I feed my cats at a random time between 7am and 10am (between 7 and 7:30 during the work week, between 8 and 10 on the weekend). They never bother me in the morning on the weekend, and on the rare occasion they do they usually want to play. I think the randomness has helped, especially the extreme variability of the weekend.
I have my cat trained to expect a phone alarm for breakfast time. Total accident at first. It was my wake-up alarm, but I started always walking up before it, and then it was the "owner's awake and over here" signal. Any meowing before it gets a strong tone at first and a spritz if continued. Now that I'm working from home, I'll also start using an alarm for dinner.
I had tried to teach her to read an analog clock by putting it near her food dish. No change in behavior except she kept knocking it over.
My previous cat was like yours, though. She didn't expect meals at usual times on weekends. We can train them somewhat, but they do have unique personalities.
