Breakfast at Home

Can you tell I like pepper?

Growing up, I was used to having a typical middle eastern breakfast: cheese, vegetables, and pita bread. As I got older, I tired of this breakfast, hating when my mom or dad would serve it to me. I wanted anything but this boring old cheese and bread combo. But now, I love it. Living so far away from home, I miss this simple breakfast of my childhood and I'm always happy to come home and eat it. So this morning I did just that. Armenian string cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, and onions. I make mini sandwiches of it with my whole wheat pita bread and it is de-lish. Top it off with a cup or five of coffee, and this is one of my favorite breakfasts.

Airport Breakfast

Now I know this isn't everyone's typical breakfast, but the salad bar in the food court looked so good! I usually eat the most disgustingly unhealthy foods when I travel, but today I chose some lighter fare. I'm flying from Syracuse to LA for my Thanksgiving break, and my first flight was at 6 am. That means I've been up since 4. Considering it's almost 9, it feels like lunch time to me. So I guess a salad works. I had some mixed greens, carrots, cucumbers, chickpeas, chicken, olives, onions, croutons, and parmesan cheese. It was delish.

TPB (The Perfect Breakfast)

Recently, I read a study saying that eating a protein rich breakfast is the way to go—it staves off food cravings and prevents overeating later.

Well, a typical breakfast for me usually consists of some cinnamon raisin toast with peanut butter and as much coffee as I can consume before I have to leave my house.

This difference got me thinking: Is there a magic formula for breakfast? Do eggs + toast + coffee = TPB (The Perfect Breakfast)? And, I wondered, is there a perfect time to eat it? [You have to set the stage for the part about timing, below.]

“Breakfast isn’t a prescription,” says Dr. Robert Post, the Deputy Director for the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion at the USDA. His department is responsible for the new food plate that replaced the food pyramid this past summer.

Dr. Post describes creating the ideal breakfast and all ensuing meals as completing a puzzle. Consuming 2,000 calories a day, a benchmark for the average person set by the FDA, means a day’s puzzle consists of six ounces of grains, two and half cups of vegetables, two cups of fruit, three cups of dairy, and five and a half ounces of protein.

Transition needed: Breakfast is the first piece of the day’s puzzle. Regardless of  whether you eat fried eggs or granola, you subtract its calorie count from the day’s total. I subtract my one ounce of grain (a slice of whole-wheat cinnamon raisin toast) and 1.5 ounces of protein (one and a half tablespoons of peanut butter) from my daily allotment and I know that I have begun to put the pieces of my puzzle in place.

 “In actuality, breakfast is about one quarter of the daily meal pattern,” says Alice Lockett, a senior nutritionist at FNS Supplemental Nutrition Association Program. “But we don’t necessarily look at one meal and say what’s best and what’s not best.”

As far as how long someone should wait after waking up to eat, Dr. Post says this is a matter of personal preference and sometimes cultural preference, although nutritionists would suggest you don’t skip breakfast because it sets you up for the rest of the day.

“It depends on how much you ate for your last meal of the day before,” says Lockett. The more you ate and the later you ate it, the less hungry you will be in the morning and the longer you will wait to eat, she says. 

Lockett acknowledges that it’s not always possible to take the time to make a complicated, healthy breakfast every morning. When she was in college, her staple was a slice of whole grain toast topped with some peanut butter, paired with a banana and a glass of juice. (My, how times haven’t changed.)

Both Post and Lockett emphasize the importance of adhering to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. “Health is by choice, “Lockett says. “It’s the choice that is based on the decisions of the types of foods we include in our meals. It is not by chance.”

Seems like TPB does not exist.

So what about you? Do you make the breakfast choices that lead to a healthy diet? Tell me about it in the comments section!

Carrot Cake Jam

I just stumbled on this recipe from Nutmeg Nanny and I just need it. Carrot cake jam on some toast with cream cheese? Sounds like the perfect breakfast to me.

In America, breakfast differs by region. Do you really think that people in Miami are eating the sam thing for breakfast as the folks in New Jersey? If you do, you are wrong, my friend.
Here's just a few of the different breakfasts people all over the country eat to start their day.
1. Miami: The typical breakfast in Miami is the Cuban breakfast. Although it seems to differ depending on who you ask, most people would agree that a Cuban breakfast consists of eggs, some type of potatoes, Cuban bread with butter, and Cuban coffee.

2. New Jersey: When I came to school at Syracuse, all my new friends from Jersey couldn't stop mentioning Taylor Ham. I had no idea what it was until I asked one to explain. Turns out, Taylor Ham is short for John Taylor's Original Taylor Pork Roll. Basically, it's like sliced Canadian bacon. If you go into a deli in Jersey, be sure to order the Jersey Breakfast--Taylor ham, egg, and American cheese on either a roll or a bagel. Or you can make one yourself.

3. Los Angeles: Being a native Angeleno, I think it's safe for me to say the breakfast for this area is the breakfast burrito. With the strong Hispanic influence, it's not hard to find a taco stand or a Mexican restaurant around the corner from wherever you are. Toppings can run the gamut from eggs, bacon, and cheese to eggs, steak, cheese, potatoes, pico de gallo, guacoamole and sour cream. No matter where you get it, they're huge and the best way to eat them is with as much tapatio as you can handle. My favorite is from Lucky Boy, a hamburger and taco stand in Pasadena.

Three locations do not even begin to cover the regional differences in breakfasts from around the United States. If you want to know more about regional breakfasts, Parade Magazine has a great article on some. And you have time, here's a Texan breakfast recipe that sounds amazing!
So what's a typical breakfast dish for your region? I'd love to hear about it!

