Breakfast Series: Egg Patty and Avocado

This is another easy one to whip up for breakfast.  I had an egg sausage patty with avocado.

To make:
- Mix together 2 eggs, 1/2 a cooked spolumbos chicken sausage and some spinach.
- Cook it in the frying pan like an omelet but without folding it over - just flip it when one side is done.
- Slice a 1/2 avocado and enjoy!

What could be easier?

So there you have it!  One entire week of healthy breakfast ideas without a piece of toast in sight :)
You CAN eat a healthy breakfast without getting up super early to slave over it.  Being aware of eating a healthy breakfast is imperative to your day if you are trying to achieve a fitter, leaner, healthier body.  If you eat a high sugar breakfast (oatmeal, toast, cereal, granola, etc.) you will have a much more difficult time staying on track all day long.  The sugar spike and crash sets you up to ride the insulin roller coaster all day - not good.  This makes you crave more sugar and creates drops in your energy levels throughout the day.  If you eat a healthy breakfast with fat and protein and less sugar, you are more likely to be successful with a clean diet all day - without having to struggle or use your "willpower" to stay on track.  It's not about willpower - its about physiology.  Your body wants unprocessed, whole foods - not processed, carb rich garbage.  Give it a try for a week and see how you do!  I promise you will like the result :)

Breakfast Series: Sausage and salad

I really like this filling breakfast.  I had 1/2 a chicken apple spolumbos sausage and 1/2 a spicy chicken sausage with a leftover salad and 1/2 banana.  I bbq'd the sausage on cook and prep day and the salad was leftover from the night before.  Just as fast and easy as that unhealthy, sugar filled bowl of cereal and milk many of you may have been having!

Breakfast Series: Protein pancake

This is for those of you who just can't stop thinking about typical breakfast foods :)  It's a simple to make grain-free pancake to try.

To make:
There are tons of variations on this - be creative!

 - Mix together some vanilla protein powder, egg whites, organic vanilla, cinnamon, flax meal, 1/2 a mashed banana and some almond flour. 
- Grease your fry pan with organic unsalted butter or coconut oil.
- Add the batter and flip when top gets tiny bubbles.
- You can eat it plain or with a thin spread of almond, cashew or hazelnut butter.

I more often skip the banana and add some seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, hemp) for a rougher texture.

So simple and yet you will save yourself the fattening sugar spike, energy crash and inflammatory response that comes with wheat pancakes.

Breakfast Series: In a Rush Snack Pack!

I understand that sometimes we eat on the run - it's a fact of life.  It's ideal to sit down and enjoy your food, but sometimes you gotta go!  I had an appointment to get to and had a nice lunch planned and packed for right afterwards (burger patty with a large salad), so I simply grabbed this snack pack to munch on in the car on the way.  It's just as simple as a muffin (without the crumbs in the car!) and much healthier.  I simply had 1/2 and apple sliced, some pecans and 3 tiny slices of unpasteurised organic Canadian cheddar plus large green tea.  Every meal you eat doesn't have to be gourmet, as long as it contains mainly whole foods that support your health and fitness goals.  Ideally, I could have also had some protein powder and water to supplement some extra protein in.  This would be a great start for those of you who are currently not eating anything at breakfast at all and who don't feel you have an appetite in the morning. Start small :)

Breakfast Series: Crustless Quiche

I love this breakfast!  I had what I call a "crustless quiche" this morning with organic salsa and a 1/2 banana.  The quiche is also something I don't make from scratch in the morning, but make a large pan of on my cook day and eat for many meals throughout the week.  It makes a great lunch and supper too!

To make:
- Grease a large glass Pyrex dish on the bottom and sides.
- Whisk 12-16 medium to large eggs until they get some air bubbles (this seems to make the quiche lighter)
- Layer the Pyrex dish with some sort of meat (For this one I used left over ground turkey from the cooked turkey I made yesterdays turkey veggie hash with, but I also like cooked chicken breast chunks, spolumbos sausage or cooked ground beef).
- Then layer some veggies in by sprinkling them evenly over the meat. I used chopped brussel sprouts, red pepper and spinach in this one.
 - Pour the whisked eggs over top evenly over everything and sprinkle on some spices.  I used MSG and salt free Mrs Dash Southwest Spice this time.
- Bake at 350 in the oven for about 1 hour. Let cool and store covered in the fridge.

I love a slice of this with Neil Brothers Organic Salsa.  So easy and quick to heat in the morning or at anytime of day.

Breakfast Series: Turkey Veggie Hash

Here is another breakfast I had.  It is what I call "turkey veggie hash" or some of you may recognise it as something similar to my "lean green turkey" recipe.  It is something I don't make fresh early in the morning, rather one of the meals I make on my cook and prep day of the week.  I would eat this meal multiple times per week for different meals - any time of the day.

To make:
- Cook 2 packs ground turkey in a pan with whatever spice you like (I use a poultry spice mix I picked up in the spice bazaar on my trip to Istanbul.)
- While that's cooking, chop up a bunch of brussel sprouts and grate some stalks of broccoli with a cheese grater.
 - When turkey is cooked, add the sprouts and shredded broccoli stalks plus a ton of fresh spinach.  Mix until the spinach is wilted and the sprouts are softer.
- So easy!

It has a mild taste so it's good for those who don't like strong flavors in the morning.  It reheats well and is a very nutritious start to your day!

Breakfast Series: Salad for breakfast?

The number one question I get about nutrition is "what can I eat for breakfast?".  I get it - when you decide to eliminate the nutritionally useless and physically damaging "typical" breakfast foods like cereal, muffins, toast, oatmeal, waffles, etc, it does seem at first, that there is not much left to have in the morning other than eggs everyday.  This is so NOT true!  We need to begin to consider ALL foods as breakfast foods.  We are the ones who decided to categorise foods into which is appropriate for what time of day - your body doesn't care if its labelled a "breakfast food" or not! On the contrary - when you begin to eat nutritionally dense foods that do not cause an insulin spike and the resulting blood sugar crash, you will be more successful with good nutrition and have increased energy all day long.

I will show you my breakfast from everyday last week here on the blog each day this week.  Lets start with Salad for Breakfast.  It may sound crazy but let me share a few ideas with you.  Trust me, its only your head holding you back from really enjoying a yummy healthy salad first thing in the morning.

I had the salad in the picture to the right. ---->
Romaine, spinach, cucumbers, red pepper, pecans, and goat cheese with a homemade balsamic and olive oil dressing. Notice the size of my bowl :)  It's a serving bowl!  Lots of greens will fill you up. You could also add a hard boiled egg or two for some extra protein if you wanted.

Another breakfast salad idea:
Slice the hard boiled eggs into the salad with romaine, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado slices and a sprinkle of shredded unpasteurised organic Canadian cheddar.  Yum!