Breakfast of Twentysomething Independent Women

It always, always comes as a surprise when I get to talk to friends and female colleagues about the very delicate subject of breakfast. Most women tell me they don’t eat breakfast. It was for a multitude of reasons: rush hour, no one cooked, no yaya, no time.

No time.

In breakfast, and everything else, I don’t believe in having no time. If you value something, you will create time for that. No ifs and buts, no excuses.

And that, ladies and gentlemen is how I feel about breakfast.

Ever since I was a four-year-old kid, I would always hanker for breakfast. My mom never left home without leaving me pancakes, or tapsilog, or bananas or toast. When I was in college, I had househelpers who even if they went clubbing the previous night {yes, they did}, would prepare me yummy food in the morning.

Now that my mom is miles away and I don’t live with any household help, it IS up to me to make my own, sleepiness, laziness and general morning sluggishness be damned.

Because I really love breakfast, especially Monday mornings as far I am concerned, here are some breakfast ideas for the always rushing, always busy twentysomething. Did you know not eating breakfast will affect your entire day?

1. Pancakes + Maple Syrup + Ginger Tea

I recently chanced upon a tiny box of pancakes by Maya Kitchen, which cooks about three pancakes. Pancakes are super easy to cook, you just add eggs, butter, milk, and water to the powder mix. You can mix these in a small bowl and pour over the pan lined with butter. This cooks in 3 minutes or less {I use an induction cooker that’s why} and in less than 15 minutes you’re done! Pour over maple syrup {healthiest syrup in my book, avoid corn syrup UGH}, or mix with Hershey’s chocolate syrup if you like. As for your morning drink, I was recently introduced to powdered ginger tea by Ludy’s {about PHP 80 a jar} and it is yummy! Tastes a bit like The Spa’s Ginger Tea!

2. French Toast + Milk Chocolate

Soak bread {I only have Gardenia California Raisin bread all the freaking time hehe} into beaten eggs, fresh milk, cinnamon powder. The more stale the bread, the better. Once you’ve soaked the bread, fry into the pan with butter and repeat on the bread’s other side. Serve with maple syrup {of course} and fruits like sliced bananas. Takes about 20 minutes for 4 slices.

3. Waffles with Papayas + Soya Milk

For this one, you will need a waffle maker. If you do have, you can use pancake mix {see procedure above} and once you pour the mix onto the wafflemaker, close the lid and wait for about a minute, depending on your appliance. Once it’s finished, you can pour over maple syrup and sliced ripe papayas {only my favorite fruit these days}. Enjoy your meal with a glass of soya milk.

4. Oatmeal and Freshly squeezed orange juice

As pointed out by my mom, she loved cooking me oatmeal when I was younger, a meal I replicate today by using Quaker Oats oatmeal in sachets. They're great snacks for those small pangs of hunger and they make snacking come with lots of fiber. A particular favorite is the cinnamon and apple crisps variety as well as the brown sugared ones. Don't forget to squeeze some orange juice or water with lemon if you've got a little more time.

5. Cereal + Soy Milk + Brewed Coffee

If the above meals deceive you into thinking that I'm some Junior Martha Stewart, well, most days, I'm not. And I wish I always had the energy to putter around the kitchen. Most mornings, I am too holed up with Zite, an app where I get stuff I really want to read like the latest news, HBR blogs, those kinds of things. So most days, I am eating healthy bowl of

Nestle Fitnesse, with Nestle Nonfat Milk and Brewed Coffee with Coffeemate in Vanilla {which is my absolute favorite creamer in the world}. I sometimes add raisins, bananas, peaches or whatever fruit I have in my fridge. Not only do I have quick breakfast in the morning, Nestle Fitnesse cereals are also perfect for midnight snacking, when one is glued to the TV, watching old movies and reruns of medical, surgical drama. And it's supposed to give you flatter belly, too! I've seen women in the blogging world do the 14-Day challenge thing, by eating Nestle Fitnesse twice but I'm not too sure how that works. Oh and BTW, each box is less than Php200, too.