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Here's kind of a weird question that might be a fun discussion today: What do you eat for breakfast? What would you consider a “weird” breakfast?
This feels like it's come up in a number of ways lately, so let's discuss…
First, my husband loves soup for breakfast. Not bone broth… more like chili or split pea soup. I try to buy the lower sodium ones (or just dry bean mixes without a lot of preservatives). It's not necessarily my thing, but it makes sense to me. Warm, salty goodness. My mom thinks this is the craziest thing she's ever heard.
My youngest likes pasta for breakfast. Plain pasta with Parmesan. Shrug. Again, it's not my thing, but it's fine by me. (Weirdly enough, his mid-morning snack is often cereal with milk, which is much more of a “usual” breakfast.)
Like I mentioned in our post on morning routines, I eat hardly anything for breakfast, instead trying to drink 32 oz. of water before eating. Today I was a bit hungry, so I had four Triscuits and a string cheese (and THEN all my water), and that tided me over until 11:30 or so. (I actually just made some breakfast cookies for the kids to eat, also.)
One thing I do eat that's a bit strange (although it's usually lunch for me) is savory oats — so good! I think the readers turned me on to them. I make mine with steel-cut oats, add real bacon crumbles, Everything Bagel seasoning, umami seasoning, two eggs over easy, and a bit of shredded cheese — delicious. (The base with steel cut oats/bacon/spices freezes nicely also, so I often make four servings, portion them out, then defrost as needed and just add the eggs and cheese.)
Of course, if we're talking strange breakfasts, this is always something I think about when I'm reading my historical romance novels — kippers for breakfast! Ummmmmm… no thanks.
Readers, how about you — what do you eat for breakfast most days? What do family members and friends eat for breakfast that seems like a strange breakfast? What is a breakfast “treat” for you?
Fine, ancillary question — what are your favorite breakfast recipes? I'll share a few of mine below. We don't often do breakfast casseroles but when we do they're always a treat.
Oh, another treat — if we're ever out for breakfast or brunch and the restaurant has congee on the menu, I get that — love it. I've made it a few times at home (I think using this Kitchn recipe) but not recently — but it's always better at the restaurant when they have all the little add-ins that make it great.
Some of our favorite breakfast recipes:
- Sausage, Egg, and Biscuits Casserole — We use this recipe and adapt depending what we have on hand; we've used liquid egg whites, chicken sausage, Canadian bacon, frozen veggies like spinach or fresh like tomatoes and mushrooms… very easy. Recently we went to make this and realized we didn't have biscuits, so we used this tater tot casserole recipe instead.
- 2-Ingredient Banana Oaties — I just made these breakfast cookies today because we had some overripe bananas. I added 2 scoops of chocolate protein powder and, to each cookie, 2 butterscotch chips (I know, generous!). It got a thumbs up from my 9-year-old.
- Cake mix muffins — I just discovered a bunch of expired cake mixes in my pantry so I decided to make this old WW recipe. We took a box of Devil's Food cake mix and added 1 can of pumpkin puree and 3 scoops of vanilla protein powder. They were a hit! You can do this with spice cake, red velvet cake, whatever — add powdered peanut butter. (This recipe looks similar.)
- French Toast Casserole — This is one I'll make if we have guests. Tasty and good. I keep meaning to try Chrissy Teigen's yellow cake baked oatmeal.
Friday
My husband grew up eating chili (from a can) for breakfast and I find it quite odd. I also thought my mom was weird for not eating breakfast my whole life, yet for the last ten years my normal breakfast has been black coffee.
Seafinch
I always start with a shot of hot water and Leon juice. If I am in a peak training period, it is a protein smoothie with lots of fruit and spinach. If not, either eggs of all varieties of steel cut oats. In the summer I love an authentic Bircher Müesli (vastly superior to overnight oats!)
Nothing is weird!
Seafinch
* lemon juice!
Jeffiner
Years ago I was in a Wilderness First Aid course in Austin, taught by an ER doctor from the Northeast. Morning of class, doctor is demonstrating getting a patient history and she asked a student what the last thing he ate was. He replied a burrito, and the doctor thought it was odd. The whole class was flabbergasted that she had never heard of breakfast burritos.
