Quick, Healthy, Hearty Kids' Breakfasts

Katie Lee Joel Offers Back-To-School Recipes For Unique, Delicious, Nutritious Meals

(CBS) 

Fruity-Tootie Smoothie

1 cup skim milk
1/3 cup silken tofu, cut into chunks
3/4 cup frozen fruit (Katie Lee likes to use either a combination of berries or a combination of tropical fruits. Experiment with various fruits to suit your child's tastes)
1 Tablespoon honey, or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend, pulsing the machine if necessary, until smooth, making sure the honey is dissolved. Serve immediately.

Baked Eggs in Ham "Cups"

4 slices boiled ham
4 large eggs
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Spray a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Line each muffin cup with one slice ham. Crack one egg into each and season with salt and pepper. Cook in the middle of the oven for about 15-20 minutes, depending on desired firmness of yolks. Allow to cool in pan for a couple of minutes and then remove.

Banana-Fana Pancakes

1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
1-1/2 cups reduced-fat milk
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 banana, thinly sliced

In a medium bowl, combine cottage cheese, egg, milk, and canola oil. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Mix dry ingredients into cottage cheese mixture. Stir until just combined.

Heat a griddle or cast iron skillet over medium heat and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Ladle about 1/4 cup pancake mixture onto the griddle for each pancake. When bubbles start to form at the surface, top with sliced banana. Flip with a spatula and cook about 1 additional minute.

These pancakes can be frozen and reheated in the toaster.

Hawaiian French Toast Sticks with Fruit Kebabs

3/4 cup reduced-fat milk
1/4 cup pineapple juice
2 large eggs
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
8 slices whole grain bread, cut into 1 ½ inch slices
1/2 cup whole grain cereal, crushed
1 cup assorted fruit

In a medium bowl, whisk milk, eggs, pineapple juice, and maple syrup. Place bread in milk mixture and allow to soak about 30 seconds on each side. Dredge each piece of bread in the crushed cereal and coat on both sides.

Heat a nonstick sauté pan over medium heat and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Cook bread about 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden brown.

Assemble fruit kebabs by threading fruit onto a bamboo skewer.

These French toast sticks can be frozen and reheated in the oven before serving.

[chyjean]

I heard the comment from the woman on the early show this morning saying that the lunches she had made were better than the high fat sugary cafeteria lunches this makes me mad I work in a middle school cafeteria in arkansas and we have low fat, low sugar ,and we use whole wheat flour to make our rolls.
It is not the cafeteria''s that make our kids overweight it is the parents that work 60+ hours a week that are to tired to cook a meal and they run through the drive through.

[meinnv]

By the way I am not an uninformed fool (so you couldn''t have been referring to me then). On the contrary I am someone who has learned to manage her health without the use of man-made drugs; drugs that can have very ill or unplesant side-effects.

I didn''t say they were ALL bad. Never did. Never did I even IMPLY they were all bad. I also said "again, they are at least "tastier" alternatives to plain toast :)"
I did err on this one:

"The maple sugar wouldn''t be a good idea for diabetic families."

I will agree I should have said SYRUP, not SUGAR. That wouldn''t be good for diabetic families. Excessive sugar isn''t a good idea, whether your diabetes is controlled by insulin or not.

[meinnv]

Here is a sample of a diabetic breakfast:

Breakfast
(360 calories, 52.5 grams carbohydrate)

1 slice toasted whole wheat bread with 1 teaspoon margarine
1/4 cup egg substitute or cottage cheese
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 small banana

Notice there is nothing with any real SUGAR in it, such as syrup. Oatmeal is a very healthy food to eat and a great breakfast in the winter, as well as in the summer. And notice an "egg subsititue" is mentioned or cottage cheese.

Enjoy this healthier breakfast......

[meinnv]

I am a well educated woman who has worked in hospitals well over 10 years so I do have some working knowledge of what I am saying.

I am sure no two people are going to see eye to eye, particularly on health or eating habits. Name calling hardly legitimizes an opinion. I do know where I work, diabetic patients are not given syrup. It''s not done, they feed diabetics toast, pancakes and some fruit, but all in moderation.

Not all carbs are bad for you, there are good carbs and bad carbs. What might be good today isn''t good tomorrow.

Also, some diabetics prefer to avoid insulin and want to manage it through diet as it''s easier for them. Although there are great advancements, unless you can drink insulin, you generally have to inject it, and there are some people who don''t like to do that.

Again, it''s always good and "food for thought" to not blindly accept certain foods as good or bad or "healthy".

You should consult a doctor periodically to see if it is a good idea to eat certain foods. Moderation is the key as well as common sense.

Just like you wouldn''t give peanut butter on a bagel to a child who''s allergic to it. Peanut butter wouldn''t hurt me, but to a child who has a severe allergy, it can be deadly--so even peanut butter can kill.

[meinnv]

I am getting the information from my own nutrionist, who because of my own high cholesterol in years past, recommended that I avoid eggs.

Weight has nothing to do with cholesterol, my mother is over-weight and her cholesterol is perfect. It is always best to consult a medical professional before trying a new fad or diet.

Also, many thin people have cholesterol issues as well. Believe it or not, in the past medical professionals have flipped back and forth between eggs being good or bad for you.

