Breakfast Foods

[viscousmemories]

When I was a kid, my Mom used to make us over-easy eggs and toast for breakfast every morning. Some kids I knew were jealous, limited as they were to the dazzling array of sugary breakfast cereals instead of hot, homecooked food. I would've traded places with them in a minute. I wanted Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries every day. Mmm. In fact I want some right now. :)

Well, that was then. Once I was out on my own and with the exception of the time I was in the Army, my idea of breakfast became coffee and cigarettes with the occasional trip to a restaurant to get eggs and toast. I would cook at home sometimes and buy cereal other times, but for the most part I never really got in to a breakfast routine.

I still don't really have a set routine, but thanks to some great tips from livius I now have a much wider array of options of what to have for breakfast. I'll start with the shopping list, then move on to the preparation tips. :)

Okay, first things first. Go shopping and buy:

Bagels (whatever kind you like)
Morningstar (mock) sausage patties
Eggs
Milk (skim, whole, whatever)
Granola (any flavor you like)
Lowfat (or nonfat) yogurts, any flavors
Frozen shredded potatoes
American cheese
Feta cheese
Tomatoes
Bananas
Alfalfa sprouts
Country Dijon mustard
Olive oil
Parsley
Oregano
Garlic powder

Okay now you are set to have any one of these fine breakfasts:

Feta-spread Bagel
Put some feta in a small bowl. Add a dash of olive oil, garlic powder, and oregano. Mix to a paste. Toast a bagel. Spread the feta paste on the bagel. Add sprouts and a slice of tomato. Top with fresh ground pepper. YUM!

Sausage McBagel™
Fry an egg (break the yolk when you put it in the pan). Toast a bagel. Drop a Morningstar sausage™ pattie in the toaster oven for 5 minutes. Put the bagel, egg, pattie and a slice of American cheese together. YUM!

YoGranola
Put granola in a bowl. Add a thing of flavored yogurt. Mix well. Have a banana to compliment it. YUM!

The Scramble
Crack a couple eggs in a bowl. Add a Splash of milk. Add a dash of garlic powder and parsley (flakes or fresh). Add a teaspoon of Country Dijon. Mix well. Cook and eat. YUM!

or

The Hash
Heat up some olive oil in a skillet. Drop in some frozen shredded potatoes. Maybe throw in one of them Morningstar patties. Mix as it cooks. Throw in the Scramble and mix it all together. YUM!

There ya go! No more "I don't know what to eat" excuse for missing the most important meal of the day. :)

[livius drusus]

Damn, that shit looks good! If only I could actually motivate to make breakfast on weekdays, but instead I inevitably sell myself out for a few more minutes of sleep.

Still, I find myself quite inspiring. Let me trot off and find that breakfast pizza recipe to add to the list of deliciousness. :eat:

[Adam]

You're far more motivated than I. My normal breakfast is as large a vessel as I can locate of a beverage containing caffeine and whatever the cafeteria at work has left by the time I haul my ass in in the morning. On the weekends, I love cereal, and not the sugary kind, either, bitches. Something with flakes and assorted bits of random fruits and so forth in it...mmm...assorted bits of random fruits.

Hey, liv, we need a "Homer Simpson drooling" smiley?

*goes to look*

Hot damn! There *is* such a smiley! Whoo-hoo! :homer:

[Petra]

Hey, liv, we need a "Homer Simpson drooling" smiley?


Adam, did you really think liv would neglect to provide us with a Homer drooling smilie? I mean, really.
:cuckoo:


Anyway, those breakies look very yum. I'm not much of a breakfast eater, but sometimes I just go wild. :yawn:

Fresh fruit chopped into a bowl - papaya, melons, pineapple, oranges, banana, kiwifruit and berries. Mm-mmmmm.

