can't stop thinking about breakfast

For some unknown reason, breakfast has been on my mind a lot lately. In general, I'm not really even a big breakfast fan. That is---I alwasy eat it; I just don't get excited about it. Lunch, dinner, even afternoon snacks, excite me. Breakfast not so much. That wasn't always the case, however. When I think of what I loved about breakfast in the past, my mind goes immediately to extra-crispy hash browns and Eggs Florentine, then skates on to chile verde omelets and shrimp and jalapeno burritos. At one time not so very long ago, anything drowned in hollandaise would quickly catch my eye and my imagination. Mmm, thinking large grilled shrimp, resting on a bed of hollandaise, edged by crispy hash browns and softly poached eggs.

Okay, back to reality, Pamela. Most of that no longer works for me, though the best parts still do. And one of these days, I swear, I'm going to figure out a way to enjoy the hollandaise experience dairy-free. Mayonnaise, even beautifully creamy homemade mayo, just doesn't do it for me.

Still, this is an ode to breakfast present, not a lament of breakfast past. And while I love a breakfast of meat and veggies, eggs are what I've focused on as of late. Eggs cooked lots and lots of different ways. Steak and eggs, poached eggs, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, omelets, shrimp and eggs---seems to be no end of possibilities.


grass-fed beef strips, kale and beet greens make a bed for eggs to gently poach

One of my favorite things to do is to start by sauteeing whatever veggies look tempting (often meaning cleaned and ready to use) in the fridge. Often that means mushrooms, scallions or onions, broccoli, asparagus, or leafy greens. I love them all. I may or may not add meat. When all is near done, I drop an egg or two or three on top, then cover it all with a lid, letting the eggs gently poach on the veggies until softly cooked. This can be varied in so many ways; you could follow almost the same steps each day for a year and never repeat---unless, of course, you want to. Without the eggs, even, it's still a great breakfast. I could eat a version of this everyday.



soy-free egg "poached" on a bed of beef and spinach with raw sauerkraut

As I've mentioned often, we go to great lengths to get soy-free eggs. I recommend them wholeheartedly. And while we're talking tasty and healthy, a little raw sauerkraut on the side makes almost any breakfast better. Trust me on that one and give it a try.

day 1, round 2

Somehow this seems so much easier this time. I weighed myself this morning for the last time this month. Interestingly, to me at any rate, my weight is precisely two pounds less than when I completed my first Whole30 in early November 2011. I meant to do measurements, but I am simply not that organized.

The food has really been easy. Inspired by Carrie, Ginger Lemon Girl, who has posted about pantry meals for a few days, I decided to eat as much from what we already have in our kitchen as possible, even as I'm starting this Whole30. I'm a bit of a pack rat where food is concerned, and we pretty much eat this way routinely, so it's not as big a stretch as one might think. GK is not doing the Whole30 with me, but he has been making gradual changes for some time now that are bringing our eating styles closer together. That is darned near miraculous in my book. It sure makes meals easier, since I do almost all the cooking.

My breakfast, today, was a small top sirloin steak from the freezer. This time I remembered to thaw it first. That is not a given. I browned it in a pan as I got ready for work this morning, seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. After the steak was out of the pan, I threw in a couple of thickly sliced mushrooms. When it cooled, I cut the steak into strips and took it and the mushrooms to work with me along with a cup or so of sauteed Napa cabbage. I am a notorious breakfast-at-my-desk person. It helps me ease into the day.

For lunch, I filled my trusty warming Crock Pot with leftover beef stew from a few days ago. This was possible since I rarely eat anything non-compliant, anyway. Note, I did not say never. For me the Whole30 is not a major change; it's a tightening of the reigns. That is, of course, where food is concerned. Wine is a different issue. I enjoy our wine ritual, but I'm fine without it. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Dinner tonight was simple, mostly because I was pooped after a frustrating work day. GK had the rest of the chocolate chili with an egg, avocado, grape tomatoes, and scallions. I had three scrambled eggs, a bit of avocado, and a few bites of the chili. I couldn't resist. I'm hoping I can handle just a bit.

I'm comfortably collapsed on my bed right now, and as soon as I can drag myself away from my trusty MacBook, my plan is to pick out a few new recipes to try from Well Fed.

foods from my childhood

I've loved cooking and preparing food all my conscious life, as I know I've mentioned often.

