Nice post. The breakfast burrito sounds delicious.

Trent is capable of making a spelling error!? It’s “tomatoes.”

Thanks for posting the recipes- I can’t wait to try them!

I will definitely try out the banana bread recipe! It looks delicious! I might have to toss chocolate chips in mine! :)

My fiancé bought me a toaster with the attached egg steamer for my birthday recently. I use it at least 3 times a week. A bagel, a perfect egg pattie and a microwaved slice of coldcut ham and I have breakfast sandwhich in about 2 minutes!

Thank you for the burrito recipe. I’ll be trying it soon.

Now I feel malnourished after reading your post! I start each day with a Kashi trailmix bar.

Trent, I’ve been doing to breakfast burrito thing for a couple months now after having read your older post about it. I’ve saved so much time and money, thanks!

The swiss breakfast is also known as birchermuesli. My dad made this occasionally growing up. Another method is to take the various grains and mix them with yogurt (enough to mix nicely) and refrigerate overnight. You can add fresh fruit in the evening or morning, except bananas and apples only in the morning. Add some milk in the morning if it’s too thick.

For muffin/bread (and cookie) recipes, if you substitute applesauce for all (or even just half) of the butter/oil, you can cut the fat down A LOT, and there is little impact on the flavor. They’ll be a little more moist/soft, but it’s not really a “bad” texture, just a little different.

Also, if you’re not opposed to no calorie sweeteners”, you can use splenda or stevia instead of half of the sugar (if you use no real sugar it tastes kinda bleh).

One more great tasting/healthy/fast breakfast is some plain nonfat yogurt with a pinch of sweetener (sugar or other), a handful of berries, and some granola (I like Kashi Go Lean Crunch). You can also use vanilla yogurt if you don’t mind the sugar content.

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And Brad, Kashi trail mix bars are yummy! And aside from them being a very small meal, they’re pretty balanced :).

You forgot about oatmeal. Easy, fast, nutritious and cheap! It’s especially delicious if you add waltnuts, bananas, dried fruit, cinnamon, chocolate chips, etc.

Frittata is a busy person’s friend. It can be made with a huge variety of ingredients, so it can be either healthy or pretty fattening, depending on your preferences. It takes a little preparation, but it stores really well in the fridge for about a week. So you can make a big one on Sunday and have easy-to-grab breakfasts or lunches for at least several days. A slice warms up in about 1 minute in the microwave, but it’s pretty good cold too. Goes well with dressed greens for a cold lunch.

Also: morning glory muffins!

Great recipes, Trent! I’m forwarding this to my son, who never eats breakfast and really oughta.

How do you do frittata, Kate?

Here’s another easy-to-do thing a friend showed me years ago. When strawberries are in season, I substitute fresh and don’t puree them into a sauce, but just cut them up & toss them on:

1 banana
a few frozen strawberries
a few blueberries, blackberries or other favorite fruits, in season
a few pecans, walnuts, or pistachio nuts, if on hand
1 scoop of low-fat ricotta (cottage cheese would do, but ricotta makes you feel like you’ve got something fancy)

Slice the banana in half lengthwise and lay the slices parallel on a small plate. Dollop some ricotta or cottage cheese between the slices.

Puree the frozen berries in a blender (if desired, you can partially defrost them by leaving them on the counter while you shower, shave, & get dressed, or else zap them briefly in the micro). Pour the puree over the cheese & bananas. Top with berries or other fruit of your choice, and sprinkle a few (optional) nuts over the top.

High in calcium, high in the many nutrients fruits have got to offer, beautiful to the eye, delicious, and it sticks with you until lunchtime.

Good tips on breakfast! I’ve come to really enjoy eating breakfast everyday. I especially like the banana bread recipe because those overripe bananas definitely happen to me. Buying from those large warehouse stores (in my case Costco) is a blessing and a curse. I eat a bowl of cereal with a banana everyday and yet I still get some bananas that get too ripe. Reading this made me just realize how easy it’d be to make some banana bread out of them instead of suffering through eating bananas that didn’t taste too good.

I also find that it’s easy to make extra waffles and freeze those for later. They seem to reheat nicely in the toaster.

Also, if you don’t have time to make banana bread when you bananas are starting to go, just put those in the freezer until you can use them.

This stuff is lunch food to me–I can sometimes get oatmeal down if I’ve been up for an hour, but otherwise it’s pricey dry cereal with milk–but it reminds me to point out that there’s nothing wrong with eating “breakfast” for other meals as well. Sometimes I request pancakes for dinner; the whole wheat flour makes it hearty and contributes protein.