And in the winter I love porridge. I cook the rolled oats in a saucepan with skim milk, and once it's all turned into a soft and scrummy goo, I add banana, lecithin and a little wheatgerm. The only problem with eating a breakfast like that on a cold day, is that it makes me feel so warm and cosy that I have to go back to bed again. Delicious!

I don't go much for cereals, and definitely not the sugary ones, but I do like the crunchy fruity nutty ones - toasted mueslis and the like. Add a pottle of homemade acidopholopolocaphalus yoghurt and I'm smiling. :yup:

Eggs are good, too. Fried, poached, boiled, scrambled, any way you like 'em - as long as the yolk is runny, I'm your chummy. Heh. :pleased:

Toast is only acceptable if it's made with Vogels bread, which is a brand of wholemeal breads that have become a NZ institution. I cannot stand most white breads, though I like the Italian breads like ciabatta, foccacia (?sp) etc.

And sometimes just a smoothie is what I want. And with a smoothie, almost anything goes. Sometimes it's more of a lassi (orange juice and yoghurt) with a banana thrown in, sometimes it's milk and fruit (usually a banana), sometimes it's fruit and fruit juice. Quick, easy, yum-yum-yummy.
:cloud9:


And then there's the coffee. Or tea. Sometimes I want one, sometimes I want the other. Ahhh, I'm feeling quite satiated now. Where's my slippers? :coffeepaper:

[livius drusus]

You're far more motivated than I. My normal breakfast is as large a vessel as I can locate of a beverage containing caffeine and whatever the cafeteria at work has left by the time I haul my ass in in the morning.

Replace the coffee with water (preferably the S. Pellegrino I bring in daily as a treat) and that's pretty much my procedure too.

On the weekends, I love cereal, and not the sugary kind, either, bitches. Something with flakes and assorted bits of random fruits and so forth in it...mmm...assorted bits of random fruits.

Have you explored the wide world of dried fruits yet? You can get the Sunmaid kind everywhere and let me tell you, some of them are pass out delicious. Peach and mango are my faves; they make a fine addition to whatever your flake of choice is.

Speaking of, try Amaranth flakes sometime if you come across them. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Hey, liv, we need a "Homer Simpson drooling" smiley?

*goes to look*

Hot damn! There *is* such a smiley! Whoo-hoo! :homer:

Of course there is! What do you take me for? (Don't answer that.) Did you see Scotty's kickass Homer drooling avatar?
http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/images/freethought/avatars/homerdrool.gif

How money is that?

[Lauri D]

Mmmmm.... breakfast!!!!

I very rarely cook breakfast during the weekday and will instead grab a bagel or something from the cafe here at work, but my favorite thing to make when I'm in a leisurely mood on the weekend is...

Breakfast Burrito

2 eggs scrambled with shredded cheddar & jalapeno jack added at the very end of scrambling
2 pieces of turkey bacon, crumbled, OR cut-up sausage patties (fake or real)
diced tomatoes and onions
sliced black olives

assemble in warm flour tortilla. Serve with salsa fresca, sour cream and sliced jalapenos on the side.

YUM!!! :D

[viscousmemories]

That sounds delicious, Lauri. :)

Y'know before I worked as a prep cook in a Mexican restaurant (in my early 20's) I had never thought about what Mexican people might eat for breakfast, limited as I was to my understanding of Mexican food ala Taco Bell. :D

I loved the Mexican breakfasts we made there. I've never had Huevos Rancheros anywhere else, but we made it something like this:

/me tries to think back 15 years...

Dab some black beans on the plate, add a corn tortilla. Spoon more black beans on. Rice? Add another corn tortilla. A fried egg. Cover with a tomato based sauce, peas and tiny ham chunks.

I think that was it... :?

Does that sound like Huevos Rancheros anyone else has had?

[livius drusus]

I'd have to leave out the olives from your Breakfast Burrito, Lauri, but otherwise it looks both yummy and easy peasy. :taco: (Sorry. That's as close as I can get. :blush: )

[livius drusus]

Does that sound like Huevos Rancheros anyone else has had?

