The Wholesome Breakfast Cookbook

Growing up in the Northwest I always appreciated a hearty breakfast, especially on cold winter days. For me it is a great blessing to be able to enjoy a nice breakfast with my family in the mornings. I have developed the recipes in this cookbook over several years of feeding my family a breakfast that will start their day with a feeling of being cared for and also give them energy. For us breakfast is the vital meal that enables us to start our day with energy, vigor, and a feeling of well-being.

We all know that some keys to healthy eating are whole foods, less sugar, and whole grains. The recipes in this cookbook have all these essentials. The ingredients are basic ingredients that you can find in any grocery store and are foods in their natural state. As Michael Pollan stated in his article “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch”, it is important to our health to try and prepare more food at home. The exact quote is, “The more time a nation devotes to food preparation at home, the lower its rate of obesity.” These recipes do require a little time, but the steps are easy to follow and the kitchen tools basic. Thus they are good for both the experienced cook looking for some different breakfast recipes and also for the beginner cook who just wants to enjoy a healthy, home-cooked breakfast without all the sugar, artificial flavors, artificial colorings, etc.

In general the recipes that follow are fairly simple and they taste great. They use whole and natural ingredients – no egg substitutes, canned foods very rarely, etc. They are almost exclusively meatless and also have reduced sugar. For the most part they are healthy, but I felt it was important to not sacrifice taste. Thus butter and whole milk products are used. However, I have also used lots of whole grains and the calorie counts are included for each recipe. Many recipes do freeze beautifully, so it is easy to cook a batch of muffins or some bagels over the weekend and then freeze them to eat during the week.

The book is formatted into eight sections – Breakfast Basics, Egg Dishes, Pancakes and Waffles, Fruit Muffins, Sweet Muffins, Savory Muffins, Scones and Bagels, and Other Breakfasts. There is a link to each recipe making it very easy to find the recipe you want to cook. I rarely used abbreviations so the directions are clear. Most of the ingredients are commonly found in well-stocked kitchens so it is not necessary to buy a lot of specialty ingredients.

I hope you will find these recipes delicious, and I hope they will help make it easier to enjoy a nice, hearty breakfast in the morning. Happy eating!