I also make quiche every few weeks, which I haven’t perfected (am still buying refrigerated crusts) but tastes good enough that two of us eat a whole quiche within 30 hours, and veggies that SO still finds a little scary steamed plain he really looks forward to when they’re chopped up in a quiche.

Getzly, he has typos every few weeks. I usually email him when I see them so as not to fuss about them in the comments, but he doesn’t always fix them.

as a previous commenter mentioned, ’swiss breakfast’ is probably derived from bircher muesli which is soooo delicious. i often skip the grated apple due to time constraints, but it tastes so much better than regular cooked oatmeal. here’s the recipe i use…
http://www.makewrite.com/blog/90-bircher-muesli-recipe/

vh, I make frittata in a large cast iron skillet. I start by preheating the oven to 325, prepping some cheese, either shredded or cubed, and chopping up whatever vegetables are seasonal. Most of the time, I end up blanching some broccoli or asparagus. I also beat a number of eggs unless I plan to use eggbeaters. The cooking starts with sauteed onions and garlic. When those are soft, I pour in half the beaten eggs and place half the cheese and vegetables in with it. I let that set up slowly over very gentle heat. I add seasonings at this point too. When the first layer of eggs has mostly set, I add the rest of the ingredients with more seasonings. I do this in stages so that all the cheese doesn’t sink to the bottom while all the vegetables float to the top. When the second layer is in the skillet, I put it in the oven and cook it until the top has a nice golden brown color.

Then I let it cool to room temp and invert the frittata onto a big plate. Sometimes, if I know I’ll be in a hurry when I need to eat, I cut slices before I put it in the fridge.

You can add cooked bacon or other meat, whatever you want really. Roasted tomatoes are good. If you want to use watery vegetables like zucchini or tomatoes, it’s best to get some of the water out first. And hard vegetables like carrots or broccoli should be parboiled. Anything in the onion family is good: leeks, shallots, scallions, etc. Fresh herbs are good additions, but dried herbs like oregano work well too.

My two favourite weekday breakfasts:

1) a bowl of porridge (especially oatmeal but other kinds too).

2) two slices of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and homemade jam.

Both of the above with a glass of a milk.

On Sundays we usually have an unhealthy but yummy breakfast, like bacon and eggs, or pancakes and sausages.

Dude, I don’t care if you respond! I’m just saying that you don’t fix your typos. For example, you have the all-too-common problem of using the stringed instrument viola in place of the French imperative voila (voilà), i.e. wouldja take a look at that. If it’s orthographical rather than typographical, do the sticky note thing or find a mnemonic. I’m convinced every intelligent person has one of these bugaboos; “definite” and “intelligence” are also commonly misspelled. I know I always had trouble spelling “pedestal” until I remembered that “impede” also has the root “foot.”

I like to buy a couple bunches of bananas when they are on sale. Once they are at the peak of ripeness, peel them and place in ziplock bags–several will fit together in one gallon size or one or two to a sandwich bag–and stick them in the freezer. Frozen bananas are incredibly sweet and tasty! You can slice them before freezing and spread them on a paper plate until frozen. Then put the individual slices in snack sized bags to use later in smoothies or to feed your son. Frozen slices would probably be easier for the little guy to handle than one frozen hunk of banana. You’ve got to eat them frozen though as they get really mushy once they thaw.

I put frozen fruit into a container of yogurt and take it to work to eat at my desk. It chills the yogurt so its like ice cream and if I leave it longer, I have a great fruity snack with granola. I’m self employed so I get to make the rules. I never eat when I get up I always waited until morning break even at school.

This blog has my eternal thanks for making me remember the “slow cooker” (a.k.a The Crockpot). That said…slow cooker recipes are great also for breakfast. Talk about easy! Fix it at night & wake up to food!
I’m always down with more slow cooker recipes — is it time for another “slow cooker” edition? : )

Ooh, will definitely try the Swiss breakfast one.

I’m a big fan of plain ol’ oatmeal for breakfast, myself. I like to make a huge portion of it on the weekend and portion it out into containers to bring to work with me and warm up. I usually pour a little half & half or non-dairy creamer over it when I warm it up, and throw in some frozen fruit.

