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Ready—Set—GO!

'When you rise in the morning and smell
the aroma coming from the kitchen, you know at
that moment it will be a glorious day.'
—Chef Antonio Frontera

You can't go too far when you are out of gas. You need fuel! Power! Nutrients!

If an empty car sleeps all night long, how far can it go in the morning? If it doesn't fill up, it will be slow and sluggish, and it will finally shut down. If you sleep all night, and don't fill up in the morning, you'll be slow and sluggish, too!

People are always telling me that I should eat a good breakfast! They're right! Eat something, but don't eat just sugar and fat, because sugar and fat won't help you get through your day. You will still run out of gas.

Breakfast is about new beginnings, new hope, and the promise of a new day. No two days are ever the same, so enjoy and explore. Get fueled and get powered. Be a believer in breakfast because it does make a difference. That's the root of the expression 'Breakfast of Champions.' And everyone can be a champion!
Breakfast is the first meal you eat when you wake up after a night of sleeping and fasting. In fact, 'breakfast' is a compound word: break-fast. You are breaking your fast and giving nourishment to an empty stomach so you can energize yourself.

Worldwide, eating breakfast is considered the healthy way to begin a new day. It's a gift to your body. There are many kinds of breakfast you can try because breakfasts are different throughout the world in many families, regions, and countries. Learning about the breakfasts of different cultures might make you curious about other people and theirtraditions.

Did you have cereal for breakfast today? Was it hot or cold? Did you know that it is called 'porridge' in some places in the world? Do you sometimes like peanut butter on toast? In Australia, some love Vegemite, not peanut butter.

You can learn all about foreign foods. You might even try them one day! I will share breakfast foods that I know about, and you can find others to add to the list: rice, soup, fish, noodles, peas, chutney, cheese, bagels, croissants, yogurt, sandwiches, and more.

Lots of people eat eggs for breakfast. Eggs can be made in many different ways, such as poached, scrambled, fried, over easy, over hard, or as an omelet.
There are many breakfast alternatives: hot breakfast, cold breakfast, or something freshly made, from a package, or put together the night before to save time in the morning. You can eat breakfast in a chair or on the run, on a plate, in a cup, or in a bag. Count the number of foods you can eat for breakfast. There are so many possibilities. You can be creative, and you can look forward to breakfast.

Now think about this: next time you can't sleep, don't count sheep—count ways of making breakfasts!

—Chef Antonio Frontera

Whenever I bite into a warm chocolate-chip pancake, a feeling of comfort and love fills me as I remember my mom's special breakfasts. You see, my mom was not a morning person, so my typical before-school nutrition was cold cereal and milk. But if I had a big test or an important event (like a spelling bee or an oral report), I would wake up to the sweet aroma of chocolate and pancakes floating through the house. On those special days, Mom would set her alarm so she could whip up some of her special mini chocolate-chip pancakes to give me an extra boost before school. I always felt pampered and cherished on those mornings.

I can still picture my mom in her worn blue robe with sleep still in her eyes, standing over the pan with a spatula in hand ready to flip those tokens of her love at just the right time. My mom passed away a few years ago, but I still feel connected to her
in so many ways. A warm chocolate-chip pancake can transport me back to my childhood and help me recall my mom's way of making me feel special and loved.

Sometimes when I am feeling lonely and missing Mom, I'll mix up a bowl of batter and make a batch of chocolate-chip pancakes for my daughters and myself. As I stand by the pan, ready to flip the pancakes, I think of my mom and how much her special breakfasts meant to me.

I have carried on this tradition with my two daughters, making sure that important days always start with an extraspecial breakfast. This extra labor of love in the morning helps me not only fill my girls' bellies with nutritious food but also fill their souls with a warm feeling of love and value before they head out into the world—just like I felt after eating my mom's tokens of love so many years ago.

—Tessa Floehr

©2007. Chef Antonio Frontera and Tessa Floehr. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Chicken Soup for the Soul Kids in the Kitchen by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Chef Antonio Frontera. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the written permission of the publisher. Publisher: Health Communications, Inc., 3201 SW 15th Street , Deerfield Beach , FL 33442.