Breakfast Beaters

Breakfast can sometimes be a bit of a mixed affair in our house; Master Cook and Little Cook both love their breakfast and will scoff down plenty and I understand the benefits of it, so although I am not one to feel particularly hungry in the morning I never miss breakfast which usually consists of a small bowl of porridge with some honey and fruit.

The two young athletes in the house are at total ends of the spectrum. One will always munch through breakfast and on competition day will sit down to a big hot steaming bowl of porridge. On the other hand the other (who can eat like a horse the rest of the day) just struggles. Over the years we have battled over breakfast and the need to eat cereal and last year I came to the conclusion it just wasn't worth it. My quest then started to look for something quick and easy and I have come up with a few alternatives which he enjoys.

Peanut butter on toast with a smoothie on the side

This is a firm favourite on schools days and the staple breakfast through the week. I invested in an Active Blend smoothie maker and it is amazing! The best bit is the smoothie is made inside the sports bottle so there are no extra parts to wash. If you fill the bottle up it makes three glasses of smoothie, so the boys have one each for breakfast and I take the third into work with me if I am running at lunchtime and I have it about an hour before I run. It tends to separate over the course of the morning but so long as it is kept in the fridge a good shake just revitalises it.

There are thousands of recipes on the internet, berry ones are a firm favourite in our house and the most made one is probably frozen raspberries, milk, vanilla yoghurt and cranberry juice all whizzed together. No measuring required so no two taste the same!

Scrambled eggs on toast with layered fruit and yoghurt

There must be very few who don't like some scrambled eggs on toast (obviously with a wee drop melted cheese through it) and it is quick and easy to make. I usually add a side dish to this and take a glass with some fruit compote on the bottom (this is made with any fruit we have that is overipe and kept in a tub in the fridge). Add to this a good dollop of vanilla yoghurt then sprinkle on top some granola. Easy peasy and very tasty.

Breakfast muffins

These are the new kid on the block and yet to be tried out on the rest of the family (although I have scoffed two of these already this morning and they are delicious). Master Cook is a sprints coach at a local club and coaches athletes from around age 15-17. Having spoken to them and their parents it seems quite a common occurrence that teenagers will skip breakfast or will grab a cereal (breakfast) bar and a drink. Breakfast bars just don't cut the mustard with me, we sometimes use them as a snack during competitions but certainly not a substitute to breakfast. It got me thinking that perhaps they can be enticed with an alternative which could be grabbed in the morning or taken to school (or pop in a rucksack when competing). I had a quick look on the BBC Good Food website (probably my favourite website ever) and quickly found a recipe for grab and go breakfast muffins:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/breakfast-muffins

I used wholemeal spelt flour instead of wholemeal wheat flour but for true gluten free I am sure a gluten free mix would work just as well. I also didn't have rapeseed oil so just substituted olive oil.

It says on the recipe they will keep in a container for three days however I think they will be scoffed quicker than that. I would be tempted to prepare the mixture the night before and keep the wet mix in the fridge and the dry mix covered in a bowl. In the morning it's just a case of mixing both together, popping the mixture into the cases and into the oven leaving them to cook while I have time to shower. 

This is maybe a recipe to test drive on the Pitreavie athletes at the National Relay Championships tomorrow. You never know it might just make them all that wee bit faster (just don't tell them no sugar is involved!).