So now I’m old. Well, not old, but older. And getting older, I’m finally able to reliably get up early in the morning. The screaming kids help, too.
For years, I’ve been starting the day with coffee and toast with cheese or other similarly typical and frugal morning fare. However, I now find myself desperately hungry around 10 o’clock or so. It is obvious I am going to need a better meal.
I’m a creative type, but I’m just out of ideas as far as breakfast goes. Here’s what I want:
A real “balanced breakfast”, a breakfast that’s a complete nutritious and healthy meal.
A breakfast that’s not too much of a pain to prepare. I love cooking, but, hey, it’s 6:30.
It needs to be a tasty breakfast, that goes without saying.
Something that goes well with coffee.
I’ll pre-emptively mention eggs. Eggs are great, and you can prepare them in a myriad of ways, but they’re a bit of an easy out, and I don’t feel like eating them every day.
If you aren’t as young as you used to be, fiber is your friend. So, oatmeal and similar hot cereals are good. For that matter, some of the cold cereals are good, too, things like shredded wheat and Cheerios and muesli, but not the frosted varieties. Fiber will fill you up and keep you full until lunch time, because your body digests it slowly.
There’s bagels and cream cheese, with or without lox, ham, or smoked turkey. Just put a LITTLE cream cheese on the bagel, because you don’t want it to overwhelm. Personally, I prefer ham, and I use the sliced lunchmeat sort. I don’t know how well peanut butter on toast goes with coffee, because I can’t drink coffee, but a lot of people love this. When my daughter wouldn’t eat anything else for breakfast as a gradeschooler, she’d eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with milk. There’s not quite so much fiber in these choices, but the protein will also be digested more slowly than simple carbs.
Hardboiled eggs keep well in the fridge, so you can boil some up one evening and have several days’ worth of breakfasts there. They’re also great as an after school/ after work snack.
Of course, there’s always last night’s pizza, either cold or warmed up. If it was good last night, it’s probably good in the morning.
Half an English muffin with nut butter and some fruit.
On days when I’m not too hungry or I’m in a hurry, I just grab an apple or banana and some almonds.
I sometimes have leftover soup for breakfast.
I also like making a burrito. I cut up a sausage and cook it in a pan, crack an egg into it and scramble it, then put the mixture in a whole wheat wrap with some salsa and jalapenos.
Another standby for me is Greek yogurt with a sliced up banana and a small drizzle of honey. I use full-fat yogurt to stay full. I could never do fat-free yogurt with fruit as I’ve heard some people do - I’d be starving an hour later.
I also like smoothies. Frozen strawberries and blueberries, with some pomegranate juice and half an avocado, blended in my Magic Bullet. The avocado really complements the fruit flavors well, and gives it a nice mouthfeel, while again providing fat to keep me full.
I also love smoothies, especially now that the weather is getting warmer. It’s quick, as it only takes a few minutes to assemble and blend, and depending on the recipe, it will have a nice balance of fiber, protein, and fat. My smoothies usually contain soy milk, yogurt, frozen fruit, bananas, and avocados.
Avocado mashed on toast is also quick and easy, though I have no idea if it goes well with coffee.
I’d go with oatmeal also, with some crumbled up bacon on top and some herbs. Maybe throw a fried egg on top once in awhile.
Breakfast burrito: scramble some eggs with cream cheese. Fry up some cut up bacon with chili spices. Add some cilantro, if you want. Roll up in a tortilla. Nomnomnom. (beaten to it, I see)