Enjoy these quick and wholesome breakfasts

Make ahead, freeze and heat for family members on the go.

How do Atlanta’s busy chefs manage school-day breakfasts? For many of these families, breakfast may be the only meal they eat together since the chef in the family is often in his or her restaurant during the day and into the evening.

“As a parent, you have the best of intentions. And as a chef you feel this pressure to make sure your kids have to have the best breakfast, the best packed lunch ever, the best dinner ever. But then reality kicks in and you’re slinging Pop-Tarts in the toaster and packing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch,” says Meherwan Irani of Chai Pani and Botiwalla. “It’s a dilemma. How do you make a healthy breakfast your kid will eat?”

Growing up in India, Irani ate savory breakfasts of porridge or dosa. He had a hard time with the idea of cornflakes with sugar and milk or toast with jam. But his daughter Aria made it clear she not going to eat a savory breakfast. The key to finding the solution was getting Aria involved in the process. “She said she loved fruit and she’d like her breakfast to be a little bit sweet but still healthy. So together we came up with a compote of frozen fruit topped with puff pastry. It’s quick and easy and something she’ll happily eat before she runs out the door.”

During the school year, Twain’s Brewpub’s Ryan Burke is in charge of breakfast for his son and daughter. Some mornings he’ll whip up a one-egg omelet for each child. “I have eggs every morning and after all these years of cooking, I can turn out an omelet really fast. It’s a fine fast breakfast for all of us. But while I’d like to pretend that every morning I’m whipping up something fresh for the kids, the reality is sometimes that can’t happen. We’re all on the go with lots to do.”

So he also makes sure to have breakfast options frozen and ready to go. “My kids are waffle fans so that’s an easy one. Waffles are easy to freeze ahead and then heat up in a toaster oven. You can do the same thing with pancakes or French toast.”

Billy Allin and his wife Kristin of Cakes & Ale, Bread & Butterfly and Proof Bakeshop have two boys, nine and 13. Allin is in charge of serving weekday breakfast and packing school lunches and says the way he makes that work in a busy family schedule is to plan ahead. On Sunday night, he knows what the boys will be eating for breakfast and lunch throughout the week.

“If you don’t have a plan, then the 10 minutes it takes you to decide what you’re going to make, is the 10 minutes you give up. This year my son’s bus comes at 7 a.m. That’s early. I plan ahead so when I get up, I know exactly what’s for breakfast and what the boys will have for lunch.”

Of course you always have to work with what your children will eat. “Monday is the hardest morning of the week and it may be that breakfast is whole grain cereal and seasonal fruit. By Tuesday I’ll cook an egg for one son but the other doesn’t like eggs so he gets toast with peanut butter or almond butter and honey.”

A non-negotiable is that the food has to taste good. “As a cook, it’s important to me to set a good example, especially to never be lazy about anything you do. If it’s worth eating, it should be done well.”

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Recipes,

HENRI HOLLIS / CONTRIBUTED Blueberry-bacon waffles with with homemade syrup made by Chef Ryan Burke of Twain’s Brewpub and Billiards in Decatur.

When she was seven years old, Meherwan Irani and his daughter Aria settled on a breakfast that suited them both sweet but not too sweet and healthy. Eight years later, they still prepare these fruit compotes topped with puff pastry.