I myself am not a fan of breakfast burritos. I prefer carbs in the morning, protein for breakfast leaves me feeling empty. I am all about cereal or oatmeal or muffins or bagels, and I enjoy a glass of milk with breakfast.
Anonymous
Ha, that’s amazing! I love a good breakfast burrito. I wake up hungry and like my breakfasts savory.
LaurenB
I have to say, I’ve heard the term breakfast burrito but I don’t really know what it is and doubt I’ve ever had one. I would have assumed it was like some Taco Bell adaptation.
Refinnej
I’m the opposite – I have to have protein for breakfast because having mostly carbs will give me the shakes by 10:15. Interesting.
Anon
Poached egg on toast (home-made bread) with a piece of bacon and an orange. Pancakes once or twice a year, omelettes once or twice a month. Otherwise, PEOT every.single.day. Best breakfast ever!
Anonymous
Maple beans on toast.
Senior Attorney
I’ve been alternating between fresh berries and avocado toast (homemade bread — never going back to store bought!). Sometimes mix it up by skipping the toast and having half an avocado with a hard boiled egg.
Cat
I’ve traveled enough that I don’t think I would call anything “weird” for breakfast any more. Some countries have way more of what we would consider “dinner food” for breakfast, etc.
Personally, I’m never that hungry in the morning, so black coffee and a yogurt or instant oatmeal is plenty.
Pompom
Agree–my favorite breakfasts are those adopted from travels or friends from other parts of the world.
Anonymous
As both an immigrant and adventurous eater/ traveler, frankly nothing is really ‘weird’ to me (on that note, here is a great Eater essay on the ‘lunchbox moment’ trope: https://www.eater.com/22239499/lunchbox-moment-pop-culture-tropes)
The following are all fairly ordinary breakfasts in my house (two adults, two kids), but some are more labor-intensive and thus reserved for takeout or weekends: cereal, oatmeal, bagel with cream cheese, waffles (frozen & thrust into toaster minutes before kid gets dressed for school), congee, dim sum, toast with (insert sweet or savory spread of choice: jam, peanut butter, coconut jam, smashed avocado), pancakes, bacon and eggs (scrambled, fried, poached, you name it. also, shakshuka), smoothies, yogurt with granola. I err on the savory side. Kids and husband have a sweet tooth.
Now I miss the breakfasts my grandmother used to make: sardines on toast; toast with soft-boiled eggs; steamed sweet Hong-Kong-style milk custard.
anon
We do a breakfast rotation. Here is our schedule:
Sundays: steel cut oats (in the instant pot overnight) with raisins, walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon
Mondays: egg, bacon and cheese on an English muffin, orange slices
Tuesdays: greek yogurt with berries and granola
Wednesdays: quick oats with berries and flax
Thursdays: peanut butter toast (homemade sourdough) with half a banana
Fridays: cheerios with sliced banana and milk
Saturdays: Smitten Kitchen multigrain pancakes or bagels and lox
Always: 20 oz of water with lemon and two cups of coffee with whole milk
Anon
I continue to be amazed at how little organization exists in my life compared to the way others live. This post brought it home.
Anonymous
Second. I ate tuna straight from a can at 3 pm when my Zoom meeting ran long yesterday and I realized it was the only thing not requiring cooking.
Sloan Sabbith
Uh, yeah. At least once a month my breakfast is leftover pizza. At least once a week it’s “f, I’ll just get breakfast at Starbucks once I get to work.”
Lily
Bagel and cream cheese, english muffin with honey roasted peanut butter, or (on weekends) pancakes. Sometimes I also make a smoothie composed of plain greek yogurt, OJ, frozen berry mix and a banana. If we’re eating out and it’s on the menu, I love a good bowl of cheesy grits, or a fancy parfait with homemade granola and fresh berries.
I don’t do it often but I also like to have quesadillas for breakfast (with black refried beans, shredded cheese on a corn or flour tortilla) which is not an uncommon thing to have in Mexico. When I lived in Mexico my favorite breakfast was either molletes (not common in the region I lived in, but whenever I was visiting Mexico City I’d order it) or enfrijoladas.
