Better Barbies –breakfast guide Barbecuing is one of Australia’s most traditional cooking methods and is embedded within modern Australian culture. Basic, traditional barbecues typically consist of sausages, onion, white bread and tomato sauce, which is a meal low in fibre and high in saturated fat, oil and salt and has limited nutritional value. However, with a little thought and a few small changes the Aussie barbecue can be one of the healthiest and tastiest cooking methods. COPAL is a healthy lifestyle program that works with local communities to encourage and support families to eat well and be active. This Better Barbies breakfast guide was produced as an addition to the COPAL Better Barbies resource - a guide for groups wanting to play their part in supporting the health and wellbeing of the local community.
Better Brekky Barbie options: Instead of sausages in bread why not try some of these healthier options for your next breakfast BBQ…
Breads: Plain, white bread is traditionally the most commonly served bread at a barbecue. However, white bread is much lower in fibre and other important vitamins and minerals. There are healthier bread options available at the same price that can be served with your barbecue instead of using white bread. Wholemeal and multigrain bread are the same price as white bread and higher in nutritional value, providing more energy, fibre than white bread and also keep you feeling fuller for longer. Top Tips:
Provide wholemeal and multigrain breads and rolls. If white bread is offered choose a high fibre variety. If you want to add variety to your barbecue, try a few different types of bread, such as; wholemeal, wholegrain, multigrain, English muffins and pita breads. Avoid breads and rolls topped with cheese as they are usually higher in saturated fat.
Eggsellent Eggs: Fried eggs Fried eggs can still be pretty healthy - only use a very small amount of sunflower/cooking oil (the spray is good) and make sure you keep the eggs ‘upstream’ from the cooking fats of any meats Traffic light eggs For a fun variation of toad in the hole try using slices of red, green and yellow capsicum as egg rings on the BBQ. Simply crack an egg into the centre of your capsicum ring and create your own traffic lights! Poached Eggs
If your barbie’s suitable, you can poach eggs in a big pot of boiling water on top of the barbie
Scrambled Eggs If you are feeding a crowd why not make up a large bowl of scrambled egg mix (eggs, reduced fat milk) and cook on the BBQ. Try adding fresh herbs, onion, spinach or mushrooms for some eggstra excitement. Bread rings or toad in the hole
Cut a circle out of the middle of a slice of bread (wholemeal or grain of course) Crack the egg into the bread so it’s contained and cooks in the hole as the bread toasts. Flip it to cook the other side or cook it through for sunny side up. You can also the cut out rounds into egg/reduced fat milk mix for little French Toast circles, topped with a little bit of short cut bacon, corn and a slice of tomato.
Perfect Pancakes: Why not follow this simple recipe and use your BBQ to cook up piles of perfect pancakes! Ingredients: 1 egg 1 cup wholemeal flour sifted 1 cup skim milk = 10 pancakes Multiply the ingredients as necessary to make the amount of serves you need. If you’re making large quantities, you can put it in to clean buckets and mix it using a hand held blender or even a (clean) drill attachment that’s used for mixing paint. Pancake flavours and toppings Add some mashed or sliced banana to smaller quantities of batter or slice some straight on top of the pancakes after you pour them onto the barbie Add grated apple to sweeten things up a bit Reduced fat yoghurt and fresh fruit are a great topping eg. chopped strawberries and low fat natural yoghurt. If you use honey as a topping, just use a small amount. (TIP: If you mix honey with a little bit of hot water in a plastic sauce bottle it will be easier to pour and it goes further, so you can use less)
Breakfast Burritos: Why not try this healthy breakfast twist on a Mexican favourite Create your breakfast burrito using a wholegrain wrap and add your favourites from:
fresh avocado, capsicum and tomato reduced fat grated cheese spring onioins or onion cooked on the BBQ fried egg and some short cut bacon (cooked on the BBQ). Roll up your wrap and enjoy!
Egg and Bacon muffins: You can BBQ this breakfast favourite using wholemeal muffins (no need for
any margarine/spread), short cut bacon and fried, scrambled or traffic light eggs. Add tomato or onion for extra flavour.
Big Brekky Cook Up: Create your BBQ version of a big breakfast using: Baked beans heated in a saucepan on the BBQ (salt reduced is even better) Tomato halves fried on the BBQ Mushrooms (you can buy them pre-sliced) - add crushed garlic for some added flavour Short cut bacon Eggs - fried, poached, scrambled, bread ring or traffic light serve with some multigrain bread or wholemeal bread/breakfast muffins/crumpets
Brekky staples and other ideas: At your brekky BBQ you can also serve these breakfast classics that are fuss free and people can help themselves:
healthy breakfast cereal like weet-bix, vita brits, sultana bran and wheeties. Reduced fat milk and tubs of reduced fat yoghurt Fresh fruit salad or tinned fruit as a cereal topper Whole pieces of fruit Wholegrain toast with spreads Tea and coffee Water
