Breakfast Tips

Breakfast is one of my favorite meals and I can't go more than 30 minutes of being awake in the morning without eating. This usually means I'm chugging down a bowl of cereal while getting dressed in the mornings but if I keep myself organized and I don't hit the snooze too many times I can pull off a decent yummy breakfast.

If you like a nice frothy latte in the morning but are too rushed to stop by Starbucks, I have a solution. You will need a couple of handy tools though. First one being an espresso maker. I have a stove-top one that works great and you can get it on amazon for about $20. Next you'll need an immersion blender. I use this for all kinds of things but mostly for frothing milk. You could certainly buy a milk frother but I prefer tools that do more than one thing.
The night before, setup your espresso, a pot for your milk, and the immersion blender. The less you have to do in the morning, the better. After you've stumbled out of bed, make your espresso, heat milk (I find skim milk makes the most foam) to just before boiling and if you like sugar you'll want to add it to the milk once it's heated to dissolve well. Once your milk is heated, use your immersion blender and blend until you have as much foam as you like. Pour milk into your mug, add espresso, then top with foam. Delicious! I promise it only take about 10 minutes.

Quick breads are a life saver in the morning. I make a loaf once a week. There are tons of amazing recipes on the web. The one above is blueberry lemon which I fail to remember where I found the recipe for. Sorry.

Corner Bakery Style Swiss Morning Oatmeal. This is cold oatmeal which you can prepare the night before (except for the banana, please don't add that until the morning). My own version above is rolled oats, vanilla yogurt, silvered almonds, strawberries, dried blueberries, banana, a little raw sugar and some skim milk to thin it out. So good!

One of my favorite tips, pack your hot oatmeal in travel mugs. It will keep it hot while you're on your way to work. This way you can make proper oatmeal in the morning without relying on those sugared packets of instant oatmeal. My favorite hot oatmeal- I cook the oats in skim milk, then add chopped apples, a little vanilla extract,  chopped walnuts and top with maple syrup. Yum!

Do you have any breakfast tips to share?