Up Your Breakfast Game with Fresh Ingredients

Many of us might have grown up on Frosted Flakes and Pop Tarts as our morning go-to fare before heading off to school. Laden with tons of sugar, chemical preservatives, and empty calories, it is a wonder we even survived childhood with our teeth still intact! These days, now that wisdom has prevailed, switching our breakfast menu to a host of delicious choices made primarily from fresh ingredients offers our palates an invigorating launch to start the day. Not only are meals made from fresh ingredients much more nutritious than packaged, processed breakfast junk food, but they will simply taste better.

How to Make Breakfast Using Fresh Ingredients

Worry not! Your favorite breakfast items, such as eggs and bacon, can be tweaked in order to enjoy the most nutritious form of these traditional breakfast foods. Sure, bacon is no superfood, but if selected carefully you can enjoy it occasionally without a guilt trip attached. If you are lucky enough to find a local farm that sells fresh bacon, that would be the best option, but for everyone else, go for uncured natural bacon with no nitrates or nitrites added, center cut if possible. And don’t forget about turkey bacon.

Locally sourced fresh eggs are highly preferable to purchasing eggs in the supermarket. When that is not an option, select the freshest eggs by paying attention to the dates on the package and select free-range, pasture-raised, or cage-free options.

Breakfast fruits, such as berries, bananas, and apples, should be organic, and preferably locally sourced. Breakfast breads and pastries that are made with 100% whole grains, that swap out sugar for raw honey or coconut sugar, and that are preservative free are best—better yet, bake your own from scratch. Jams should be 100% fruit, and organic oats that you cook on the stovetop are the best option for your oatmeal (never the packaged variety).

Breakfast Menu Ideas Using Fresh Ingredients

Fresh ingredients for your breakfast food will seriously make all the difference in the taste. So have some fun and get creative with adding the richest flavors to your breakfast repast. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Whole wheat apple pancakes. Use whole wheat flour, honey, fresh, crunchy apples and the freshest eggs for this delicious take on pancakes. Top with a drizzle of organic honey or some organic applesause
• Fresh smoothies. Head to a local farmer’s market and stock up on a variety of fresh fruits for amazing smoothies. Add some fresh kale and a dollop of Greek yogurt for added health benefits
• Vegetable omelet. Wake up your palate with an omelet made from farm fresh or pasture-raised eggs stuff full of fresh veggies from a local source. Crumble some yummy uncured apple bacon in it for a flavor boost.
• Loaded Oatmeal. Ho-um oatmeal gets a big flavor boost when adding the freshest fruits, some fresh-cracked walnuts, organic raisins, and a dash of organic honey

Yes, these premium foods will generally set you back a bit more for the freshest, organic varieties of fruit, vegetables, bacon, and eggs, but consider the future cost savings at the doctor by treating your body to the highest quality fresh, clean breakfast foods available. So go on and have yourself a well balanced fresh breakfast!

At Kate’s Kitchen and Ronnie’s Restaurant we make it a point to use only the freshest ingredients in all of our menu items!

What do you eat for a fresh healthy breakfast?