Healthy Breakfast and Lunch ideas?

[weeirishlass]

I'm okay with dinner, but I'm so stuck in a rut for breakfast and lunch. Every day I have a carnation instant breakfast and an english muffin w/ pb&j. Sometimes a banana instead of the muffin. It's so boring! I need ideas.
And lunch I always end up with lunch meat. I always eat while dd is napping, so I don't want anything too involved, I want to have some time to relax, but why can't I think of anything but sandwiches? I know there are other ideas.
Any suggestions?

[justmama]

smoothies? milk and yogurt and some protein powder with frozen fruit. Just toss it all in and blend it up. I like frozen strawberries(about 5-6 so it's really icy), 1/2 cup milk, 2 tbs vanilla yogurt, and some vanilla protein powder. EXCELLENT start to your day and easier to eat than real food that you have to chew with morning sickness. It's my breakfast everyday and I keep a granola bar(homemade) in my diaper bag when I run errands for later(like 10am). If I'm home, I have a homemade muffin(applesauce cinnamon with wheat germ and made with whole wheat flour. if that doesn't make you regular and give you protein, nothing will! ).
what about parfaits, like fruit, yogurt, and granola? layers of all. PERFECT breakfast, pretty easy to eat at work, or on the run(driving!).
or my other fave, breakfast burrito. One-handed breakfast. whole wheat tortilla, with scrambled eggs and cheese and some green peppers chopped up. If you are a meat eater, toss in some sausage or crumbled bacon and you've got yourself the perfect protein breakfast. Can you tell I like lots of protein in my diet? I'm veggie and a protein chocked breakfast helps hold me over until snack around 10am or so and gets me moving in the morning. There are those mornings that I can't touch anything other than saltines and iced coffee, but I really try to eat well and take my prenatals at breakfast. By lunch I feel 100% better for having done it and my days are WAY more productive.

By the way, all these things take less than 10 minutes to prepare and are pretty simple to eat on the run. I have a very active toddler and school-aged child so I have to be quick too. You can also pre-pack your blender with smoothie stuff at night to throw on in the morning and toss in a to-go cup for work. Or make your parfait in a to-go cup to just grab and go in the morning. I make my muffins and granola bars either at night(while making dinner to multi-task and use the gas oven to the best of my abilities!) or in giant batches on the weekends and freeze them. Toss one or two in a baggie in the morning and run out the door with. In an hour they are defrosted and ready to eat, probably before you are ready!

[joshs_girl]

I've been on a kick lately having strawberries (freshly cut up), non fat plain yogurt, and a tablespoon of honey all together.

Super yummy!

240 calories, 47g carbs, 1g fat, 13g protein (or thereabouts)

[WeasleyMum]

I know it's super-boring, but I've just been having cereal for breakfast... DH brings it to me before I get up b/c of the morning sickness and I eat it in bed, rest, then get up... (You know, because eating cereal is so exhausting! This is sad.)

I've been going with Kashi Heart-Healthy,the one with the dried blueberries. It tastes quite a bit like the more main-stream Blueberry Morning which I think is Post.

[LoveChild421]

The only thing I can keep down in the morning is a fried egg and cheddar cheese sandwhich on one slice of organic multi-grain bread. I think the protein gets me feeling much better. For lunch I've been doing sandwiches to stay up on my protein.

[ksera05]

I've been eating bagels with butter (surprisingly they have between 10g and 13g of protein, but make me think they are carbs so they don't nauseate me ) or 1/2 C of whole wheat couscous with butter.

I do think I'm going to have to try the smoothie idea though!

[Nature]

The only thing I can eat in the mornings is scrambled eggs with cheese, and some veggies thrown in if I happen to have some on hand.

[mosesface]

my favorite way to dress up lunch is to toast it.

seriously, there's nothing better than a delicious toasted sandwich. i like to take ezekiel bread, put a little bit of mayo and mustard, some turkey breast and sliced red onion on one slice and a thin slice of muenster on the other slice and stick it under the broiler for just a couple of minutes (i pull the cheese slice out first so it doesn't burn and let the turkey side get nice and hot, barely browning the onions).

it is soooo good and it's "just" a sandwich! sometimes i have a little green salad with some dried cranberries, flax, and sunflowers seeds with it. it takes almost no time and it feels really dressed up.

[mom3b1?]

I wouldn't take the instant breakfast. That's a lot of sugar. I'm not opposed to carbohydrate, but I think it's best to stick to more complex ones.

