Dino Egg Breakfast (with sneaky oat bran!)

My kids LOVE Quaker Dino Egg oatmeal.  It is the instant stuff that tastes yummy and has little candy eggs that turn into dinosaurs in it when you add the boiling water.  It also, though is somewhat healthy, has been processed quite a bit.  I much rather feed them homemade oatmeal with rolled oats or large flake oats, but they refuse to eat it.  That is one battle I just don't feel up to at 7 in the morning. 

So once a week they get a dino egg oatmeal bowl.  The box has 8 packets, and for now it lasts us 2 weeks since Benjamin doesnt eat yet.  But to get in some extra fiber I have to be sneaky.

Here is my morning oatmeal recipe fix:

- 1 package dino egg oatmeal (can use any flavour)
- 2 TBSP oat bran
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- splash of organic unsweetened soymilk

Mix oatmeal and oat bran, add boiling water and stir.  Add soymilk (optional).  I use soymilk to cool the oatmeal off and add a little hit of nutrition as well.

Not only is oat bran a great form of soluble fiber and lowers cholesterol in adults and children, but preliminary studies suggest that beta-glucan, a type of soluble fibre in oats, may have immune-boosting properties.  And your kids will never know its in there!

Here is the nutrition:

Oatmeal alone
- calories 150
- sugars 12g (yikes!)
- protein 3g
- fiber 2g

Oatmeal with Oatbran:
- calories 210
- sugars 12g (no extra thankfully)
- protein 5.5g
- fiber 4g

The cost works out to be:
$0.38- 1 package of oatmeal
$0.10 - 2 TBSP oatbran
$0.10 - splash of soymilk

Total cost for one serving is: 58 cents


Now the total calcium is 35% in your oatmeal, and another 2% in your oatbran.  I still like to boost that so I serve 1 glass of Tropicana Calcium enriched juice.  1 glass to me is 1/2 cup juice and 1/4 cup water mixed.  The calcium in 1/2 cup is about another 15%.  That takes your breakfast to 52% of your child's daily calcium intake.  When you have a dairy restricted diet that is a nice number to see in a single meal!