Fruit fits easily into breakfast, but vegetables can be a challenge. Here are some tips to help you wake up your kid’s fruit and vegetable appetite:
- Stir things up. For a quick breakfast, add raisins or chopped dates to instant oatmeal, or stir blueberries, strawberries or sliced banana into whole-grain cereal with fat-free milk.
- Get scrambling! Add fresh or frozen chopped spinach, mushrooms and diced tomatoes to scrambled eggs or omelets. Really, any veggies will work.
- Make a breakfast sandwich. Top a whole-wheat English muffin with either reduced-fat peanut butter and banana slices, or hummus, sliced cucumbers, tomato and fresh spinach.
- Batter up. Add grated carrots or zucchini to pancake, quick bread or muffin batter.
- Drink your produce. Whir carrots and fresh orange juice in a blender for a refreshing breakfast beverage.
- Say “Olé!” Make a breakfast burrito by wrapping low-fat cheddar cheese, scrambled eggs and diced bell peppers in a whole-wheat tortilla. You also can make a vegetable-and-cheese quesadilla in a nonstick pan with a scant amount of canola oil.
- Pick a fruit pizza. Spread reduced-fat dinner rolls in a pizza pan and bake. Top the pizza with orange sections or slices of kiwi, apples or strawberries, and drizzle fat-free vanilla yogurt over the top.
- Make a quick white or sweet potato hash. Grate the potatoes—they cook faster that way. Place the potatoes in a glass bowl and microwave about three minutes or until hot; drain any juice. Heat a skillet or frying pan on the stove and then stir-fry the potatoes with a teaspoon of olive oil until crispy.
Mullen, Mary. “Veggies for Breakfast Yes.” Eat Right. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics., 24 Oct. 2017, www.eatright.org/food/planning-and-prep/snack-and-meal-ideas/veggies-for-breakfast-yes.