Healthy Breakfast Ideas

I'm always surprised when people tell me that they don't eat breakfast or don't feel hungry in the morning. Because when I wake up, I am almost always ravenous. So, as you might imagine, I eat breakfast every day. But, as a perpetually hungry person, I have found that a lot of the traditionally convenient breakfast foods--cold cereal, frozen waffles, instant oatmeal, low-fat fruit flavored yogurt--just don't fill me up. Plus, they're actually loaded with sugar.

So, over the years, I have developed a rotation of A.M. meals that keep me fuller longer, are lower on sugar, and high on flavor. Some are faster to make than others, but if you're short on time, you can make them the night before while you're preparing dinner and simply reheat them in the morning.

Oh, and they all go great with coffee.

1. Farro with blueberries, pecans, and a drizzle of maple syrup. (20 minutes)

2. 1 egg + 1 egg white, scrambled with ezekiel bread toast and berries. (10 minutes)

3. Ezekiel bread toast topped with peanut butter (I like the Whole Foods natural brand, but it is an acquired taste) and sliced banana or sliced apple. (2 minutes)

4. Avocado toast (my favorite!). Use Ezekiel 7-grain bread if you can find it. Vermont Bread Company is another good one. I love their 10-grain bread. (2 minutes)

5. Scrambled Tex-Mex tofu. I know it sounds gross. But, I promise it's not! I actually prefer it to eggs. Here's my recipe. (10 minutes)

6. Breakfast burrito with scrambled egg whites and black bean salsa on a multi-grain tortilla. You could add cheese, or even some sausage, if you want. (5 minutes)

7. Quinoa with berries and a hardboiled egg. I make my quinoa in a rice cooker and it makes my life so much easier. I season it with butter and a pinch of kosher salt. (40 minutes)

8. Plain, full fat yogurt with mixed berries. Sometimes I stir in a drizzle of honey and a splash of vanilla, sometimes I don't. I especially like Trader Joe's European Style Full Fat Yogurt and Brown Cow cream top. (1 minute)

9. Fresh Ricotta with Figs and Walnuts. I first had this at a restaurant in New York called the Tipsy Parson. I realized I could easily make it at home and have been making it ever since. You don't have to use homemade ricotta, but it's really a treat if you do. (3 minutes)

10. Irish Oatmeal. I like to top it with lots of cinnamon, plus some nuts and fruit and just a little maple syrup. Or, you could do salt and pepper and a little butter and it's sort of like grits. Traditionally, though, the Irish just eat this with buttermilk. (30 minutes)