Healthy Breakfast Food 

I have been working on making healthy breakfast food. I want something that is quick to grab in the morning so I don’t have to take a lot of time preparing so I can get working. Of course I must be concerned to have foods low in calories because I really battle my weight. Going along with the low calories is having food high in fiber for breakfast.


It is important to me to have healthy breakfast food which is filling because I do not have time to have a snack throughout the morning. I am also trying to stay away from most of the white flour and refined sugar. I have always had a tremendous dislike for artificial sweeteners. All this leaves a very limited list of ingredients to include in something that I want for breakfast every morning.



I had been thinking that a piece of coffee cake or a quick muffin might be suitable for what I am looking for. I love making quinoa recipes because I believe this grain is so healthy and easy to work with. I always thought my carrot cake recipe was so delicious. Even though it is very high in fiber it is also very high in calories. The texture and flavor is so good that I decided to start here.


Since I do not like artificial sweeteners, I have been reading a lot about the natural sweetener, Stevia. This is an herb from South America and has been used for hundreds of years as a natural sweetener. I don’t find it to have an aftertaste like the artificial sweeteners, which I hate. My thought was if I make a sugar free cake recipe and make a food high in fiber there just could not be many calories in a piece of this. This would make a great healthy breakfast food. I set out to bake one immediately.

CARROT CAKE RECIPE can be a healthy breakfast food

Quinoa Carrot Cake is a Healthy Breakfast FoodQuinoa Carrot Cake is a Healthy Breakfast Food
  • 3 Cups sifted quinoa flour
  • Stevia or other substitution (no calorie) for 1 cup sugar
  • 2 Teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 ½ Teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 Teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 Teaspoon salt
  • 1 Cup Canola oil
  • 2 ½ Cups finely grated raw carrots
  • 1 Cup chopped pecans
  • 1 ½ Cups crushed pineapple
  • 3 Eggs
  • 2 Teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

Grease and flour bundt or tube cake pan.

Combine all ingredients and blend well.

Pour into prepared pan and bake 1 hour or until pick comes out clean.

When cold slice cake horizontally and add orange glaze.


ORANGE GLAZE

  • 1 ½ Cups fresh orange juice
  • 1 Tablespoon grated orange peel
  • 2 Tablespoon cornstarch
  • Stevia or sugar substitution (no calorie) equal to ¼ cup sugar

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly.

While my healthy breakfast food was baking, you know the sugar free cake recipe which could not have any calories in it, I decided to sit down and figure the calories. I could not believe my figures! I had to have made a mistake! This cake has a total of 4880 calories with no sugar and quinoa flour in it. That means 1/12 (and that is not a huge piece) of this cake would be a whopping 406.66 calories. I don’t call that low in calories! I can’t eat this everyday for breakfast.

NOTE: THE CALORIE COUNT MAY NOT BE EXACT.


After some disappointment and thought I decided to try again and vary the recipe to take out calories. I looked at the high calorie ingredients. The flour; but I wanted to keep the high fiber because I still think it is a healthy choice. Next is the oil so I decided to decrease the oil from 1 cup to ¼ cup and add 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce which I cooked myself to help keep the delicious moistness of product. I took out 1 of the eggs to eliminate a few more calories. Last I eliminated the nuts from the recipe which I think I will add back in next time. I really like them in the recipe and I feel they have a lot of health benefits.


I decided to make the carrot cake recipe in giant muffins this time round; mainly because I was in a hurry to get them baked. I decided to eliminate a few more calories by using a little fresh orange juice instead of the glaze on top of the muffins.

Quinoa Muffins

Quinoa MuffinsQuinoa Muffins
  • 3 Cups sifted quinoa flour
  • Sugar substitute for 1 cup sugar (no calories)
  • 2 Teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 ½ Teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 Teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 Teaspoon salt
  • ¼ Cup Canola oil
  • 2 ½ Cups finely grated raw carrots
  • 1 ½ Cups crushed pineapple
  • 2 Eggs
  • 2 Teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 Cup unsweetened applesauce

I baked these muffins at 350F degrees for about 20 minutes (test with pick for doneness).

