Beating the Breakfast 'Blahs'

I haven't been feeling much love for breakfast lately. We've been kind of stuck in an 'oatmeal or toast-toast or oatmeal' rut and breakfast has been a little on the boring side. I've been wanting to jazz things up a bit... but who: a) has time or b) feels like - slaving away over a hot breakfast every morning? I've been in search of some easy, make-ahead recipes and have tried out a few good ones over the last couple weeks that I thought I would share.

Granola and greek yogurt is a super quick and tasty breakfast and I've tried out two new granola recipes which both turned out delicious.

The first is an Olive Oil Granola and, as weird as that sounds, it's sooo yummy! You only get a hint of the olive oil which adds a nice rich flavour. You can find the recipe here. I used sucanat instead of brown sugar and also subbed dried cranberries for apricots. You could replace the fruit and nuts with whatever kind(s) you wanted actually! Oh, and I just used unsweetended shredded coconut instead of coconut chips.

I also made Quinoa-Rice Granola which I found in Vegetarian Times. We're not vegetarians (my father-in-law is a butcher so I think we'd be disowned!), but I have seriously found some of the best recipes in this magazine!

Quinoa-Rice Granola

5 unsalted brown rice cakes

1/2 cup quinoa flakes

1/2 slivered almonds

1/2 cup honey

4 tbsp butter

1 tbsp safflower oil

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup dried cranberries, cherries or other fruit

1. Preheat oven to 300

2. Crumble rice cakes in a bowl into 1/4 inch or smaller pieces. Stir in quinoa flakes and almonds.

3. Melt together honey, butter, and oil in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in cinnamon. Stir honey mixture into rice cake mixture until well coated. Spread on baking sheet and bake 10 min. Stir and bake 10 min more or until granola becomes golden-brown. Cool on baking sheet. Break granola into smaller pieces. Mix in dried fruit.

I made this Swiss Muesli recently which is a super hearty and satisfying breakfast and a nice change from plain ol' oatmeal. It makes a TON so I would probably half the recipe next time. We were eating it for a week!

I whipped up some Mini Crustless Broccoli Spinach Quiche last night and they were fantastic for breakfast this morning. Just pop them in the mircrowave for a minute and serve with some fruit. Soooo good!

Mini Crustless Broccoli Spinach Quiche

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 small onion, chopped

6 cups spinach, chopped

1/2 head of broccoli, chopped (I used my food processor to chop the spinach and broccoli)

6 eggs whites

2 whole eggs (or you could skip the egg whites and do 5 whole eggs)

3 cups old cheddar cheese

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Coat muffin tin with cooking spray.

Heat oil in large pan and cook onions until soft. Add spinach and broccoli and cook for 3-4 min.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs well and then add cheese and salt and pepper. Add spinach mixture and stir.

Scoop into muffin cups and cook 30-35 min or until eggs are set.

Here's to far-from-boring breakfasts!