Ask Amanda: Pasta Not Pop Tarts

healthy breakfast alternatives

I am not a food blogger, but this is my daughter’s breakfast from Friday and I couldn’t help but photograph it.  She was my inspiration for this week’s Ask Amanda: Pasta not Pop-Tarts.

Mornings can be rushed in our house, especially now that school is starting.  I often don’t have time to prepare eggs or the other whole foods that I would ideally like to feed my kids in the morning. However, I am often dismayed at the foods marketed for kids, especially breakfast foods such as waffles and breakfast bars that are loaded with sugar, fat and processed ingredients.  I am finding leftovers from dinner and non-traditional breakfast foods work great!  This past week, my daughter asked for the leftover pasta in our refrigerator from the previous night’s dinner. I took a pause…was this really a healthy option and then decided it definitely was. It had no added sugar, no high fructose corn syrup or other ingredients that are so often in breakfast foods that are marketed for our kids. I heated up the pasta, poured canned organic tomatoes over it and topped it with some fresh parmesan cheese – she loved it!  She even asked for seconds!

Ask Amanda is a weekly column from Feed to Succeed dietitian Amanda Gordon. Have a question? Email Amanda and let her know or submit an “Ask Amanda” question for a future column.