I really like a variety with food, and even more so... I love muffins and bagels for breakfast. Does anyone know a low cal and healthy alternative to this? I'd appreciate it so much! Expanding my brain is painful.

I love a 1/2 cup of plain oatmeal cooked with half an apple, chopped, some cinnamon, and a teaspoon of brown sugar. Its like heaven on winter mornings, and probably takes 5 minutes start to finish if you use instant oats. Sometimes I'll add a splash of sugar-free vanilla flavored fat free half and half (yes, its hard to find, but its near the coffee creamers) for extra creaminess and flavor.

If you have a little bit more time, maybe try cooking up an omelette. I make mine with 1/2 a cup of egg beaters, then fill with a sprinkle of reduced fat cheese, some chopped chicken breast, chopped spinach leaves, and a few black olives. It will keep you full of good protein for SO LONG.

Before I started eating healthier, all I wanted was sweet stuff for breakfast - muffins, scones, cereal. Finding a healthy breakfast I liked was a real challenge!

Some of my current favorites:

• Whole wheat tortilla, 1/4 cup egg beaters, spinach leaves, lots of salsa.
• 2 pieces of whole grain toast, natural peanut butter
• Whole wheat English muffin, low fat cheese, egg
• 2 whole wheat tortillas, smear of peanut butter, sliced banana, grilled like a quesadilla
• 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup dried blueberries, less than 1 cup water, so it has a very thick consistency
• 1/2 cup granola, low fat plain yogurt, fresh fruit (maybe a tiny bit of honey)

I am a breakfast carb o holic as well. I eat oatmeal a lot but when i have to have a bagel, i make sure to eat whole wheat small ones. I have found some that are 150 cals, as opposed to the gigantic ones on the market now for 300 cals. I have whipped cream cheese on it, since that has less cals than the light...i feel like i am splurging. Good stuff.

Check out Alternative Bagles!
http://www.westernbagel.com/alternativebagelonline.asp
I eat the Sweet Wheat ones. It is a smaller bagel but so yummy. Very low cal, and low carb, fat free AND sugar free, with high fiber! They have several different flavors too. I also use the Alternative Pitas, they make a killer "pizza" crust for a great lunch or light dinner.
Ohhhh.. I haven't noticed the englis muffins before. I'll have to try them too.

LOL- I love being the buyer for the store I work in!!!!!!

English muffins are great and it isn't too hard to find varieties that are around 110 calories per muffin.

Here is a scone recipe that works out to about 130 calories per scone. The cooked scones freeze well, so you could make a batch on the weekend, freeze them, and then take one out each night for the next day.

Scottish Scones

• 1/2 cup 2% milk
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour plus more for work surface
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 margarine (at least 65% vegetable oil)

1. Combine milk and egg and set aside.
2. Stir flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in margine with pastry cutter until mixture resembles course meal.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour milk and egg into well, then stir until just combined. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead very lightly 8 to 10 times. Form dough into a ball and pat out into a circle about 1 inch thick. Cut into 12 wedges.
4. Place wedges on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes.

Makes 12 scones. Nutrition (per scone): 130 calories, 4g fat, 1g saturated fat, 19mg cholesterol, 300mg sodium, 20g carbs, .6g fiber, 1.3g sugar, 3g protein.

To make the scones more interesting, you can stir in various dried fruit; frozen blueberries, peaches, or other fruit; fresh or dried herbs; lemon zest and poppyseeds; chocolate chips; chopped nuts; whatever you want. I made a goat cheese and rosemary version that came out great (the goat cheese did increase the calories to about 140 per scone).

You also might be able to reduce the calories further by using 1% milk, skim milk, or soy milk in place of the 2% milk and 1/4 cup eggbeaters instead of the egg. If you are worried more about trans fats than calories, use butter instead of the margarine.

One thing I love are SmartPortion muffins. 140 calories and 1 gram of fat for two small muffins. Comes in three flavors. Blueberry, Banana and Cranberry Apple. I loooovvee them. I've been eating them for my afternoon snack for months and lost weight, so they're trustworthy. I've only found them in the Wal-Mart here, though, never seen them at a grocery store here.