Quick Healthy Kid Breakfast-Egg Toast

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In response to your vote, half of you wanted more of both family friendly recipes and tips on feeding toddlers. Hubby treated me to egg toast this weekend. Even when you love to cook, three meals a day (not to mention all the dishes) is daunting, so it was nice to have the morning off from cooking. One of the fun parts about marriage is the opportunity to share your meal-time childhood favorites with your spouse, share your spouse’s favorites and then share the collection with your kids. Egg toast is one that hubby brought to the table, having mastered the recipe his dad (PaPaw) prepared for him and his siblings. Hubby started making this for me well before we had kids and it was an instant hit with me.

The key to this meal is cutting a circle out of buttered toast in which to cook the egg. The toast circle then becomes a special treat to eat before the meal is served. I don’t know exactly why small circle toast tastes so good to kids, but my suspicion is that supply and demand plays a part. They are eaten quickly, and there’s only one per slice, always leaving them wanting more, thus enthusiastic for the small bites next time around.

Eggs are packed with nutrition, high in protein and several other important micronutrients such as lutein and omega-3s. Outside of kids with allergies, eggs should really be a part of every kid’s diet as they are second only to breast-milk in quality of protein. Eggs have tons of kid appeal! They can be made in so many ways and have brightly colored round centers hidden in a bright white casing. See this post for more on the nutritional content of eggs and other suggestions for ways to eat them.

Egg Toast Directions
Toast bread and butter on one side. Pre-heat pan on medium. Lightly grease pan with butter or spray. Cut out a circle (large enough to drop an egg in) with a knife and place the bread in the pan, butter side down. Crack and egg in the hole. Salt and pepper to taste. Call kiddos in the kitchen and serve them their special “toast circle.” Let the white set, and then flip the toast over with a spatula. Cook until desired doneness. Gently press the yellow to feel how much it gives. It’ll be soft and squishy for a runny yolk, it’ll be firm for a fully cooked yolk. Serve with bacon or sausage (we like turkey links, but go for the real stuff for bacon).

What happens if I mess up? You can’t mess up with this recipe. You may accidentally break a yolk, or under/over cook a yolk, but you can’t go wrong with toast and eggs. If it’s not cooked to perfection when you first give it a go, keep trying.

Note: For kids under one, fully cook yolks. Never soft cook eggs that are past the best before date (hard boiled eggs and eggs used in baking are fine used within a few days after their BB date)

The boys usually go straight for the soft yolk, poking it with bacon or sausage, and then work their way around the eggy-est parts of the toast, then the toast. Little Boo would eat almost two egg toasts when he was one. His appetite has slowed down now (which is completely normal between 2-4-ish) and he often claims he’s full after slurping up the yolk, polishing off his breakfast meat and eating fruit.

Kid Appeal Tip If you’ve noticed a decreased appetite in your 2 year old, that’s normal. While growth is still rapid in young kids, it’s significantly less dramatic than in the first 2 years. Your child won’t need as much food to sustain this decreased amount of growth. When you notice your toddler picking at their food, tell them it’s OK to eat a little if they aren’t very hungry, but they need a few bites of everything to have energy for (ballet, playground, playgroup, fill-in-the-blank activity.) Knowing they don’t have to finish a lot of food can get them over the hurdle and down a couple bites. On the worst of mornings Little Boo takes a few bites at the table, and then I bring him a few more bites while we’re getting ready for school. He usually doesn’t protest too much about a bite here or there when he’s distracted by shoes or toys. What you don’t want to do is chase them around and feed them ALL their meal. Kids need to learn to eat when food is provided, so I only recommend doing this infrequently and just a handful of bites so you know their tummy isn’t completely empty.

What’s your favorite childhood meal you love sharing with your family?