Anyway, recently I have put myself and my boys on a low carb diet. I am diabetic and they just love rice too much and could stand to lose a few. Before everyone squawks at me about how bad it is for kids, check out our guidelines. I won't say rules because they are not hard and fast.
They try and stick to protein, veggies and fruits for breakfast. They actually have two breakfasts... breakfastes...whatever. All children here get a free breakfast at school. There are two problems with that, the first being that the breakfasts are very carby... donuts, pancakes, cinnamon rolls. The second problem is they are tiny and the kids are starving an hour later, so mine have two mini breakfastssssssss.
They qualify for free lunch at school also and that helps our budget tremendously but again there are a lot of carbs in school lunches and not good carbs. I ask them to try and make wise choices and let them take it from there. I'm not going to micromanage what they eat at school.
Dinners are generally meat and veggies. Whether it be beef, pork, chicken, tofu and occasionally seafood, my boys have never had any problems with any kinds of meat. Veggies on the other hand... We had a few years when no veggies crossed their lips except when I could sneak something in. My youngest has only recently allowed more than broccoli and corn on his plate. When you can't have rice or potatoes or pasta, you learn to fill up on other things. We eat a lot of cabbage and they've learned to like not only that but brussel sprouts, cauliflower and green beans. I'm working on mushrooms, I throw them in everything and they pick them out. It's ok ...one day.
The good news is that they are each down 12 lbs. Yay! Now if I can just hold them there until they grow into their weight all will be good. I also wish it worked as well on me.
The trick now is finding new things for them to eat and to replace some of their favorites. Like this recipe. I was craving some chocolate cake one night and went looking online for single serving recipes. I found this and held on to it. Honestly, as chocolate cake it was just so so. I will need to tweak the recipe some more and will keep you informed. I did find out though it makes some awesome savory muffins and it is easy for the kids to make themselves.
I make up a batch of the master mix and put it in a mason jar.
Flax Muffin Master Mix
2 cups of flax meal (blonde or dark)
1 cup of almond meal (or another cup of flax meal)
1/2 cup of coconut flour (or another cup of either almond meal or flax meal)
2T Baking SODA (not powder)
1tsp Salt
Mix it all together and put in a canister, mason jar or other container, even a zip loc bag!
Master mix with dark flax |
When you are ready to eat, all times are in a 700 watt microwave :
Melt 1T or so of butter in a coffee mug for 15 sec
Add 1 egg and mix well
Stir in 1/4 cup of your master mix and again mix very very well.
Add in your other ingredients (see below)
Microwave for another 1 min 45 sec. Until it is dry or mostly dry on top
Enjoy!
You can use oil instead of butter or not use any at all!
I've also made this in a round 1 cup plastic container and cut in half for flax hamburger buns.
Sandwich Bun |
After mixing egg and butter. Add a handful (1/4 cup) shredded cheese and mix well. I add a tablespoon or two of cream but any liquid will do. You want a thick wet batter like for muffins. You can also add garlic powder or other seasonings, then microwave as above. Wonderful!
Sweet Muffin
You can add nuts , unsweetened coconut. I put in a tablespoon or two of Torani's or Divinci's sugar free syrup and/or some vanilla extract and sweetener. I even drop 4 or 5 dark chocolate chips in on occasion before putting in the microwave. Yummy! Try it with almond or peanut butter on top.
Pancakes
Some people use this on a griddle as pancake batter. I've not tried it but I do make it like a sweet muffin but without the syrup and subbing cream instead. After I cook it , I turn it out of the cup and let it cool just a bit, slice it into 3 or 4 disks, butter then and then add some SF pancake syrup. OMG soo good!
The kids make their own muffins in the morning and even add cubes of ham sometimes. I've used it for sandwiches and we are going to try pizza soon. Makes a great egg mcmuffin too!
Steak and Sauteed Mushroom Sammie! |
Sam's Club has the flax meal where the vitamins are for cheap. Less than $7 for 3 lbs here.
I will post more variations as we try them! Let me know what you think.
What are your go to breakfasts?