You may well ask “What is National Breakfast Week?” National Breakfast Week runs from 24-30 January 2016. But you might also be wondering where have I been? I know, I know, all good intentions, New Year’s resolutions, my mind bursting with ideas of blogging about this, that, oh and that and yet, the time just keeps ticking on by… the teens get ever-more demanding, and the days pass on by. But I am going to change all that and set aside time for a minimum of a post a week. If I can do more, I will, but you know there is so much going on in the foodie world ALL the time! And I am determined to share it with you all.
When it comes to New Year’s resolutions I, to be honest, never quite fix them, but have these kind of “intentions” that I write down. However, I’ve been following some really interesting blogs on LinkedIn recently, and they say if you don’t set goals or at least a target, with a deadline, then it just won’t happen.
So with that in mind, let’s get back to breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Now this is becoming more and more of an issue in our household. With teens, they kind of keep pushing back, get up later, come down later and oops, they skip breakfast as they rush out the door to catch the school bus, just (and I say just) in the nick of time. So how do we overcome this? Are there any tips for packing a quick breakfast that they can eat/drink on the go? Is this the solution – to find a nifty smoothie gadget for kids-on-the-run? Or is it more a question of investing in a new alarm clock? And re-educating the kids to actually go to bed earlier, get up earlier and make plenty of time for good old breakfast? If you have some pointers, and advice to share, I would love to hear. Honestly, there are days when I am quite simply pulling my hair out in despair.
It’s not the youngest that is the issue, it’s the older two. The youngest sets his alarm, showers, gets ready, calmly comes down to breakfast, allows maybe 20 minutes for breakfast,before taking his lunch box and walk to school. The other two, in stark comparison, rush out the door, bag not quite shut with toast or banana in one hand, shoes in the other, hoping for a two-minutes-before-the-bus-goes-lift to the bus stop! So I think you can get the picture, breakfast chez nous has become really stressful and this week is as good as any to change all that.
So to the breakfast ideas. Now the weekends, we have the time, we have the recipe ideas, the eggs, the crumpets to toast, the rashers of bacon, or if we feel like it, the pancakes to make, the bananas to slice and the nutella to spread on top. We even shared an amazing breakfast recipe book with you here. We often treat ourselves and refer to the recipes in the cook book.
So weekends are fine.
It’s just the week days that are the problem…
I stumbled across this site “Shake Up Your Wake Up” which has lots of tips and recipe ideas for breakfast and really focuses on the campaign National Breakfast Week, a week to focus on breakfast. I recently have been encouraging my kids to eat more fruit, veg and of course, EAT BREAKFAST! So if you’re stuck for ideas, check out their site. We’ve posted before about some new Breakfast bars from McVities, which are perfect for when you are eating breakfast on the fly. If you missed it, you can click the link above.
Equally this week I’ve seen loads of ideas coming through my feed on facebook. Alpro got me thinking about smoothies again – not just for the oldest, Tuna, but also for me. Tuna doesn’t drink enough, eat breakfast nor enough fruit/veg, so this kills all those birds with the one stone and this recipe idea uses mango, which she loves.
So to the recipe, Mango and Orange smoothie. Or is it Orange and Mango Smoothie?
It is really quick to make and so tasty! It’s just a question of having the ingredients in the house, tools at the ready and just doing it. (Well, that’s my issue any way!) Maybe having a few more ingredients than you need, or just creating your own smoothie recipe idea!
So the equipment you will need: chopping board, sharp knife and something to blitz into a smoothie – a multipractic by Braun or we have a liquidiser we use.
Ingredients: I used the juice of two oranges, a small actimel yoghurt drink, a handful of chopped up mango and blitzed it all into a smoothie. Simple.
And so so tasty.
All you need for that kid-on-the-run is a bottle to transport it in, or a glass like this with stripey straw and make them drink it before they run!
So that’s it for today. A quick look at breakfast ideas. If you’ve some great recipe ideas or tips to get my kids back on track with breakfast, I’d love to hear them.
The Lunchbox Lady x
Disclaimer: all thoughts and opinions are my own
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