Some, many really, of the foods I ate as a child will never be in my kitchen again. Some by choice, some by necessity, some simply don't seem like food anymore. But so many are still part of everything I enjoy about cooking and serving good food. I love to cook for friends and family, the notorious tapioca incident aside; it feels like a really intimate, loving act. Mostly these days, I'm cooking for one or two, plus Coco, of course. We still have dinner parties, guests for wine and munchies, and big holiday dinners, but the day-in, day-out kitchen activity is on a very small scale. Even so, sometimes the sight or smell, even the thought, of a specific food from my childhood takes me on a daydreaming journey and transforms our meals.

This morning was one of those times. My plan was to make a quick breakfast while GK took Coco for her morning walk. I was thinking simple scrambled eggs with avocado on the side for me and hash brown-like potatoes for him. While pulling eggs from the refrigerator, I noticed the avocados from last week's farm delivery had ripened and decided to use one of them instead of those in the fridge. So far, nothing exciting, but as I picked up the avocado, a fuerte, I was swept back to my childhood. My mom never used California's Hass avocados. I think she thought they were ugly or something. If we had avocados in the house, they were big, beautiful, smooth-skinned, green fuertes. And they always and only went into salad. In our house salad only meant one thing: iceberg lettuce, diced tomato, minced onion, olive oil, salt, dried mint, and avocado on very rare occasions. That was the only salad I knew of, other than tabbouleh, which was for special occasions only. I don't remember when I found out about salad dressings. I do remember they seemed foreign and I was smitten with them.

Still, I digress. As I thought of the only avocados I knew and the only salad I knew, my mind naturally (for me anyway) ended up with the only omelet I knew. At our house, the word omelet meant only one thing. Always. Eggs and milk, beaten with a fork and seasoned with salt, a tiny bit of pepper, and dried mint. We always had mint, lots of mint, growing in the yard. My mother would dry a big batch every couple of years and run it through her Foley food mill. There was never a time that we were without dried mint, a habit that I took into adulthood with me.

So the scrambled egg plan gave way to omelets. Not the omelets of my childhood, but mushroom and avocado for GK and shrimp and mushroom for me. We had exactly 3 shrimp (from US Wellness Meats) leftover from last night's visit with Erika and Kristen. It felt silly saving them, but I was not about to throw them away. Three was a perfect number. After I chopped them into large chunks, every bite had a taste of the garlicky shrimp. And right next to my omelet sat one half of a large fuerte avocado, a reminder of childhood. Though in my childhood, half an avocado would have made a salad for six. No way would it ever have been a side dish for one person's breakfast.

breakfast for dinner

Truth be known, I'm not really a great breakfast food fan. I enjoy well-cooked eggs, preferably poached and soft, an unusual omelet, perfectly cooked crispy hash browns, even home style potatoes sauteed with onions and peppers, but I can't really get excited about them. And cereals are something else again; they will never excite or attract me short of an alien invasion or alternate universe sort of experience. Still, GK is a breakfast nut. I mean REALLY a breakfast nut. So I do breakfasts. I do breakfasts pretty well.

Weekend mornings and some weekdays, as well, I make serious breakfasts. Once a week at least, I make a large pot of organic oatmeal with raisins for him. He eats it for days while I'm at work. But, other than the joy of making food someone else enjoys, it doesn't do much for me. I've tried gluten-free oats and they taste great. They just don't get along too well with my body.

But I digress. Today, I was inspired by Carrie Forbes, gingerlemongirl.com, she seems to love breakfasts. So tonight we had breakfast for dinner.

Even with inspiration, I'm still not a cereal fan, so our "breakfast" was the eggs and potatoes variety. I started with organically grown potatoes from http://www.abundantharvestorganics.com/index.html, our local produce coop. After peeling and dicing them, I browned them in olive oil in a cast iron pan, adding red onion and green pepper, all from abundant harvest organics.

When it comes to eggs, we always go with organically raised eggs. It's going into your body. Don't count pennies here.

My eggs tonight were over easy, his were more playful. He can eat dairy, and I love to cook with it occasionally at least, so his was an omelet with mushrooms, shallots, and havarti cheese. It looked pretty good if I do say so myself.

 So what's the difference in breakfast and breakfast for dinner, not much. Well, maybe the choice of beverage.