No, hell no. But it looks really good.

[viscousmemories]

No, hell no. But it looks really good.
I think shredded cheddar on top, too. Hmm... I wish that place hadn't gone under years ago, or that I had thought to copy the recipes. :doh:

[lisarea]

Dab some black beans on the plate, add a corn tortilla. Spoon more black beans on. Rice? Add another corn tortilla. A fried egg. Cover with a tomato based sauce, peas and tiny ham chunks.

I think that was it... :?

Does that sound like Huevos Rancheros anyone else has had?

Not me. Never seen the ham and peas, although there should be pork in the chili.

This is what I think huevos is:

Corn tortilla. Refritos. Fried eggs. Green chili. Cheddar cheese.

Arroz on the side, mebbe.

I used to make breakfast burritos like so:

Chorizo, eggs, and potato, pan fried. Roll up in a flour tortilla with lots of grated cheddar. Smother in green chili, then dump an assload of Tapatio on it while you're eating. You can also add sour cream, lettuce, tomato, and onion to the smothering if'n you like.

[lisarea]

I'm putting this in a separate post because it's a discrete topic, and because I am an asshole, but I have totally been waiting for the temp to go down for about a week so I can make granola. It's pretty cool today, so I'm going to go to the store and get the rest of the crap I need and do it today, and I'll let you know. But it's roughly like so:

Toast rolled oats in a baking pan until it's kind of crunchy. Take it out, add coconut, wheat germ, and various optionals such as:

Diced dates
Raisins
Sesame seeds
Sunflower seeds
Other dried fruits
Other nuts or whatever

Combine, then drizzle the top with stuff like:

Honey
Molasses
A teensy bit of oil, and even powdered milk if you want
Warm breakfast spices, like cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, etc., or whatever

Add enough water to make it drizzleable, of course, then put it over the top and mix it in enough to coat, but not so much that it smashes everything up. Then, put it back in the oven, stirring frequently until it's toasted and crispy.

Eat it either plain or with yogurt, but not with milk, because I hate it when people slobber milk around on their faces.

[livius drusus]

You so get my vote for that one, lisarea. Outstanding recipe, particularly since pre-packaged granola is ridiculously expensive. :yes:

[viscousmemories]

You so get my vote for that one, lisarea. Outstanding recipe, particularly since pre-packaged granola is ridiculously expensive. :yes:
Hear, hear!
(Yeah, he looks mad but he's not. We're looking for happier sign holding smilies now :D )

[RevDahlia]

If you don't feel like motivating to produce a big ol' involved breakfast (and the accompanying dirty dishes) in the morning, you can do like I do and make a frittata the night before. They are the yum. They keep really well in the fridge, too, so you can eat on them for a few days; you can make them with anything handy and they're great either cold or warmed up.

Frittata with whatever

Mandatory:
Eggs (depending on the size of your pan, 6 or 8 or so)
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan (NOT the travesty in the green can)
2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped not too fine
Olive oil, a few tbsp
Handful chopped fresh herb(s), like scallions, chives, parsley, basil
Salt, pepper, hot pepper flakes
Potatoes which you have not bothered to peel, sliced thinly

And one or more of the following:

Bell peppers (red or green)
Spinach
Mushrooms
Tomatoes, seeded and sliced
Zucchini
Other soft vegetal matter (not carrots or beets, but pretty much anything goes otherwise)

Additional cheese to put on top -- either more Parmesan or else Gruyere, Provolone, Cheddar

In an ovenproof skillet, preferably cast iron, heat olive oil on medium-high. Put in the potatoes and cook, without stirring too much, until they're beginning to be tender. Add the veggies (but not the garlic yet) and cook, stirring gently so as not to render the taters mushy, until they are limp. Add the garlic and cook and stir for one minute more.