INSTEAD OF GLAZE I added a little sweetener to ¾ cup fresh squeezed orange juice and spooned it over the slightly warm muffins.



CONCLUSION to my healthy breakfast food is a whopping cut in calories of 193.46. Each of these twelve muffins is 213.20 calories and that is not bad for a giant muffin which is very filling for a healthy breakfast food. Keeping the quinoa flour in the muffins adds a lot of protein to get through the morning. The flavor of both the cake and muffins was equally delicious although I did miss the nuts in the muffins. They added a pleasant texture to the muffin but also added about 63 calories to each of the twelve muffins.


NOTE: The next time I may not use the orange juice or if I do I will not use paper liners. I did not think about it but the juice saturated the paper liners making it a little hard to get the muffins out.

Still in search of healthy breakfast food, I settled for something which I eat almost every morning. You may not think it sounds good but I love it. I sauté a little fresh garlic in a little olive oil. Then I add 4 ounces of chopped spinach and cook only until hot. I eat this with a piece of toast made from my homemade bread. Occasionally I will replace the toast with other homemade muffin or biscuit. Some ask “How can you eat spinach”? If I cannot have this in the morning I really miss my good breakfast. It is also easy for me to eat the same thing every day.

BAKED FRENCH TOAST

Occasionally I make another healthy breakfast food. We also like French toast so this baked recipe is a good recipe. 

  • 2/3 Cup low fat cottage cheese
  • ¼ Cup skim milk
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar (Or sugar replacement)
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 Egg white
  • ½ Teaspoon vanilla
  • 4 Slices whole grain bread

Preheat oven to 425F degrees.

In blender process cottage cheese, milk, sugar, egg, egg white and vanilla until smooth.

Transfer mixture to a shallow dish; place bread in it and let stand 10 minutes.

Turn bread over and let stand another 10 minutes.

Grease baking sheet and place in oven for 7 minutes.

Remove pan from oven; place bread on baking sheet.

Place back in oven and bake bread until golden brown about 6 minutes.

Serve with fruit or other healthy topping; serves 4.

CHERRY MELON BREAKFAST DRINK

For busy people sometimes it is easier to be able to drink a healthy breakfast food. This recipe is great for those people especially in the hot summer months.

  • 1 ½ Cups cubed melon (Watermelon/cantaloupe)
  • 1 Cup pitted fresh or frozen cherries
  • 1 Cup plain low fat yogurt
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar (Brown/white or replacement)
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • 1/8 Teaspoon ground cloves

COMBINE AND PROCESS all ingredients in blender or processor until smooth.

Pour into glasses; 2 servings.

GRANOLA RECIPE

Another healthy breakfast food which I started making many years ago is granola. When my boys were young they were “big eaters”. Granola is high is fiber so is very filling. I always made it because it is filing for breakfast with milk but also as a snack without milk.

  • 3 Cups uncooked rolled oats
  • ½ Cup shredded coconut
  • ½ Cup sliced almonds
  • ¼ Cup wheat germ
  • ¼ Cup sunflower seeds
  • ¼ Cup PLUS 2 tablespoons honey
  • ¼ Cup vegetable oil
  • 2 ½ Tablespoons water
  • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
  • ¾ Teaspoon vanilla
  • ¼ Teaspoon salt
  • ¾ Cup raisins
  • 2 Cups dried fruit

Preheat oven to 350F degrees; lightly grease jelly roll pan (15X10X1 inches).

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well and set aside.

Combine honey, oil, water, brown sugar, vanilla and salt in another container; blend well.

Pour honey mixture over the oat mixture; stir well to blend.

Spread mixture evenly in prepared pan; bake 25 minutes until golden brown stirring every 5 MINUTES.

Cool completely and stir in raisins and dried fruit.

Store in airtight container in cool place up to 2 ½ months.

Makes about 7 ½ cups.