Toddler-Approved Weekday Breakfasts (w/ Davy’s Seal of Approval)

I can’t move right now, guys. I had my first training session yesterday for powerlifting/form and we worked on bench and upper body in general. My biceps are killing (they never get sore), my sides are sore, my chest is tight and, oh yeah, my back is still aching from a new deadlift PR the other day.

Now, I am guilty of being one of those people who say “I love being sore”, but I don’t mean it in that bro-douchey “I LOVE PAIN” kind of way. I just truly usually don’t mind being sore because I love the hard work that I am putting in. That being said, I know when my body needs a day off and today is so that day. Today, I’m going to cook some healthy turkey chili and watch the Panthers game 🙂

Want the recipe? Link is above! So good on this lazy snowy Sunday.

While I’m at it, I might as well tell you I also plan on enjoying one of these Weight Watchers ice cream sandwiches tonight too.

Enough of me day dreaming about the food I’m going to eat today. I do that too often.

I’m here to talk about Toddler-Approved Weekday Breakfasts, or rather, Davy-Approved Weekday Breakfasts, but I have a feeling your toddler will love these too.

I think about a few things when it comes to food in the morning before preschool & work:

What will fill Davy up until his AM snack?

What can he eat that’s nutritious?

Is that nutritious breakfast actually doable? By that I mean quickly prepared by me and (just as importantly) quickly eaten by a toddler.

And finally, will he actually eat it?

Because we can’t always serve up a breakfast that looks like this every day. Let’s be real.

First up is Davy’s favorite breakfast that he never seems to get tired of.

Peanut Butter Banana Waffle

What you’ll need:

Your toddler’s favorite waffle. We like to buy whole wheat and Kashi in particular. Making your own and freezing for later use would be most ideal, go you if you can manage that!

Banana. I end up using less than half.

Peanut Butter. So many strong opinions on what peanut butter is best and what’s full of “junk”. Use whatever you like best or whatever fits your lifestyle.

Optional Add-Ons: Other fruit such as apples, chia seeds, hemp seeds, almond butter, etc. 

What you do:

I think you can manage, but I’ll still tell you exactly how Davy likes his.

Toast your waffle. Self explanatory.

Spread a LITTLE bit of peanut butter on to half. TIP: when in doubt, apply less. Toddlers can somehow make even a 1/2 tsp. of peanut butter messy!

Place just the right amount of bananas onto the waffle. TIP: slice them small and once again, too many and his waffle sandwich will be falling apart. The quickest way to get a screaming toddler is to serve him a sandwich that falls apart when he tries to eat it.

Finally, an especially difficult step, fold it in half. This is a required step for Davy. He prefers his waffle to be folded, definitely not cut (lol!) but I also think it’s another way to reduce the mess.

And voila! You’ve got yourself A Travel-Friendly Toddler-Approved Peanut Butter Banana Waffle.

Toddler-Approved breakfast number 2?

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

What you’ll need:

1/4 cup of your favorite Oatmeal, or less!

Apple. About 1/2 of one because, let’s be honest, my toddler never finishes a whole apple.

Ground Cinnamon to taste.

Brown Sugar to taste or your sweetener of choice. I forgot to take a photo of this, but honestly my son won’t eat oatmeal without a little bit of some sort of sweetener.

1/4-1/2 cup of water or milk (your choice) – we don’t like ours very liquidy, so we use the minimum amount needed.

Chia Seeds for some hardly detectable superfood goodness.

Optional Add-Ons: Other fruit such as banana or berries of any kind, peanut butter, honey, walnuts or pecans.

What you do:

Once again, I think you’ll manage, but I like to “hear” myself “talk”, so I’ll elaborate. 

Combine the oatmeal and liquid. TIP: As with the peanut butter in recipe 1, when in doubt, use less oatmeal.

Microwave for like…. 45 seconds. If it needs another 15 seconds, stir it and put it back in the microwave. The less time in the microwave the better. My son will basically eat raw oatmeal with milk, so if it’s a little undercooked we don’t mind. It’s better to avoid a burning hot bowl of oatmeal that takes forever to cool off on a busy morning.

Stir in the cinnamon, brown sugar, chia seeds and apples.

Test for hotness and serve 🙂 

And that’s it! Yummy Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, done in about a minute and, if you did it right, they won’t burn their mouth followed by blowing it off for 15 minutes after which they will STILL overreact to the now luke warm oatmeal.

It’s happened all too often.

I know this post was a full of EXTREMELY complex recipes and technical instructions ;), but I figured maybe it’ll inspire some of you moms who are in a breakfast rut (or really any adults because, to be honest, that exact bowl of oatmeal pictured above was actually for me 🙂 ).

Or MAYBE some of you parents can relate to the funny requirements toddlers have when it comes to their food. Like WHY does his waffle HAVE to be folded not cut? Does your toddler have any quirks when it comes to food?