Break eggs into a large bowl and mix them up with the Parmesan, salt, pepper and herbs. Dump eggs into pan right on top of veggies and stir to distribute evenly. Reduce heat to medium and cook without stirring until bottom and sides are set. Sprinkle extra cheese on top.

Turn on the broiler. Place oven rack quite high and put in the pan. Frittata will require watching, but it's done when it's only slightly shivery and the top is firm. Remove pan from oven and let it sit for ten minutes or so (eggs will continue cooking.)

There you go.

[RevDahlia]

Oh, and I forgot my favorite gross breakfast! I cribbed the name from MFK Fisher.

Eggs in Hell

Butter a ramekin or custard cup, or any similar earthenware oven-safe smallish vessel. Into it put about 3/4c prepared salsa. Make dents in the salsa and dump an egg into each dent. Sprinkle with cheese. Run under broiler for a few minutes. Eat with toast. Do not allow anyone to see you. Yum!

[livius drusus]

Mmm... frittatina... That was a staple of my childhood, but not just for breakfast. It makes a fine sammich too, particularly on a rosetta (http://www.milioni.com/pane/img/3.jpg).

I don't get the potatoes though, Rev. For your sake I won't reject them outright, but they send my Italian spidey-sense to tingling.

[RevDahlia]

Mmm... frittatina... That was a staple of my childhood, but not just for breakfast. It makes a fine sammich too, particularly on a rosetta (http://www.milioni.com/pane/img/3.jpg).

I don't get the potatoes though, Rev. For your sake I won't reject them outright, but they send my Italian spidey-sense to tingling.
Oh, I never claim my version is at all authentic. I play fast and loose. The potatoes add rib-stickinness, so I always include them, but they can certainly be omitted.

Come to think of it, I'm probably conflating a real frittata with a Scandinavian egg-potato thing that my mom used to make when we were little. Oh well, both are good.

[lisarea]

Hooray for frittata! I want to do that right now, but I just got back from the store. Twice, because I forgot some stuff. So probably later.

Anyway, I just made a batch of granola, and the ODB, who has...wait for it...

NEVER HAD GRANOLA BEFORE likes it pretty good. He says it's kind of like my oatmeal cookies, but loose. Which reminds me that oatmeal cookies are good for breakfast sometimes, too. I make them with nuts and mole-asses and wheat germ and stuff, and I tend not to sweeten things much, so it's probably not as terrible as it sounds.

This is how to make those:

You know the recipe on the Quaker oatmeal lids? Take that, except substitute some of the oatmeal with wheat germ, and use just the brown sugar (not the white), and add some mole-asses, depending on how sweet you like it, correcting the consistency with extra flour. Plus: add ginger, allspice, and maybe cloves. If you can get black pepper almost to a powder consistency, that's good, too, but do NOT use big chunks. Then, add chopped walnuts or pecans along with the raisins.

I am also thinking of seeing if I can make this with bulgur. I used to make an OK bulgur bread, and bulgur is practically free at the middle eastern market nearby.

[Adam]

Replace the coffee with water (preferably the S. Pellegrino I bring in daily as a treat) and that's pretty much my procedure too.

Oh, I should have been more specific...I'm more of a tea or soda guy, depending on the mood I'm in. Coffee isnasty...unless, of course, it's been so heavily flavored and sugared that it no longer tastes like anything remotely resembling coffee.

Have you explored the wide world of dried fruits yet? You can get the Sunmaid kind everywhere and let me tell you, some of them are pass out delicious. Peach and mango are my faves; they make a fine addition to whatever your flake of choice is.

Why, I have...it's sort of like an addiction...you start from raisins as a kid and move on from there. Damned gateway fruits...

Speaking of, try Amaranth flakes sometime if you come across them. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Roger that. I'll keep an eye out for them. Thansk!

[Adora]

:eek:

You make my breakfasts look incredibly boring... I simply don't have the energy in the morning to do stuff like that. If I was going to eat anything with fetta (and oil) in it in the morning, it would end up as a brunch, and someone else would make it for me (mmmm Sheraton breakfasts).

