New ideas for tasty family breakfasts

Sausage Sliders online.jpg

(StatePoint) For family cooks, lunch and dinner often get the most attention. But you can put some thought into breakfast, too, without adding stress.

Whether you’re having a laid-back weekend breakfast or an on-the-go morning meal before work and school, ditch the cold cereal and bland eye openers, and greet your family with something special in the morning. 

Giving your family a healthy morning meal can be the first step to a great day. Build a “better for you” breakfast by following a few simple tips:

(StatePoint) For family cooks, lunch and dinner often get the most attention. But you can put some thought into breakfast, too, without adding stress.

Whether you’re having a laid-back weekend breakfast or an on-the-go morning meal before work and school, ditch the cold cereal and bland eye openers, and greet your family with something special in the morning. 

Giving your family a healthy morning meal can be the first step to a great day. Build a “better for you” breakfast by following a few simple tips:

• Instead of pork or beef breakfast meats, try healthier meats that are naturally lower in fat, such as chicken.

• Look for ingredients that are lower in fat and sodium, with no artificial ingredients or additives. For example, al fresco all natural’s chicken sausage has 70 percent less fat and 30 percent less sodium than  pork sausage, without any gluten, artificial ingredients, nitrates, nitrites or MSG.

• For quick meals, opt for products that come pre-cooked, saving you much needed time in the morning.

• For a simpler breakfast that is big on taste, use naturally-flavored pre-cooked breakfast sausage varieties like Country-style, Apple Maple or Wild Blueberry. With just a few minutes of browning, they can be served on a sandwich for a quick, portable and healthy breakfast.

This easy recipe for Apple Maple Chicken Sausage Sliders is hearty enough for weekend fare, but can be packed up and eaten on-the-go on busy mornings:

Ingredients

• 1 8 oz package al fresco Apple Maple Breakfast Chicken Sausage, sliced 1/4 inch thick

• 6 large fresh eggs

• 1/4 cup nonfat milk

• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

• 6 whole wheat mini bagels, dinner rolls or biscuits

• 2 oz low-sodium cheddar cheese, shredded

• 1/2 cup apple jelly or apricot jam

 

• Cooking spray

Directions

• In a small non-stick frying pan, gently brown the chicken sausage. Remove, cut into 1/4 inch slices and keep warm.

• Crack the eggs in a small bowl. Whisk with milk and black pepper.

• Place a medium skillet prepared with cooking spray over medium heat. Scramble the eggs until done, but still a bit soft (about 2 – 3 minutes.)

• While the sausage and eggs are cooking, toast the mini bagels, then spread the top and bottom with apple jelly.

• Divide the scrambled eggs and sausage on top of the jellied bottoms of the mini bagels.

• Top with a sprinkle of the shredded cheddar cheese. Then put the top of the bagel on to make a delicious, healthy breakfast slider.