The whole grains and peanut butter make this a more filling breakfast than you might expect, and starting your day with a pancake is fun! Really, this only took a few more minutes than my usual oatmeal combinations.

1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. oats
1 T sugar or Splenda
1/2 t baking powder
1 T peanut butter
1 egg white
1/4 c. milk

Mix flour, oats, sugar or Splenda and baking powder. Add peanut butter, egg white, and milk and stir well. Cook on a hot frying pan coated with cooking spray.

I started to grate the carrots for this recipe, and then quickly realized that it was going to take longer than I had planned. I decided to dice the carrots finely instead, which ended up working pretty well, as long as you’re not trying to ‘hide’ the fact that there are vegetables in there!

One of the reasons I like muffins is because they are easy to freeze and then take out when you need a quick breakfast or snack, but of course I also enjoy them straight from the oven.

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. oats
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 c. canola oil
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 cup fat-free milk
1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple
1 1/2 c. freshly grated carrots
1/2 c. raisins

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or spray muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger in a large bowl. In a medium bowl stir brown sugar, egg, oil, vanilla extract, and milk until well combined. Stir in pineapple, carrots and raisins. Add wet ingredients to dry, and mix until just moist. Fill muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean or tops spring back when pressed.

-Recipe from Weight Watchers Message Board

This is another version of overnight oats, and I liked it even better. I added a dash of cinnamon and Splenda in the morning. This was also a portable breakfast, and it’s so thick you don’t need to worry about any spills.

1/2 c. oats
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1/3 c. milk
1 T raisins
1 T walnuts

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and leave in the refrigerator overnight.

With a carton of strawberries in the refrigerator, I needed to get creative. And you can’t eat oatmeal every day. So I came up with this quick pancake recipe, and was happy with the result. I did not add any extra sugar or sugar substitute – the strawberries were sweet enough!

6-7 ripe strawberries, hulled and diced
1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1 egg white
2 T milk

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl, and pour into hot frying pan coated with cooking spray. Cook on one side until bubbles appear, and then flip and cook on the other side. Top with more sliced strawberries if you have them!

I got the idea for overnight oats from another food blog, and it was a fantastic breakfast! Normally I like to make stove top oats, but this is a great alternative, and does save time in the morning. I might use just a bit less milk next time, and I look forward to trying other variations over the summer.

1/2 c. oats
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. plain fat free yogurt
5 strawberries, sliced

Mix all ingredients, and put in the refrigerator overnight. Add sugar or Splenda to taste.

I had some light coconut milk leftover from the Thai dish I made last week, so I decided to make Pina Colada oats. No rum with breakfast though! I admit I was disappointed in this variation of oatmeal. I didn’t really taste the coconut, and the pineapple didn’t make the oats as sweet as I would have liked, so I went back for more Splenda. It was still fun to try something new, but I’ll find another use for leftover coconut milk.

1/2 c. oats
1/3 c. light coconut milk
2/3 c. water
Sugar or Splenda to taste
1/2 c. pineapple tidbits, mostly drained

Mix oats, coconut milk, and water in a saucepan, and cook on medium high until desired consistency, using sugar or Splenda if desired. Top with pineapple tidbits.

These muffins were very moist and you could really see the strawberries. I had a difficult time getting a good picture though!

2 eggs
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/4 c. canola oil
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 t vanilla extract
2 large bananas, mashed
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 t baking soda
1 T cinnamon
1 1/2 c. chopped fresh strawberries

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 12-muffin tin with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, applesauce, oil, brown sugar, vanilla, and bananas. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir into banana mixture until moistened. Stir in the strawberries. Spoon batter into muffin cups until completely filled.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when pressed lightly. Cool before removing from muffin tins.

-Adapted from a Weight Watchers message board recipe

Another wonderful oat variation! The cottage cheese made the oats very creamy, and it was a delicious and filling breakfast.

1/2 c. oats
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. water
4-5 strawberries, sliced
1/2 c. cottage cheese

Place oats, milk, and water in a pan, and cook on medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until desired consistency. Stir in strawberries and cottage cheese.

I normally wouldn’t consider using the crock pot for eggs, since they cook quickly on the stove top. Yet I was intrigued by this recipe and wanted to give it a try. I cut down the recipe slightly, using 8 oz. each regular and Portobello mushrooms, 8 eggs, and 6 oz. of fat free feta. I cooked it for 2 1/2 hours on high, and it was done.

This isn’t exactly a parfait because I mixed everything together instead of making pretty layers, but it still made a fantastic breakfast! If you cook a large batch of wheat berries on the weekend, you can make this dish very quickly in the morning. I used a Greek-style yogurt which you can see is quite thick, but any style yogurt will work well. The strawberry flower on top is to remind you that spring is here!

1/4 c. wheat berries, simmered until tender
6 oz. plain yogurt
6-7 strawberries, sliced

Mix wheat berries, yogurt, and strawberries, or layer them in a glass bowl.