[Dingfod]

If I have time to fix breakfast at home (usually on a day off), I like 2 or 3 eggs over-easy, fried on low heat with real butter with sausage links or bacon. That's it. MmmmMm!

If I am at work, I hit the cafeteria for a scoop or two of scrambled eggs and some bacon. Not quite as MmmmMm.

I also have been known to eat leftover steak or chicken for breakfast.


Warren

P.S. They not only didn't make Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries when I was little, they didn't even make Cap'n Crunch, at least that I knew of. I ate a lot of oatmeal, Malt-O-Meal and corn flakes (blech!) as a child. One of my faves back then was leftover white rice with sugar and milk.

[Lauri D]

One of my faves back then was leftover white rice with sugar and milk. Yum! Like rice pudding but without the puddinginess <---- new word Sounds good to me.

[Adora]

If I have time to fix breakfast at home (usually on a day off), I like 2 or 3 eggs over-easy, fried on low heat with real butter with sausage links or bacon. That's it. MmmmMm!

If I am at work, I hit the cafeteria for a scoop or two of scrambled eggs and some bacon. Not quite as MmmmMm.

I also have been known to eat leftover steak or chicken for breakfast.
Warren

So you (almost) always have some sort of eggs or meat, I take it?

Sorry, this is just a weird Aussie girl who's almost always eaten cereal, toast, fruit or something similar for breakfast, except on the occasional weekend, or special occasions.

[Dingfod]

So you (almost) always have some sort of eggs or meat, I take it?

Sorry, this is just a weird Aussie girl who's almost always eaten cereal, toast, fruit or something similar for breakfast, except on the occasional weekend, or special occasions.Ever since 1997 when I first went low carb for health reasons. If I eat an adequate, yet completely carb-free breakfast of approximately 400-500 kilocalories, I can easily go from 6:30 AM to about 2:00 PM, many times even later without feeling hungry at all. I've been known to eat nothing between breakfast and dinner. I often eat a salad at lunch even though I am not hungry at all.

If I eat the typical Special-K breakfast of a bowl of cereal with fruit, orange juice and a slice of lightly buttered toast, I'm hungry enough to eat a horse by 10AM. Even worse, pancakes and waffles with syrup. I know these things from a lifetime of eating these things for breakfast. I found I performed better if I didn't eat breakfast at all than if I ate those high carb foods.

Since this thread is about breakfast foods, I'm going to limit my comments to just what I've already said.


Warren

[Adora]

Ohhh, okay. Low-carb n stuff. I understand now.

[Kare]

Damn. You guys have way more energy than I do. Pepsi and a cigarette as I'm heading out the door is my usual breakfast. It allows me to sleep as long as possible. Sleep.... :homer:

[Shelli]

I just had :pancake:s for breakfast. :pancakeglomp:

I'm trying to get back into my routine of high fiber yet palatable cold cereal with sliced fruit and soy :milk: on weekday mornings. :eating:

[livius drusus]

Do you have a slow cooker, Shelli? You can have nice warm oatmeal ready to go for breakfast when you toss it in a slow cooker the night before. You just have to use steel-cut oats instead of the rolled oats.

Also, here's an easy and delicious whole grain and fruit breakfast recipe. Takes no more than 5 minutes to make and it's quite nummy.

Oat bran and Banana Breakfast

1/2 banana, chopped
1/3 cup oat bran
1 dash salt
3/4 cup water
a drizzle of honey (optional)

Combine chopped banana, oat bran, salt, water in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring after each minute. If using honey, stir it in after cooking.

[ceptimus]

You could try Nutella in place of the honey.

[Shelli]

Yes, I do have a slow cooker, liv, in the attic. :blush2: Your recipe sounds so yummy that I might just take it out of storage though. :hungry:

[livius drusus]

Oh, that recipe doesn't need the slow cooker. You just use the microwave to make that.