I do not use Nestle brand products, like Carnation, because of the deaths caused by their aggressive formula marketting in third world countries, but that is a social objection not a nutritional. This is something that's been going on for decades. I used to work in third world countries with the sorts of people who are affected most by this, and have seen it up close, so I just can't get past it.

Grapefruit is very good for you, and will do loads for your immune system. Smoothies are good if you make them from scratch so you know they aren't loaded with extra sugars. I make mine with fruit and plain yogurt. Almonds, cheese, granola and yogurt, are all things I like in the morning that are simple. Sometimes I'll make whole grain pancakes, and maybe eggs sometimes, because the kids like them. I do too, but I won't usually cook in the morning unless it's for them.

For lunch I've been eating a lot of soups. You can put almost anything into a soup.

Kiley

[Mama2-4]

Great ideas! : keep 'em coming!!

[nolonger]

I know it's untraditional, but lately I've been LOVING baked potatoes for breakfast. I've never been able to eat early in the mornings (and frequently get busy and go straight through until dinner time before I feel any actual hunger) but the potatoes go down easily and are gently on my stomach.

I like green salads for lunch and toss in a can of beans for protein because...well, because I can!

I also keep fresh fruit on hand for snacking.

[weeirishlass]

:
All these are now on my grocery list, and I'm heading off to the store! Keep the lunch ideas coming! There's gotta be more than soup/salad/sandwich! Or at least interesting sandwiches!

[LawrenceDoula]

Kashi makes a great instant oatmeal that is very healthy. That or old fashioned oats with a little brown sugar.

[newcastlemama]

Here are some ideas:
-Dh and ds' favorite--Ezequiel bread and nut butter
-Smoothies-my favorite is blackberries with almond milk, vanilla, an agave nectar...I call it blackberry pie.

Lunches:
I love simple salads. I just made apple walnut green salad with homemade dressing (evoo, basalmic vinegar, mustard and agave). Add hardboiled egg, chicken ect for more protein.

To make sanwiches more interesting, get some pesto, sundried tomatoes in oil and cheese to add to a turkey sanwich. Put a little butter on the bread and grill. Or add avocado. I smash it to spead on dh's sandwiches.

We make taco salads (w/o the taco part) with romaine, seasoned ground beef, shredded cheese, sour cream gauc, taco sauce, pinto beans.....

I also like to make crudite platters with dip to snack on. I make raw hummus (with zuccini and tahini). Guacamole is a great dip for red pepper slices and carrots.


I think you can make the salad and sanwich thing more fun if you get some good toppings (Trader Joe's has lots of good stuff)

Jen

[justmama]

,,,,

[flapjack]

We're doing a lot of jacket potatoes for lunch or pasta salads. Breakfast tends to be fruit,yoghurt, toasted nuts and a spoonful of local honey (to keep my hay fever under control.)

[mosesface]

for breakfast, i stick to my uncle sam cereal (although i do dress it up with dried fruit and sometimes nuts). if i skip a day, my bowels pay. i am a slave to uncle sam cereal.

as for the rest of the day...

keep some grilled chicken breast in the fridge -- you can eat it hot or cold on it's own, on a sandwich, tossed in a salad, or, my favorite, tossed with some whole wheat rotini and pesto. delicious and FAST for lunch!

also, the good ol' omlette tends to get overlooked at lunchtime. you can throw anything into an omlette pretty easily.

i've been really enjoying cottage cheese and fresh fruit salad any time of the day (breakfast, lunch, dessert). tons of protein and satisfies the sweet and creamy craving.

sometimes instead of baked potatoes (which is my favorite thing since i've been pregnant, cannot get enough right now), i eat a sweet potato. there's something about a sweet potato in the middle of the day that just feels so scandalous...i love it. perfect with some barely cooked broccoli (i toast my broccoli just a tiny bit in a pan and then take it off the heat and cover until it is bright green but still crisp, then sprinkle with a teeny bit of sea salt).


is anyone else ridiculously hungry right now?

[NamastePlatypus]

op that is my breakfast. Right now that is all I can handle

I make e smoothies but I have to be in the mood.

[nausicaamom]

Here is my bizarro breakfast or lunch:

1/2 c Roasted red pepper hummus w/tobasco
Red pepper and/or cucumbers
a handfull of tortilla chips
Grapes and some feta (only when I have it)
Seltzer to wash it all down

I really want to get some pitas and make some tzatziki to eat with them and some fresh veggies. I definitely do not subscribe to breakfast food for breakfast - I pretty much eat whatever I'm in to mood for.

[Annikate]

Here are ideas for kids and moms too.