Dood Ideas, "Healthier Breakfast for the Boys"

I've had a heck of a battle of trying to get my kids to eat a healthy, well rounded diet.  Now I've brought a lot of the issues upon myself, and most of the issues started because 1) I was in school full time till Isaac was two, 2) having two other pregnancy after my 2008 graduation, and 3) just not having a lot of "kitchen" knowledge in the first place. Each of these listed made me either lazy, too tired, throw-up sick, or scared with food.

BUT I take full responsibility of all the habits in this household. For the mama truly does set the "food tone" for everyone else.

There are a lot of things that I have worked on to change (drinks, snacks, etc.), but this post is gonna be about some of the success we've had with breakfast.

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Oh, breakfast!
The meal that starts the day, brings the family together, and can either make you or break you.

First off, pancakes:
About two years ago I really started to try and understand and incorporate "whole grain" flour in our meals. It took a bit of work. I was trying to learn how to cook well anyway, and the "whole grain" was just another element to the already complicated task.

Baby step, by baby step, by baby step, I started to get the hang of it.
Shannon, buy "whole grain" foods! 
Wow! Never thought of that, Shannon. What a great idea!
Yeah, your son will start pooping easier, too. 
That's perfect. I need a regular pooping son(s)!

The "Honey Wheat" pancake mix from Krusteaz has been our regular staple. Quick and easy...
... Though I wanted to go one step further, and use our own foods to create a pancake mix. Maybe one with more whole grains!

Mel's Kitchen Cafe has a great pancake recipe. WAIT FOR IT! An Oatmeal Pancake mix, which can be made in bulk then used throughout the month.  The boys love 'em, and I love 'em.  It says to use 1 cup of buttermilk, but I use 3/4 cups. May have something to do with the altitude. When used with 1 cup ours turned into crapes! (And making buttermilk is easy. One tablespoon of lemon juice for every cup of milk.) Oh, and I do food process blend the oatmeal.

For the Oatmeal Pancake Mix, click here!
And me, Matt, and Titus also really like her baked oatmeal... click here!

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Second, breakfast muffins:
I began to make homemade muffins on a regular basis fall of 2010.  Matt had (and still has) night school, Army ROTC Physical Training in the early morning, and so a 9 or 10 o'clock "bigger" breakfast began to be our family meal time.

Since my husband is a chocolate-holic, and my sons have followed in his steps, a good chocolate-chocolate chip muffin needed to be found and made!

I got one off the internet, and it was a hit! Though the fact that it was overloaded with chocolate, then sugar, made me uneasy. I knew there was a way to make it "healthier," and by golly I was going to find a way.

I had "whole grain" knowledge...
I had "spinach in chocolate baked goods" knowledge...
I had "replace oil with applesauce" knowledge...
... Now I just needed to combine all three!

Wow, what a hit. I have made these muffins so many times, it's ridiculous.
Here's my secret:
1) I combine all the wet ingredients in a blender (including the raw spinach),
2) change the chocolate-chips to mini chocolate-chips,
3) and bake them in mini muffin tins. (In mini tins they cool lots faster, and are funner for the boys to eat.)

Here's the recipe, with the original on the left and my changes on the right

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour      1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder
3/4 superfine sugar
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top    3/4 cup mini chocolate chips, none for sprinkle on top
1 cup milk
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil    1/3 cup applesauce, or 1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons canola oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon pur vanilla extract
2 cups packed raw, washed spinach


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Grease muffin tins.

Mix dry ingredients together in larger bowl.  Blend wet ingredients with raw spinach in a blender.  Mix dry and wet ingredients together. Spoon into greased muffin tins. In regular muffin tins bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy. If in mini tins, bake for 10 minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy.

Makes 12+ regular muffins
Makes 36 mini muffins


My boys eat these up!  But let them cool. When hot one can sorta taste the spinach. Also can be made with 1/4 cup of pureed cauliflower.
And you can also do half and half with the flour. A cup of whole wheat, 3/4 cup of white.

Anyway, here's some pictures of today's batch. And FYI, they are all gone. Matt eats a dozen by himself, and the other boys fight over the rest! Makes a mama feel good ;)

And here's one other muffin recipe, which my mother-in-law gave me. 

One of Matt's favorite growing up, and the boys really like 'em! I haven't played with it much, but I'm pretty interested to see if I can add some cauliflower or other veggies. Am I crazy? Probably. 

Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip Muffins

COMBINE:

1 cup boiling water

2/3 cup oatmeal

4 tablespoons butter 

COMBINE:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

Grease muffin tins.

Add dry ingredients to wet ones. Add 1 cup chocolate chips. Remember chocolate chips will melt if wet ingredients are too warm, so let wet ingredients cool. Bake for 10 minutes. Makes about 14 muffins. 

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To sum up, I think I've come a LONG way from where I started. But I also have a long way to go... and that, my friends, is where you come in. 

What are some tricks, tips, recipes that work for your families breakfast? How do you try to get your family to be healthier?  I'd really love to know!

Peach and love, y'all