Alright, you are creative folks and I would also venture to guess that some of you are good at solving puzzles.

So, here is one: I am currently trying to stick to an exchanges food plan as "prescribed" by my nutritionist. But, I am having a difficult time getting all of the exchanges in because I tend to overload in the starch area. I am also a fussy eater and when it comes to breakfast I am at a loss as to what to do.

Here are my requirments for breakfast:

1. Has to have some protein (over 10g and not from a powder and not including milk or yogurt)
2. Should include 1-2 servings of milk or yogurt (but I don't like to straight up drink milk).
3. If possible should be light on the starches (less than 35g).
4. Has to be vegetarian friendly (including no eggs but cheese is fine).
5. Due to my schedule has to be assembled in less than 5min.
6. Has to resemble a breakfast meal (meaning I can't reverse and just have dinner).
7. Including some fruit would be ideal, but not mandatory.


Here is what I have been able to come up with:

1. Yogurt with string cheese and a fruit. (maybe some granola in the yogurt or maybe also with some toast)

2. 1 serving cereal (or oatmeal) swimming in 2c milk. a fruit and ? (some protien but wouldn't string cheese be a bizarre addition to this senario??!!)

3. A smoothie with milk, yogurt and berries and some string cheese (not in the smoothie!!).

???? This is all I can come up with. I would be ever so grateful if anyone can come up with some clever suggestions!!

My favorite breakfast is 1 cup Trader Joe's nonfat, plain Greek yogurt with 1/2 cup Trader Joe's High Fiber Cereal and 2 oz of raspberries stirred into it. I eat this every day (I don't require a lot of variety in my breakfast) and I think it meets all of your requirements. The yogurt is 1 serving of dairy and has 20g of protein. The cereal has only about 13g carbs (4.5 of which are fiber). If you don't have a Trader Joe's nearby, you could sub Fage or whatever brand of Greek yogurt your grocery store sells (or regular plain, nonfat yogurt if you like that better) and Fiber One cereal (which has less sugar and more fiber than the Trader Joe's cereal). If you don't like your yogurt plain, you could stir a tbsp of sugar free syrup (I like Torani vanilla) into it.

Mock French Toast: Mix 1/2 cup egg beaters, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/4 ricotta cheese, cinnamon, and 1 packet splenda. Spray a frying pan with non-stick cooking spray, pour batter into pan and cook the way you would a pancake. You can eat it with fruit on top. Not counting the optional fruit, it has 200 calories, 24g protein, and 7g carbs. Not sure if the 1/4 cup ricotta cheese is enough dairy for you. These are pretty quick to assemble, but you could also make several batches in advance and just pop them in the micro when you are ready to eat them.

You also might try Ilene's protein pancake recipe.

What about cottage cheese with fruit on top or stirred into it? Just like yogurt, cottage cheese would cover both your dairy and protein at the same time.

You might look for ideas in the South Beach Recipes forum. Their breakfasts tend to be higher in protein and low in carbs and incorporate a lot of cottage and ricotta cheese.

Hey Shrinkinkchica...you are a hard one to placate!!!!!

Once upon a time I had a tofu protein drink for breakfast.....
Put in a blender....and make a smoothie....as I remember it was really good.
You can adjust ingredients to your liking:
3 oz tofu (approx 10 grams protein)
1 Cup skim milk
sweetner to taste
Flavorings: find your favorite...... 1 TBSP cocoa powder
vanilla, almond, cinnamon, apple pie spice,
might want to try a flavoring and add your fruit:
chocolate & banana
vanilla & raspberries
almond & peaches
cinnamon & apple (bake apples & freeze individually,
put in blender and process.
This recipe is an old timer....in place of milk it called for a package of alba chocolate flavor powdered milk and 6 oz water...(Do they still sell Alba??) If you use powder, or powdered milk you can throw in a few ice cubes. I really enjoyed this...thought that it was delic.


Other protein suggestions:
2 Tbsp peanut butter (8 gram protein) + whole wheat bread (2.2 g protein)


1/3 C ricotta cheese (9+ g protein)
1/2 C cottage cheese (12 g protein).......I made a "cheese danish" using the ricotta or cottage cheese, add flavorings of your choice, plus sweetner, mix and put on top of toast.....put into toaster oven til warm.

That's about all that I have.....unless you visit your health food store and see what they have for tofu breakfast sausages etc....personally, I couldn't stomach it.....but if you are a confirmed veggie....maybe you can develope a taste for it.

Oops, I missed the "no eggs" requirement. That eliminates the Mock French Toast and the Protein Pancake, and probably most of the stuff in the South Beach Forum. Sorry.

Okay, maybe something like this would work too. Have your fruit/yogurt or fruit/yogurt smoothie along with

--breakfast burrito with small low-carb/whole grain tortilla, tofu sausage, veggies, salsa and cheese

--1/2 a whole grain English muffin w/ tofu patty, tomato slices and cheese melted on top

Good luck!

Those are some great ideas ladies!! Thanks!

I especially like the idea of incorporating tofu into my breakfast. That's perfect.

(PS: Barbara-- thanks anyway!)