For slow cooker oatmeal, just toss together 1 cup steel cut oats, 4 cups of water, any dried fruit you like (I'm partial to blueberries and peaches myself), and 1/2 cup of milk or half-and-half. Cook it on low overnight (8 hours or so), give it a good stir in the morning and chow down.

[Shelli]

:yum:

[Kyuss Apollo]

I wish Dingfod would come back and be more explicit about what it is exactly he eats for breakfast that is so efficient, effective, and healthy.

:wish:

[Shelli]

Kashi Good Friends cereal with fresh :strawberry: and soy :milk:. :eating:

[inland wave]

I wish Dingfod would come back and be more explicit about what it is exactly he eats for breakfast that is so efficient, effective, and healthy.

:wish:


:yeahthat:

[Dingfod]

A couple or three eggs, any style, with bacon or sausage and I'm good from 7:00 AM to 1-2:00 PM easy.

[freemonkey]

I've been making oatmeal in my rice cooker lately. For the two of us, I use about 1 cup thick cut rolled oats, a handful of oat bran, 1 cup skim milk, 1+ cup water and let it cook for 30 minutes or so. So creamy and warm and filling. I like mine topped with cinnamon, brown sugar and almond milk.

My rice cooker has a porridge setting, I don't know if this will work with a cooker that has only one setting.

[hecaterin]

On normal days, I go for porridge with milk in winter, and some sort of high fibre yet interesting cereal with yoghurt in summer. And fruit, fresh by preference. I have toast or crumpets a couple of times a week as an alternative to cereal.

On weekends I may make muffins, or a cooked breakfast involving eggs. This was my special Xmas day scrambled eggs (http://thecanberracook.blogspot.com/2007/12/xmas-breakfast-eggs.html).

[viscousmemories]

I've been making oatmeal in my rice cooker lately.
Great idea. I like oatmeal but never make it because it requires so much attention.

[Dingfod]

Instant oatmeal doesn't require anything but hot water, a bowl and a spoon. I suppose in a pinch you could just pour the hot water into the oatmeal packet, squish it around and squeeze the hot gooey splooge into your salivating, eagerly waiting mouth.

[Ermintrude]

The great thing about muesli is that the same packet can be cereal or porridge depending whether you want to heat it up or not.

[freemonkey]

I've been making oatmeal in my rice cooker lately.
Great idea. I like oatmeal but never make it because it requires so much attention.

My rice cooker has a porridge setting, but I have no idea if it is any different than any other setting as far as the temperature, etc. You may have to experiment.

Instant oatmeal doesn't require anything but hot water, a bowl and a spoon.

I've been making homemade instant oatmeal for hubby to take to work. Its a lot cheaper and probably healthier.

Here's one recipe, but they are all basically the same:

Homemade Instant Oatmeal
(Makes 8 Packets)
3 Cups Quick Cooking Oatmeal
Salt
Dried fruit, sugar, cinnamon, etc.

1. Put 1 cup oatmeal in the blender or food processor and blend to a powder (you may want to do this 1/2 C at a time).
2. In each of 8 zipper style baggies 1/4 cup un-powdered oats, 2 tablespoons powdered oats, and 1/8 teaspoons salt. Add fruit, sugar, spices, etc.
3. To use: Empty packet into a bowl. Add 3/4 cup boiling water. Stir and let stand for 2 minutes. For thicker oatmeal, use less water – for thinner oatmeal, use more water.

He says its really good.

[Shelli]

Insta I suppose in a pinch you could just pour the hot water into the oatmeal packet, squish it around and squeeze the hot gooey splooge into your salivating, eagerly waiting mouth.:lol: That's so nasty and funny at the same time. :eww:

[Shelli]

Chocolate :donut: & vanilla maple tea with cinnamon & honey. :tea:

[Doohickie]

Sonic bacon breakfast burrito as a treat, but usually oatmeal, or eggs & sausage at home.