recipe ideas: breakfast bonanza

I should start with some sort of a disclaimer or warning: I dislike breakfast foods.  

I don't like scrambled eggs, eggs over easy, hard boiled eggs, or poached eggs.  

I hate eating bacon, sausage, or big ham steaks.  

Cereal just doesn't fill me up.  

I have never had good luck with the first meal of the day.  Even at my skinniest, I ate a horrible breakfast every single day.  I think I may have told you this before, but I used to have a daily Pop Tart and a Hi-C juice box every day.  Then I graduated to a daily Pop Tart and a diet Pepsi.  Yah, I thought since I got rid of the high sugar juice box and substituted a sugar free drink, I was being "healthy."  

I am an idiot.  

But now that I'm getting into the swing of being on plan, I'm opening up my views on breakfast and forcing myself to find healthy options.  Here comes the hard part: I have to try a lot of different foods that I had long ago decided that I didn't like.  You may not have to do this, but I forced myself to revisit a few things that I had crossed off my list.  Some stayed on my "I don't like that" list, others got a second chance.  

Here are some things I've found that work for me:

1.  On weekdays, I eat a first breakfast and a second breakfast.  Yes, like a Hobbit.  

I got the idea from a Twitter friend of mine, Whitney.  Since I am up around 6 in the morning, but I avoid traffic and don't go into the lab until 9 o'clock, I ended up becoming extremely hungry around 10 o'clock and I was filling that void with some really bad choices (translation: doughnuts, candy bars, and Pop Tarts).  

Now I eat a small breakfast (about 4 or 5 Points Plus) and then on my commute to work I drink a Weight Watchers smoothie blended with ice, milk, and fruit.  They're delicious and that protein is exactly what I need to carry me into lunch time!  

2.  I brought back some high point food that I thought I couldn't have!  

Granola.  I like granola, but it can wreak havoc on my tracker if I just try to eat it alone or with milk.  So I started using it as a topping for yogurt and ice cream!  Viola!  2 Points Plus for 1/4 cup of Trader Joes' Lowfat Granola with almond.  It's worth it for me, but I make sure that I don't go overboard with it.  

3.  I started incorporating foods I already knew I liked with foods I didn't think I liked.  

And this is how my favorite weekend breakfast was formed!  The spinach and mushroom omelette.  I didn't think I was going to like it because of the eggs, but the trick was to use the eggs simply to bind everything together.  One egg plus one egg white is plenty of egg for me, then I add in loads of spinach and sliced mushrooms (at least a cup of each) and sprinkle what ever low fat cheese I have on hand.  It ends up being 5 Points Plus, and I pair it with toast or home fries for a weekend Points Plus splurge.  

4.  I stopped forcing myself to eat breakfast foods.  

It's true, I sometimes make myself a sandwich or a quesadilla for breakfast.  Gasp!  

Okay, it's not that big of a deal, but I can fit in a handful of veggies and some good protein this way.  Who said you have to eat eggs and yogurt for breakfast every day?  No one!  

So there you have it, my breakfast shennanigans.  Do you have any?  If so, I'd love to hear about them!