Once you get used to working with fresh, natural ingredients, well you just don't want to go back to the prepackaged stuff!  Take pancakes for example.  You can do amazing things with a basic buttermilk pancake or waffle recipe!  Toaster waffles taste like cardboard in comparison and are pretty much the nutrition equivalent to it too.   Buying breakfast out is costly and not a taste treat I would venture to enjoy very often.  Most of it, hash browns, biscuits, hard cooked eggs offer little or no fiber.  Add up purchasing these sandwich croissants for a week and you could have brought enough raw ingredients for nearly two weeks of homemade breakfasts.

Just as you set your alarm to get up early to run, bike or hit the gym, you can set it 15 minutes earlier to fix yourself a proper breakfast.  All you need is a little organization and you're eating in no time!

Here are some old-fashioned favorites with much quicker prep-serving times:

Zingerman's Presents: MaCrooms Irish Oatmeal - This oatmeal is stone ground in County Cork Ireland and not rolled like the Quaker Oats you're probably used to.   Instant oatmeal packets are often loaded with refined sugar and don't taste very good to boot.  You can cook enough Irish Oatmeal for about 4 servings the night before and store it in a container in the refrigerator.  In the AM, scoop some out into a bowl, pop it into the microwave the add a little brown sugar or blueberries & milk.  Voila!   This really stays with you and is rich in protein, vitamins and fiber.  You couldn't ask for better to start your day!

Gourmet Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes - Purchase a ready made "complete mix" with eggs & milk already added.  I add a jar of Wheat Germ and transfer everything to a large zip lock freezer bag.  Toss in a 1/2 cup scoop so it's ready to go.  All you need do is add water & some blueberries, (frozen work fine), and pour onto the griddle. 

Top with a little Naturel Agave Syrup and serve.  A Sunday style breakfast in under 15 minutes!  You can also make a whole batch and store them in refrigerator in containers and reheat during the week.  Another one of my favorites is Buckwheat Pancakes.  Buckwheat is not really in the wheat family or a grass so those with wheat allergies should look into this nutritious "pseudocereal".

Sunbutter Sunflower Seed Spread

A new twist on the old peanut butter on a slice of bread!  This is a real boon to those with peanut allergies but long for the taste of fresh roasted nuts.  Sunbutter is made from freshly roasted & ground sunflower seeds with no hydrogenated fat or gluten.  The Sunflower is native to North America and the Natives packed them along for extended trips for energy and endurance.

This one is a real quickie!  Grab a slice of bread and a jar of Sunbutter.  Spead on a slice of Arnold's Health Nut Bread and you're out the door!

REMEMBER!  The X-Training BLOG has got The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook GIVE-AWAY PLUS A  FREE Thermal Polar Bottle going on right now!  Click here to enter!  Deadline is Midnight, October 14th, 2010