Try this:
4 whole eggs
4 egg whites
2-4 ounces any shredded cheese
2-4 ounces any meat (chicken, ham, cooked hamburger, etc)
1 Tablespoon any seasoning (garlic, chipotle, italian herb, etc)
greased pan or pie plate

Beat eggs and stir in the rest of the ingredients. Bake @350 for 30-45 minutes. Let cool. Slice into 8 portions and refrigerate or freeze. TA-DAAAA! Easy and portable breakfast! Good reheated in the microwave for 1 minute or cold.

If you make a couple of versions with different meats, cheeses and seasonings you can have this every morning for breakfast and not get tired or bored with it. You can also toss in a handful of veggies like raw spinach, cooked broccoli or cauliflower.

Hi - I need some suggestions for oatmeal. I’m moving back to school this week, and I know oatmeal is good for you and all that, but the individual flavored packets definitely won’t last as long as buying a canister of oats. Thing is, I hate hate hate the taste of plain oats (like sawdust) - any way to make them tastier??

Jessica, I usually stir in a heaping tablespoon of dry milk, a good shake of cinnamon, and a small handful of raisins before adding water and microwaving. At other times I have had success with craisins, frozen berries, or banana slices. Instead of or added to the dry milk (or soy milk powder if you like), also try mashed up banana or creamy peanut butter.

I bet applesauce would work too. And for convenience I keep a measuring cup in the oatmeal canister once it gets down a way; I just use the scoop from a previous $4 bag of baking soda, or use one you get at a garage sale or thrift shop.

Excellent post trent, I was hoping that you would start talking about what you cook. Most of us tend to eat the same thing over and over. This also saves me sending yoiu an email.

Another fast breakfast:
Put a wrap or burrito-size tortilla
in a shallow bowl.
Break 2 eggs on top of wrap.
Add grated cheese, salt, pepper, oregano, whatever.
Scramble with fork, briskly but taking care not to break wrap.
At this point maybe add a slice of ham, shredded, or some crumbled pre-cooked sausage if handy.
Microwave about 90 seconds.
Allow to cool for about 30 or so seconds.
Fold up wrap, wrap in plastic wrap.

If wrapped carefully, this is easily eaten in the car on the way to work.

I work a lot of 18-hour days and don’t have time for a mellow breakfast.

Sorry I am late — haven’t been keeping up with my daily reading. I do have one question about the banana bread though — is it a good idea to pull it from the freezer overnight and then put it back into the freezer in the morning? Are you using 1/2 a loaf at a time, because you surely wouldn’t want to do that more than once!

my new frugal/healthy breakfast: 1/2c. brown rice with an egg and salsa. great fiber, protein, and a little spice. and to save time, i make up a huge rice cooker of brown rice once a week, and medium boil eggs a half-dozen at a time - so just a little reheating is required.

Please avoid all kind of white flour, Only use whole wheat flour.

I tried the Banana bread recipe yesterday.It turned out awesome.Thanks for a great recipe.

I made a batch of the Swiss breakfast last weekend, and I am loving it! I divided mine into re-usable Gladware containers so that I could take them to the office. I add milk before I walk out the door in the morning, and then heat it up after I get to work. It’s the only oatmeal-based breakfast that holds me over until lunch time. I highly recommend it for those who are on the go.

This is a great post! I struggle with breakfast every morning, usually just waiting until lunch to eat. These all sound great. The Swiss Breakfast especially sounds quick, easy, and delicious.

We make breakfast burritos quite often in the mornings, though to cut down on the prep time (necessary to feed 8 people before school/work) we simply use chunky salsa with the meat, cheese & eggs. If you don’t mess around, prep, eat, & clean-up can take as little as 20-30m for our group.

Folks,

I have a very simple, enjoyable breakfast every morning:

Slice of toasted whole wheat bread, with a slice of fat free cheese and some walnuts.

I have this with chai latte (made from black Darjeeling tea and skimmed milk) — coming from India, we have our tea with milk. You don’t have to waste your money on Starbucks. I also boil the tea leaves with sliced ginger. Beleive me, it is cheap, very convenient (my entire breakfast is prepared in around 6 to 8 minutes), very healthy and most important, very tasty too. Go to any Indian food/recipes website and they’ll tell you how to have tea, Indian stylle.

Hope this helps.

You guys who are always critizing someone’s spelling or grammer need to GET OFF YOUR HIGH STICK. People don’t write stuff so YOU COULD CORRECT IT. It’s meant to be enjoyed or to be informed. I found this site to be helpful since I do alot of the things suggested. Thank You for writing it.

Banana Bread - I love it toasted. It takes the darkest setting and mmmm good.