A few weeks ago, I decided to break my family out of the cereal rut. Things have gone really well. The kids haven't asked for cereal, they no longer open the pantry or refrigerator door, stand there, stare, and say, "I don't know what I want to eat." And they don't say, "I'm still hungry!"
Of course, who would want cereal when they have a fun breakfast like this waiting for them? This Muffin Tin Monday, I decided to have a muffin tin for breakfast.
The tin picture above is actually, "a muffin tin to share." Each of my boys ate one half. I made cashew butter, banana, and pear sushi rolls, the boys helped to make their own watermelon balls, and in the cups is Greek yogurt.
My daughter made her own muffin tin (shown below) but with 12 spaces to fill, she had WAY too much food, so I helped her eat some. Incidentally, I took a picture of her making it, but she asked me not to post it due to her wild morning hair!
Using Scaffolding:
My kids love yogurt. In the past, they often had cereal, and yogurt (and oatmeal and whatever else they wanted in the never ending breakfast.) However, since I'm trying to cut back on sugar and increase protein, I've decided to take another look at the yogurt they were eating.
A while ago, I bought Greek yogurt for myself (the fruit flavored kind.) I'm not the biggest yogurt fan myself, but I loved it's creamy richness. The kids tried it and liked it too. The problem is: 3 kids x 3 yogurt cups at @ $1.00 each = Way too much money for yogurt. Plus, although I loved the increased protein, there was still added sugar.
So, I decided to try some scaffolding to transition my kids from sugary regular yogurt to high protein Greek yogurt with much less sugar. I bought a large container of unsweetened plain Greek yogurt (which even by itself is SO much better than regular plan yogurt) and to it, I added vanilla, honey, and all-fruit jelly. When that was a success, I cut out the vanilla and honey and only added the all-fruit jelly. I'm now cutting back on the amount of jelly that I add. I only added a small amount of jelly this morning, but no one seemed to notice!
Want to see some other great muffin tins?? Be sure to check out Muffin Tin Monday!
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We love breakfast muffin tins!
ReplyDeleteI love your yogurt plan.
ReplyDeleteLove that you are transitioning to a healthier yogurt!
ReplyDeleteim appalled at how much sugar is in regular yogurt! LOVE the sushi idea! Must try that and I love that your kiddos are sharing a tin!!!
Love the breakfast sushi idea!
ReplyDeleteA great breakfast. I also no longer buy flavored yogurts just a huge great tub of plain Greek. I also make a great ranch dressing from it.
ReplyDeleteLisa, I'd love to know how you make ranch dressing from Greek Yogurt. My kids also like ranch and I wouldn't mind breaking them of that habit too!
ReplyDeleteWow! I never would've thought of these. Fab idea! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWhat a good idea with the yogurt. We do the same thing around here when the girls start asking for daddy's yogurt (which is full of sugar). I mix a little of his with plain yogurt and they are happy. We also make our own yogurt sometimes for fun. It is easy and inexpensive.
ReplyDeleteAudrey's mom- I like your idea to mix plain yogurt with the sugary kind- that's a great "scaffold." Too funny that your husband is the one with the sugary yogurt-- Daddy's the only one who still occassionally has cereal for breakfast around here :)
ReplyDeletePlain Greek yogurt w/ raw honey is my fave snack right now!
ReplyDeleteI've been reading a lot about raw honey lately. I hadn't realized what a difference there is between raw honey and what I've typically bought in the grocery store. Greek Yogurt is definitely one of my favorite snacks too!
ReplyDeleteLove the "sushi" idea. Pinning it :)
ReplyDeleteWe use only raw honey. I have trouble keeping it liquid enough to stir into things. Our house just isn't warm enough I guess. The only way to make it quickly mixable for me has been to microwave it. Bye Bye raw honey. Have you run into this? Any suggestions?