DGS2 was a year old in Feb. He eats cheerios for breakfast, not with milk, just dry that he can pick up and eat by himself.

I make these regularly. They're very good.

Apple Strudel Muffins

1 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup quick rolled oats
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
½ cup butter
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup chopped apples (use 1 baking apple)
1 cup shredded apple (use 2 baking apples)

Topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp flour
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
1 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan.

In medium bowl, mix flour, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars; add eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and buttermilk. Stir in apples, and gradually blend in the flour mixture. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin pan.

In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, and spices until well combined. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs (rub mixture between your hands until crumbly). Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.

Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on wire rack.

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Blueberry Muffins

½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup buttermilk
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon extract OR 1 tsp lemon zest and 3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (sprinkled with 1 Tbsp flour so they donÂt sink to bottom of the muffin)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Paper-line 12 muffin cups.

In large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add extracts and/or lemon juice/zest. Add milk.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture  mixing only until well combined (do not overmix). Quickly stir in, by hand, the berries. Fills 12 muffin cups.

Bake muffins for 28-33 minutes, until they're light golden brown.

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Here's a recipe that I have in my files but have not made yet. It's from pastry chef Anna Olson on Food Network Canada.

Blueberry Bran Muffins

2 cups raisin bran cereal
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. and grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

Toss cereal with sugar, flour, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk oil, egg and buttermilk. Add buttermilk mixture to cereal mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in blueberries and spoon into prepared muffin tin. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean

For breakfast I would experiment with homemade waffles or oatmeal pancakes cut into small pieces - I have a healthy (but yummy) recipe for the oatmeal pancakes, if you need one.
But if you'd rather make muffins, try a basic (and not too sugary) muffin recipe and add shredded carrots, zucchini, etc., and let him gnaw to his heart's content.

Sol

My kids and grandkids also ate (and still do eat) dry cereal that they can pick up with their fingers.

Oatmeal cookies are good too. (grin) Actually, there are some pretty healthy "breakfast cookie" recipes out there.

My kids never ate oatmeal or hot cereal very well anyway, and Ashley was especially fond of grilled cheese. I used whole grain bread, grilled the sandwich and cut it into bite sized pieces that she could eat with her fingers. Some diced banana and she was set. She also liked chicken noodle soup, mostly noodles, homemade and cut into pieces she could handle herself with fingers. Oh, and cheese ravioli. Yup, for breakfast. We tend to think "outside the box". (get it? Cereal? Box? Outside the box....oh never mind, LOL)

Bud and Makayla also liked the grilled cheese option and they love waffles and pancakes. I always add oatmeal, buckwheat or whole wheat and either fruit (apple bits, blueberries, diced peaches, etc) or vegetables. It's amazing how I can put grated carrots or zucchini into a waffle, give them some maple syrup or fruit syrup to dunk pieces into and they'll eat them without complaint. They also dunk sausage bits into syrup. Whatever. Their favorite syrup right now is strawberry, which I make by whirling a handful of strawberries (fresh or frozen) in the blender and adding a bit of sugar, then heating in the microwave until warm. It works well with peaches and blueberries too, has much less sugar than Mrs. Butterworth and her ilk, and adds fruit.

I personally don't care for bananas, but I'll eat them dunked into a lot of Hershey's syrup, but I don't suppose that's an option for a one year old, LOL.

Annie

Thanks so much for your ideas and recipes!
Sol, I would love your recipe. Muffins came to mind because I can freeze them and take one out for daycare each morning, but that idea applies to waffles and pancakes too! I really made things harder on myself because one day I was in a pinch and gave him a wholegrain Tim Horton's muffin (Ohhh the shame!) and he LOVED it. Now I think he expects great things for breakfast! Plus it is so much easier to drop him off at daycare when he has a really yummy breakfast to distract him.

Hi Mandy,
You're probably already making them into mini muffin size?

Hi Deborah,
Actually, I made one batch of regular sized lemon poppyseed (at the request of my 13 year old daughter) and I just broke one into bite size pieces. I had considered the mini-muffins and I do have the pan for it, so it is an option. I think he would eat 3-4 minis. BTW, the lemon poppy seeds were not a hit. I sometimes try to make things too healthy, and sometimes my recipe adjustments fail.