I am not telling anyone want to do, but here is something no one can argue with:

ASK YOUR CHILD''S PEDATRICIAN IF THESE FOODS ARE GOOD FOR THEM, WHAT MODERATION THEY SHOULD BE IN. AND IF HIGH CHOLESTEROL IS AN ISSUE, WOULD AVOIDING THESE FOODS HELP.

As with anything, there is common sense that needs to be applied. If your child doesn''t have a problem, then you''ve got nothing to worry about.

[paganmama]

These are a "start" but I''''d steer clear of anything with eggs. You don''''t want your 5 year old on Zocor. . .

Not sure where you''re getting your info on eggs, but I strongly disagree. Eggs are a great food for kids. They provide them with protein, iron and other nutrients that they need. And unless the 5 y.o is severely overweight, completely inactive and/or both, you shouldn''t have to worry about their cholesterol.

[peace2u3]

Im always on the lookout for good children''s recipes. These look healthy and delicious. I can''t wait to try the breakfast bars. Katie Lee Joel is adorable! Let''s hope we see more of her.

[kimmiebeck]

I can''t believe that so many people still believe the myth about eggs and cholesterol. Eggs are a near perfect food. One egg contains 13 essential nutrients, the highest quality prtein, choline, folate, iron and zinc with only 75 calories. Feed your kids a couple of eggs a week instead of the over-processed *** that''s being marketed as healthy. There''s nothing healthy about high fructose corn syrup, high sodium, and trans fat.

[kimmiebeck]

I can''t believe that so many people still believe the myth of eggs and cholesterol. Eggs are a near-perfect food. One egg contains 13 essential nutrients, the highest quality protein, choline, folate, iron, and zinc with only 75 calories. Feed your kids a couple of eggs a week instead of the highly processed fake food that''s marketed as healthy. There''s nothing healthy about high fructose corn syrup and trans fat.

[meinnv]

The Hawaiian French Toast sticks with Fruit recipe sounds like it''s loaded with enough sugar to make the kids run around all day without slowing down. The maple sugar wouldn''t be a good idea for diabetic families. Too much sugar and you''re looking for problems.

Then again, they are at least "tastier" alternatives to plain toast :)

[meinnv]

Baked Eggs in Ham "Cups"

4 slices boiled ham
4 large eggs
Salt and pepper

As good as that sounds, that is truly unhealthy in my book. Having been to a nutrionist because of hi triglycerides when I was a teen, first thing I was told CUT OUT THE EGGS. She even told me 1 egg a day could cause my cholesterol (the bad one) to sky-rocket and cause heart problems later in life.

Ham has a lot of sodium in it already, and adding salt to that is a little disastrous, I think I would pass on this one. Cute as it may sound, not a healthy choice.

[meinnv]

While some of these might sound healthy, remember eggs are a bad cholesterol offender, even one a day can be bad for some, depending on their parents'' and grandparents medical histories. Feeding them to your kids every day may have them reaching for cholesterol meds before you know it. Also, ham is quite high in sodium, which can led to a heavy water rentention. I speak from experience on both.

And, no. I don''t think anyone uses just a tablespoon of peanut butter. Some of that is so thick that if you try to spread a little versus a "glop" you can easily tear the bread...

These are a "start" but I''d steer clear of anything with eggs. You don''t want your 5 year old on Zocor (sorry, that was the first cholesterol med that came to mind) wondering what the heck that "special vitamin" is for.

[nycfoodie]

These look healthy and delicious! Definitely something fun and easy I plan on making for my family this fall. I think Katie should write a kid''s cookbook soon. Give us more Katie Lee Joel! What a cutie!

-Susie in New York

[lefttomyownd]

If you want the nutritional value of ANY recipe you can use this website...
http://www.recipenutrition.com/home/recnut/index.aspx

You can change/substitute ingredients to fit the nutritional goals you are aiming for and see the effect the changes have on the nutritional values.

[lefttomyownd]

If you want the nutritional value of ANY recipe you can use this website...
http://www.recipenutrition.com/home/recnut/index.aspx

You can change/substitute ingredients to fit the nutritional goals you are aiming for and see the effect the changes have on the nutritional values.

[lefttomyownd]

Hi Deb in NC in response to your concern about nutritional values of the recipes you can use this website http://www.recipenutrition.com/ to find the nutritional value of ANY recipe. I have been using it for awhile now and really like it because you can change ingredients and see the effect on the nutritional values. Such as substituting soy milk for low fat milk.

[lefttomyownd]

Hi Deb in NC in response to your concern about nutritional values of the recipes you can use this website http://www.recipenutrition.com/ to find the nutritional value of ANY recipe. I have been using it for awhile now and really like it because you can change ingredients and see the effect on the nutritional values. Such as substituting soy milk for low fat milk.

[puzzler125]

Does anyone actually use just one tablespoon of peanut butter when making a sandwich of any kind? Try measuring one tablespoon the putting it on both sides of a bagel or two pieces of toast. It is one very thin layer.

[deb4vols]

What is the calorie count on these Kid recipes and also the sugar and salt grams...We need this info in order to make a better decision on these breakfasts!
Thanks!!
Deb in North Carolina