Oatmeal with Bacon

I'm a huge fan of oatmeal. It's a great go-to breakfast, especially on cold days (like today) when you don't have a lot of time. Instant oats are just dandy! However, my roommate and fellow blogger Brittany from Oats Magotes tells me that making the non-instant variety, either rolled or steel cut, is much better for you.
Well, Britt, I don't always have the time. But if I did, I think that these would be the first kind I would try...

Here's a recipe from 80 Breakfasts called Steel Cut Oats with Muscovado Glazed Bacon. Sounds de-lish.

Steel Cut Oats with Muscovado Glazed Bacon (from 80 Breakfasts)

• 1/2 cup steel cut oats
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups water
• 4 strips of bacon
• 1-2 tablespoons dark muscovado sugar
• Freshly cracked black pepper

- Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil in a sauce pan.
- Once it boils add the steel cut oats, give it a stir, and then cover. Cook stirring frequently to make sure it doesn’t stick until cooked to your liking. Some like it chewier than others. Add more water if it starts looking too dry.
- While the oatmeal is cooking lay the bacon strips flat on a plate. Sprinkle muscovado sugar on one side. You can be very flexible here, adding as much or as little sugar as you want. My bacon isn’t totally coated, but I wouldn’t say the sugar is sparse either. I like a good, even, generous sprinkling. Now, crack some black pepper over the sugar. Repeat with the other side.
- Rub or spray a non-stick skillet with a scant amount of oil and heat over high heat. When the pan is hot lay bacon strips on it and bring heat a touch down to medium. Cook until sugar is nice and caramelized and coating the bacon in a totally alluring way -- but not too crisp! The sugar will harden as the bacon cools so you don’t want to overdo it.
- Remove the bacon from the pan and transfer to a wooden chopping board. Let it cool for a bit (just a minute or two). It will stiffen and transform into a heavenly sort of bacon candy – you could eat it as is now and your life would never be the same again…but wait, there’s oatmeal!
- Chop the bacon into bite-size pieces. Divide your hot oatmeal in two bowls. Top with bacon. Enjoy!
Thanks for the recipe, I can't wait to try it!

Happy 50th, Breakfast at Tiffany's!

Here's to you, Holly Golightly

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Breakfast at Tiffany's. Now I know that it doesn't really have much to do with breakfast per se, but it's one of my favorite movies of all time. And the opening scene is her walking around drinking coffee and eating a pastry, window shopping at Tiffany's. In New York City. In a black evening gown from the night before. Looking superb. Needless to say, if I can one day do that, I will be a happy woman. Here's one of my favorite songs from the movie, sung by Audrey Hepburn herself.

To Cook List

Jack-o-Pumpkin breakfast sandwich? I neeeeeed to make this asap. Vegan things don't usually appeal to me (I'm all about real bacon in my breakfast sandwiches), but I think I can settle for this. And hey, I love anything with pumpkin in it for fall!

Break your fast!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? That’s what my mom always told me, but who knows if she’s right. She’s been wrong before…

Well it looks like in this case, mother does know best. A study in the April 2010 issue of the International Journal of Obesity, which was based on a survey taken in Taiwan, found that the odds of developing obesity for those who skip breakfast were 95%! According to the survey, “the prevalence rate of obesity decreased as the frequency of breakfast consumption increased.”

breakfast... the most important meal of the day.

When you sleep, your body goes into a hibernation mode, and you stop burning as many calories as when you’re awake. Upon waking, if you don’t eat breakfast, your body will continue to burn a fewer amount of calories because you are still fasting. Get it? That’s why they call it break FAST! You are actually breaking your overnight fast. Without doing this, your body will burn fewer calories throughout the day.

Skipping calories will help me lose weight, you say. Not so. Chances are that if you decide to skip those calories in the morning, you’ll end up consuming them later on. By midmorning you’re famished, which leads you to the easiest thing you can find—junk food from the vending machine. Once you’ve made one bad choice, it’s easier to order the pizza instead of the salad for lunch, and the burger instead of the fish for dinner. Eating breakfast is also associated with an increase in energy and concentration levels.

Try something healthy for breakfast, like oatmeal.

But just any breakfast won’t do. You can eat bacon, eggs, hash browns and toast some mornings, or go for my favorite, the breakfast burrito, but that just won’t cut it on a daily basis. The amount of calories you should eat in a day varies by person, but roughly 20-25% of those should come from breakfast. Try eating a healthy meal to reap all the benefits of jump-starting your day with breakfast. For example, whole grain toast with peanut butter and an apple on the side or instant oatmeal with a banana are two of my favorites. Another that I always grab if I’m on the go is a cheese stick with a handful of almonds.

breakfast burrito... yummmm!

If you need help calculating how many calories you should be eating daily, here’s a men's calorie calculator and a women's calorie calculator.

A healthy breakfast doesn’t mean you have to spend hours in the kitchen cooking, it just means you have to make a few changes. However, if you do have the time to make a big, healthy breakfast, here are some great recipes from epicurious.com: http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/everydaycooking/family/backtoschoolquickeasyhealthybreakfast

What about you? Do you eat breakfast every morning? If so, what are some of your favorite healthy breakfasts?

Breakfast, how I love thee

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved breakfast. Some of my best memories surround breakfast. The huge display on Christmas morning; the egg hunt followed by the eating of the eggs on Easter morning; the pancakes on birthdays. The first meal I ever cooked was scrambled eggs, and nothing has slowed me down since. It's the best meal to cook because there are so many possibilities! And there's always something new to discover. I've created this blog to share with you my passion for all things breakfast. Enjoy!