Veggies for Breakfast? Yes!

Fruit fits easily into breakfast, but vegetables can be a challenge. Here are some tips to help you wake up your fruit and vegetable appetite:

• Stir things up. For a quick breakfast, add raisins or chopped dates to instant oatmeal, or stir blueberries, strawberries or sliced banana into whole-grain cereal with fat-free milk.
• Get scrambling! Add fresh or frozen chopped spinach, mushrooms and diced tomatoes to scrambled eggs or omelets. Really, any veggies will work!
• Make a breakfast sandwich. Top a whole-wheat English muffin with either reduced-fat peanut butter and banana slices, or go savory with hummus, sliced cucumbers, tomato and fresh spinach.
• Batter up. Add grated carrots or zucchini to pancake, quick bread or muffin batter.
• Drink your produce. Whirl carrots and fresh orange juice in a blender for a refreshing breakfast beverage.
• Say "Olé!" Make a breakfast burrito by wrapping low-fat cheddar cheese, scrambled eggs and diced bell peppers in a whole-wheat tortilla. You also can make a vegetable-and-cheese quesadilla in a nonstick pan with a scant amount of canola oil.
• Pick a fruit pizza. Spread reduced-fat dinner rolls in a pizza pan and bake. Top the pizza with orange sections or slices of kiwi, apples or strawberries and drizzle fat-free vanilla yogurt over the top.
• Make a quick white or sweet potato hash. Grate the potatoes — they cook faster that way. Place the potatoes in a glass bowl and microwave about three minutes or until hot; drain any juice. Heat a skillet or frying pan on the stove and then stir-fry the potatoes with a teaspoon of olive oil until crispy.
• Make it savory. While fruit is more commonly added to oatmeal, switch it up by adding sauteed vegetables such as mushrooms or onions to unsweetened instant oatmeal for a savory twist. Sprinkle it with cheese for added flavor.