I was a cold cereal and milk kid. Not only that, I was the kid who begged mom for Reese’s Peanut Butter Puffs, and (along with my brothers) finished off the box in about a day when she’d finally give in once every couple of months. Cereal and milk is almost as American as hot dogs on the 4th of July, as hamburgers and chips at a cook out…as diabetes and heart disease in an ever-growing part of the population…ahem…
To be clear, not all cereals are bad. Only most of them are over-refined, sugared, and nutritionally lacking.
The redeeming part of most bowls of cereal is the milk – that’s where most of the protein, B vitamins, potassium, and calcium is coming from. But as an adult, I don’t find much appeal in a bowl of sad bran flakes (somehow always soggy by the last bite), nor do I want to load myself up with a corn puff coated in sugar and artificial flavors and colors. So I turn to other awesome dairy bases: greek yogurt and cottage cheese.
Greek yogurt, I want you to know (since it’s Trendy Tuesday), is THE biggest food trend in the past decade, period. The market grew 2500% (yup, that’s two 0’s there folks) in 5 years, and much has been written about the phenomenon.
Cottage cheese…well, it’s been a staple for a long time, but hasn’t quite seen the same explosive growth. It brings to mind lumpiness, and…cottages. But the nutritional truth is that it packs about as much protein, ounce for ounce, as greek yogurt, and mixes fantastically with fruit.
I give you my dairy-based breakfasts, which fit all my breakfast rules as previously blogged.
- At least 15g of protein
- 5-10g of fiber
- Contains a fruit or vegetable
- Isn’t too big, OR too small (ballpark around 500 calories)
- Tastes awesome
#1. Plain greek yogurt (1c) with hazelnut granola (1/3c), raspberries and mango (from frozen, defrosted) (3/4c)
#2. Cottage cheese (3/4c) with pineapple (canned in juice, 1/2c) and chia (1 Tbsp)
Both of these are easy, cheap, and fast. I eat both with a cup of tea and am ready to go! Start your day off with ENERGY and something delicious. How many of the 5 rules do you follow daily?
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