like watermelon, and mix it with some dairy for a simple watermelon smoothie. One ingredient I tend to add - and it's just because I like the taste - is pure vanilla extract. It makes it taste more like a dessert for me.

I hope these have given you some great alternatives to breakfast food. Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day, so why not give it a new look?

Do you have some great breakfast recipes that no one has ever heard of that you want to share? Or possibly old traditions that are still good to this day? Submit a comment and let me know how you do breakfast!