Breakfast Grains –Improve Your Health

Studies have linked a healthy breakfast (which means 1/3 of your daily calorie intake) with better health, with less chronic disease plus increased longevity. Starting the day with a healthy breakfast boost your energy, increases your attention span and heightens your sense of well-being. It also helps you be in better control of your emotions. Certainly school children can perform better in school when they eat a good breakfast. Also, breakfast is the perfect way to increase your fiber intake.

The quickest breakfast is probably cold cereal with some fruit and milk. There are numerous grain choices on the grocery shelves, including wheat, rice, oats, bran, graham, granola, corn flakes to name a few. Read the label and try to find the high fiber grains without a lot of added sugar for the optimal healthy choice.

You can find very good quality in cold cereals by looking at the organic section and read your labels to avoid the high sugar varieties and try to purchase cereal with high fiber content. Keep at least a couple of cereals on hand preferable in a plastic container in your pantry to keep it fresh.

Toast is another thing people use for a quick breakfast and there are numerous types of bread, white, whole grain, whole wheat, rye, oat, gluten-free, multi-grain of varying numbers, plus, English muffins. Another breakfast favorite is bagels which are baked, but are made with a variety of different grains. People quite often slice them, toast them, and top them with butter or cream cheese. Your whole grains are your healthier choices

Some if the healthier grain choices are found in hot cereal. The cereal can be cooked on the stove top, in the microwave, or in a crock pot overnight so it is ready in the morning. This is particularly helpful when you have a large family that eats breakfast at different times in the morning. Another way to make hot cereal and keep it warm over a period of time is to use a double boiler. That way the cereal won’t become scotched and stick to the bottom of the pan.

There are numerous types of hot cereals; the newer steel cut oatmeal, quick cooking oats, cream of wheat or rice, grits, corn grits, gluten-free varieties and there are 3, 7 and 9 grain cereals available. Some grains differ with different brands, as some have flax, millet, quinoa, barley, buckwheat or amaranth. Hot cereals tend to have lower amounts of sugar, more fiber and fewer calories. Flours and hot cereals should also be store in containers with tightly fitting lids.

Many people enjoy some type of pancake (also called hotcakes, flapjacks (small thin pancakes), griddlecakes, Johnny cake (cornmeal flat bread), crepes and waffles. You can buy store pancake mixes, or make homemade pancakes or waffles quite easily. The most common grain for pancakes and waffles is all purpose or unbleached flour. Other great grain choices include; buckwheat, gluten free flour, wheat flour, whole wheat flour with oatmeal, organic certified coconut flour, barley flour, millet flour, coat flour, rice flour, soy flour, unbleached flour-high gluten, and wheat graham flour. Mexican hotcakes similar to US pancakes but made with cornmeal, often being sold by street vendors.

Waffles are cooked in a waffle iron but pancakes can be fried in most any flat pan and a griddle is perfect. You can also purchase frozen waffles and pancakes that can be cooked in the toaster or the microwave.

There is large variety of scones that are very tasty. Scones are becoming more popular in the United States but are particularly popular in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. They are usually made from wheat, barley or oatmeal with baking powder or a leavening agent.

Originally scones were flat and round and made with unleavened oats. They were baked on a griddle, next they were cut into triangle quadrants for serving. When baking powder became available to the masses, scones started to be baked in the oven. Now you can purchase them in many stores. Although most scones are baked they can also be cooked in a covered frying pan on top of the stove. Wrap in a saran wrap or place in a container with a tight lid to keep fresh.

If none of these grain products entice you for breakfast you can always stop at your local bakery and buy the donuts which are fried, a muffin or Danish pastry, but along with this choice comes a large supply of sugar and calories. Of course, people do make donuts in their homes and cook them in a deep fryer but having done that in years past I can say it is a lot of work.

If you are trying to improve your health, eat a nourishing breakfast, read the labels of the products you purchase, look for high fiber products with low sugar and if you are going to cook make sure you use the healthier oils. If you want to be served and just not worry about it, go to a bed and breakfast place for the weekend

Skillet Scones (Soda Bread Farls) are flat breads that are made from the same dough as Irish soda bread but they are cooked in a skillet or on a griddle. They’re triangular and made by shaping the bread dough into a disc and cutting it into quarters before cooking, then cooking each piece individually. The idea is to be able to whip up the bread at a monument’s notice without having to use the oven. This is also a common bread made while camping, using a skillet over a campfire. You eat them with butter, jam, cream or whatever you please.

Another tasty dish is Iron Skillet Coconut-lime scones made with all purpose flour and unsweetened coconut milk. You heat the skillet on medium until the butter melts, spoon the dough evenly into the four triangles of the hot iron skillet. Then bake the scones in the oven.

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