Menu Monday: The No Cereal for Breakfast Challenge

Cereal?  On my!  We just recently found a favorite chocolate organic one for just $2 a box at Ocean State Joblot.  But, we won’t be buying it anymore.  Why?  Because a post at Naturally Knocked Up knocked the joy of indulging in chocolate quick fix breakfasts (and snacks) right out of me.  So, this week, I am beginning a month-long personal No Cereal for Breakfast Challenge, focusing on eating as many whole foods as we can from the slow cooker, from the freezer, from the cupboards and fridge…

Luke during one of our Power Food Labs: Eggs explorations last week.

To get started, I rounded up a week’s worth of crockpot breakfast meals.  Now, if I were cooking for just me, the recipe list would consist of just one thing:  Slow Cooker Oatmeal with changes in toppings for each day. But, since my husband does not love oatmeal as much as I do, I decided to add a bit more variety – looking for different fruits and carbs (our breakfast staples!) that I can cook in our slow cooker overnight.  As such, breakfast choices this week are as follows.  If you have ideas for other real food crockpot  breakfasts – or freezer or in 15-minutes-or-less ones, for that matter – please share it with me by leaving a comment and/or link. 

1.  Slow Cooker Oatmeal from the Vegetarian Mother’s Cookbook by Cathe Olson

•  1 cup steel cut oats
• 4 ½-5 cups of water
•   ¼ teaspoon sea salt

Mix it all together in the slow cooker and cook on low for 10-12 hours. 

2.  Slow Cooker Polenta adapted from the recipe at Press Democrat.

 3.  Crockpot Breakfast Risotto

4.  Slow Cooker Grits

• 4-5 cups of water
• a shake of sea salt
• 1 cups grits
• up to ½ cup butter if desired

Mixed together and cook overnight on low.

5.  Crockpot Hearty Wheat Berry Breakfast

6.  Overnight Rice Porridge from the Vegetarian Mother’s Cookbook by Cathe Olson

• 1 cup brown rice
•  4 ½ cups of water
•  ¼ cup salt

            Mix it all together in a slow cooker and cook on low for about 10 hours.

7.  Slow Cooker French Toast Casserole adapted from Angela’s Kitchen or Crockpot French Toast Bake, even if this isn’t a totally whole  food breakfast because of the breakfast

Nina will likely enjoy stirring up this week's Power Food - Whole Grains - as much as she did last week's - Eggs!

So, of course, our power food of the week is going to be more of a category than a particular food:  whole grains.

And for the rest of our meals:

Mike’s Lunch Main Dish Choices:

-         ham and cheese wrap

-         peanut butter-salad wrap

-         tuna and grain salad

-         egg salad and vegetable sticks

-         tuna and pasta salad

At-Home (and Out) Lunch Main Dish Choices:

-         yogurt and toppings

-         garbanzo beans with confetti rice

-         build-your-own-wrap (peanut butter, cheese, spreads, and vegetables)

-         edamame and rice

-         build-your-own sandwich

-         veggie-apple melts

-         cheesy rice (a cup hot cooked rice, sprinkled with olive oil and shredded cheese, plus a shake of nutritional yeast, and topped with parsley for mama)

Snacks, Treats and Sides Choices:

-         apple slices, raisins, apple sauce, pineapples, bananas, frozen berries or fruit smoothies

-         sliced, sticked and cubed vegetables

-         yogurt, cheese, garbanzo beans, peanut butter and crackers, ,

-         homemade muffins, quick breads or cookies

-         chips

-         potato salad, grain salad

-         leftovers and forage from fridge, freezer and pantry

Dinner Choices:

-         From the Oven Night: roasted butternut squash and roasted cabbage and onions, plus spinach and black beans

-         Breakfast for Dinner Night: banana waffles and toppings

-         U-Build-It Night:  taco bites (chips, beans, tuna, cheese, chopped vegetables, salsa, tomato sauce, etc.)

-         Soup Night:  tomato soup, carrot muffins and spinach salad

-         Quick Fix Night:  tortilla pizzas, sliced apples, salad

-         Egg Night:  baked omelet, roasted tomatoes and vegetable muffins

-         Pasta Night: rotini with choice of toppings – walnut-parsley pesto, tomato sauce, broccoli and cheese

If you have other ideas for whole-food, no cereal breakfasts, suggestions for our other meals or comments in general, please do not hesitate to leave a comment below.  And, to see other folk’s menu plans, head on over to the links at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Please Note: To get to related posts in Wonder and Will use the links under categories to the right, not the ones below.

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