Healthy Breakfasts, Happy Families

Ready-to-blitz fruits make smoothies a fast-food contribution to your five-a-day. Adding oats, seeds, or enhancers such as spirulina can increase your vitamin and mineral intake to elevate mood or balance blood sugar levels.

Try blending strawberries and watermelon with apple juice and mint, tropical fruits and orange juice with kale, or banana with yogurt, oats, milk, and honey. Layer different combos for a rainbow effect children love. Let your imagination lead you to new, exciting combinations. Just remember, the natural sugars in fruit make teeth-brushing post-smoothie a wise idea.

Milkshakes provide a speedy, nutritious breakfast with a calcium bonus. Lactose-intolerant families can choose dairy-free alternatives and plant-based milks can actually improve the flavor if you mix and match the right combos. You could try strawberries blended with vegan vanilla ice-cream and rice milk, or how about banana blended with coconut milk and vegan chocolate ice-cream? This can disguise fruit if you have an avid fruit-hater in your brood.

Throughout history, hungry humans across the globe have relied on this daily staple. Gluten, high carbohydrates, and low micro-nutrient levels in many factory products are valid concerns, but you can still embrace bread-based breakfasts with preservative- and wheat-free grains.

Use a bread machine with a start-delay and wake up to warm fresh bread of your choice, including healthier loaves containing vegetables, fruits, and seeds. Children love rainbow bread, made by kneading together dough of different colors, for a special treat. Endless textures and flavors make home-made bread a versatile starting point for your healthy breakfast.

Toast or warm your favorite bread; to speed up larger quantities, toast multiple slices under a grill, but watch it like a hawk.

Get the family involved in preparing sweet and savory toppings the night before and you won't need to rely on a chocolate spread. Why not try easy mackerel pate or smoked salmon with avocado? Grilled cheese and ham is a classic continental combination. For sweeter tastes, mix cream cheese with jelly, or honey with grated apple.

Another brilliant breakfast bake is muffins, especially when you make and freeze them in batches, ready for those hectic mornings. Home-made muffins can include all types of healthy goodies to nourish even the fussiest eater. As with bread, you can use gluten-free flours and add grated veggies or fruit to increase your vitamin count. Throwing some linseed, sunflower, chia, or pumpkin seeds into the mix works well and cacao powder gives a chocolate hit that's still healthful.

Flapjack is a great make-ahead bake for active family members. Slow-release carbs and other proven health benefits of oats make them ideal to start a physical day and, although flapjack recipes require lots of sugars, you could substitute with agave nectar or dates. Add texture and maximize flavor with seeds and dried fruits, and even a melted carob or chocolate topping.

Porridge is a champion breakfast because oats boast massive benefits to your heart and digestion. Made with milk (dairy or plant-based) and honey, that creamy goodness is the ultimate comfort food. Quinoa porridge is also nutritious and tasty.

Add fruit, nuts, or seeds to suit your taste. Zapping porridge in the microwave speeds up cooking, or soak old-fashioned or steel-cut oats overnight and warm them through in the morning.

Nature's neatly-packaged miracles, eggs pack a powerful breakfast punch. These days, vegans have many substitutes to try, too.

Place buttered bread in a non-stick tray and cover with an egg, sugar and cinnamon mix to bake quick quantities of French Toast. Cube leftover potatoes or other fillings into a non-stick patty tray and submerge in whisked egg, sprinkle with grated cheese, and bake to create satisfying frittatas.

For a lighter breakfast, yogurts deliver some impressive health advantages. Rich in nutrients and protein, they are a great family choice. Add your favorite fruits, seeds, nuts, or cereals for a delicious, well-rounded start to the busiest of days.

Try layering passion fruit compote, plain yogurt, hazelnuts, and honey for a refreshing wake-up call, or spoon Greek yogurt onto granola and fresh figs, finishing with clear honey and coconut. Like other dairy products, there are plenty of plant-based options out there these days, too.

Some days we're just dashing around, and it's ok to treat yourselves occasionally. Special occasions don't care if you're busy and they deserve to be celebrated, starting with a gorgeous breakfast.

Roll puff pastry sheets with a cinnamon, sugar, and butter mixture or chopped dried apricots and almonds, then cut into rounds before baking into scrumptious pastries. Halve croissants and fill with custard and raspberries, or pile ready-made waffles in layers with blueberries and whipped cream. Boring breakfasts be banished!