breakfast frustrations

So, my boys are still soy intolerant, which means basically no premade breakfast foods (like frozen waffles, bagels, frozen pancakes, breakfast bars, store-made bread, most dry cereals, etc.). I am really struggling with breakfast options, and they are getting bored with a lot of them. Here is what we do currently:
-muffins (have to be homemade)
-pancakes (we make in batches and freeze)
-bread (again, homemade, and we slice and freeze) - toasted with butter and/or jelly
-scrambled eggs
-oatmeal

They seem to really like eggs still, and I also give them some fruit, which they are okay with. But I don't want to give them eggs every day, and they are starting to seem bored with the other things. Anyone have ideas? They will not eat cheerios anymore - they just throw them on the floor, and they are also starting to get bored with yogurt melts, the Gerber cruchers, etc. Most dry cereals have soy, too, so there aren't many options there, either.

I was wondering about making a breakfast casserole, portioning it out, and freezing it, but I'm not sure how that would work, since most of them are heavily egg-based.

 

Can I ask why you want to avoid eggs? They're a good source of protien if your kids will eat them. I think I have egg envy though; we have egg allergy and I would LOVE to be able to make things with eggs. Mine basically eat the same breakfast every day though; we get more creative for lunch and dinner. It's almost always toast and PB with a yogurt parfait.

 

I don't want to avoid eggs entirely, I just don't know that it's healthy for them to have eggs every day. Right now they get them twice a week. I'm also afraid they will get bored with those, too, if they have them all the time. Hopefully if they are only getting them 2-3 times a week, that won't happen.

They also LOVE meat, so they are getting plenty of protein there, too. They would be thrilled to eat just meat for lunch and dinner if I didn't also offer veggies and really encourage them to eat them! (sometimes with Gabriel I even have to say "if you want another piece of chicken (or whatever meat), you have to eat a bite of veggies").

 

Have you looked at Van's waffles? Some of their waffles are designed to be allergen friendly, and may work for you guys (I'm not sure, I haven't looked at the label).

Mine usually just have drinkable yogurt for breakfast, sometimes with a handful of cereal.

 

I've looked at just about every kind in the store where we shop - I don't remember seeing those, but I'll look again. Thanks for the tip. Some of the gluten-free products are also soy free, but they are REALLY expensive. I wish I had room for a waffle maker, but our kitchen is really small and already really crowded.

Wow. My kids would be starving and screaming for food again in an hour or less if that was what I gave them. They are ALWAYS hungry it seems. They are also big for their age (75th and 95th percentile in height and weight), so maybe that is part of it, too.

 

Maybe a fresh fruit and yogurt smoothie? Some breakfast sausage or turkey bacon with fruit or a tomato?

 

I make big batches of pancakes or waffles on the weekend and re-heat them for breakfast during the week and serve them with fresh fruit. This is my favorite waffle recipe right now. I vary the fruit in it so that's different every week (pureed pumpkin, apple sauce, mashed bananas, pureed strawberries, etc). If you check out the Weelicious website she has a LOT of creative breakfast ideas if you want to get fancy (there's a new recipe up for red beet pancakes).

Your list of food seemed pretty long to me. My kids eat the same thing pretty much every day...I figure breakfast doesn't have to be fancy as they get a lot of variety at lunch and dinner. As far as them not eating things or being bored, in my house, if they don't like it, too bad. They will eat more at the next meal .

 

We've never had a huge variation of breakfast menus. Usually we stick to the following:

Pancakes or waffles (make them on weekends in batches, freeze them, and toast them later)
Toast with peanut butter and jam
Scrambled eggs
French toast
Cereal
Bagels and cream cheese (I didn't start giving them this until they were closer to 2)

If your kids like meat (mine are total carnivores) you can serve breakfast sausages or ham with any of the above breakfasts. I buy Jennie-O turkey ham (I don't eat red meat) and we have it almost every morning; they boys love it!

As far as I know, eggs are perfectly healthy to eat every day. For a while the "experts" were worried about cholesterol in eggs, but I believe they have discovered that most cholesterol in the blood is created in your liver, *not* ingested from foods. Do some research and see if you can find any more information. :good:

 

Oh bummer. I just found a box of Van's Waffles in my fridge and they have soy in them

But the good news is that I also found in my freezer Lender's Original Plain bagels which do not have soy. My kids love those. With cream cheese or whatever.

 

Yeah, I looked up the ingredients on the waffles online, and they do have soy. I had looked at some bagels, but I must have missed those. I will definitely check those out next time I go shopping - thanks!!

I will have to check on breakfast sausage and turkey bacon, too. Some of the processed meats do have soy - for example, a good portion of hot dogs do, but some do not. So that is hit or miss. The thing is, sometimes things don't clearly say soy - for example, "modified food starch" is sometimes soy and vegetable oil and vegetable shortening are most likely soy, too. I wish companies would just label that it has soy! Some do and some don't, so I can't always trust that.

 

OK, I think Oscar Meyer specifically labels for soy. You should contact them--they are made by Kraft which is a company I find good with allergen cleaning & labelling. I also have found Hormel to be a good company. But, we don't deal with soy specifically.

 

Anything made by Kraft does label for soy, which is very helpful.

Thanks everyone for the ideas....hopefully I can find at least a few more things to keep them going on breakfasts and not get too bored.

ETA: I did some internet research and most of the sites I found said toddlers shouldn't have egg yolks more than 3-4 times a week. But I'm not sure how current they are.