Lyssa
Funny, I was just thinking about starting a thread on this topic. I just eat cereal. I have, many times, tried to come up with some sort of option that is more healthy and gives more protein/less sugar and carbs, but I always go back to cereal – while I love lazy Saturday morning homemade breakfasts, something about the cold, wet, sweet, crunchy really appeals to me when it’s earlier in the morning. Mushy, warm, and savory just seem a little gross then. I at least try to focus on “grown-up” cereals that have some sort of fiber, but I’m still hungry an hour later and could really use something better.
LaurenB
You might consider using yogurt (plain or vanilla) instead of or in combination with your milk — that will give you protein.
Sloan Sabbith
How about adding yogurt? I like skyr. High protein and not too sweet.
Natalie Butler
I like adding chocolate or vanilla protein powder with my cereal.
Cici
I’m a protein gal, so I love a good breakfast burrito – eggs, cheese, breakfast meat, sometimes pico de gallo, sometimes potatoes, always Tapatio! But most days are toast/english muffin/bagel with some protein – eggs, yogurt or kefir. Also love berries if we have some around.
Refinnej
Some kind of protein with a slightly smaller amount of some kind of whole grain carb. The string cheese/Triscuits breakfast sounds pretty good to me (although my first preference is pepper jack cheese sticks).
Anonymous
Plain oatmeal with seeds and fruit/berries is my normal go-to, but currently I’m loving chia seed flatbreads with majo, tomato and hardboiled eggs (I’ve refound a love for majo after a discussion here some time back).
A few weeks back there was some leftover cod, and I made a rice congee with cod, spring onions and boiled eggs. That was glorious, and will be a staple leftover fish dish.
KS IT Chick
Bowl of instant oatmeal, with almonds and/or raisins added, plus a cup of coffee. The add-ins are a recent addition, as I was finding myself getting hungry before lunchtime with just the oatmeal, and the almonds really make a difference.
C
Weekdays I have my own instant oatmeal mix of rolled oats, oat bran, dried fruit, nuts, spices, and whey powder. No sugar that way, more fiber, more fruit/nuts/protein too.
Weekends are for frozen breakfast burritos and pico. Always tea or coffee too.
Sloan Sabbith
I cycle through breakfast meals.
During “normal times” it was either a whole wheat english muffin with a bit of mashed avocado, a slice of tomato, and everything bagel seasoning with a vanilla Icelandic yogurt, frozen waffles with peanut butter and apple, or plain instant oatmeal made with peanut butter and milk and a couple slices of bacon. Fancy bagel with cream cheese and tomato from the local bagel shop on the weekend.
During COVID it’s varied significantly. Grogery store bagel with cream cheese and a couple of slices of bacon. Unhealthy cereal and bacon. Healthier-ish cereal and bacon. For like ten seconds, my pre-COVID english muffin meal. This weak I made bacon egg and cheese sandwiches on an English muffin and am pretty damn pleased with myself.
During law school it was usually cereal and bacon or oatmeal and bacon. During bar prep it was exclusively a Starbucks oatmeal with their Starbucks Double Shot drink. Reminds me of bar prep every time I have it now!
Pep
I have a cup of coffee when I first wake up (6:00), but I don’t usually eat breakfast until around 8. During the workweek, it’s oatmeal and a cup of tea. I also usually have a mid-morning snack of a cup of tea and a piece of fruit. On weekends, I splash out and have a bagel, LOL.
Megan Warlin
Weekdays: 2 hard boiled eggs or oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts. I never used to be big breakfast person but I had a trainer for a while and she really emphasized starting the day with a little protein.
Weekends: My husband usually does a big scrambled egg and bacon breakfast for us. Sometimes we’ll switch it up and do avocado toast with an egg.
When we have guests: French Toast Casserole for the win! A quiche is nice too.
Katie
Meal prepping my breakfasts has been a game changer. Even while WFH, it’s just so much easier. I do Greek Yogurt, frozen raspberries, chia seeds, and a little almond milk in the food processor (194 calories and 24g protein), overnight protein oats, and/or chia pudding. Grab and go at its finest.