Tag: Breakfast

Yesterday was a long day; early start to catch the train to London, then headed all the way across town to Greenwich. Today will be a long day too, but at least I get to drive myself there and back with no pesky trains to make me panic. I only got my driving licence when I was 25, and had plenty of years getting along just fine with public transportation but since I started driving myself around the idea of relying on a train to get me to a meeting on time brings me out in a cold sweat. Leave home 5 mins late, you miss the train and it’s another half hour until the next one. Leave home 5 mins late in your car…….. just have to drive a little faster 🙂

As I’m not a morning person, breakfast is a bit much for me to do ‘early’ – priority is making sure clothes aren’t on inside out (not always achieved….). The kettle is a no-go zone so, with the Man being away, I’ll have to stick with using the idiot-proof Nespresso coffee pod machine. After I’ve been on the road about an hour I’m normally ready for some food – fruit salad and yogurt not ideal here, so I take along some easy-to-eat provisions for the journey, otherwise known as padkos. Today’s in-car treat is Bacon & Egg Cluck-Muffins 🙂  Coconut flour muffins with bacon, mushroom and tomato plus some veggie ones with shredded broccoli stem instead of bacon and a chunk of goat’s cheese to attempt to make up for the lack of bacon.

I attempted these at the weekend and thought I knew better than to bother with paper muffin cases – the tin is still soaking and I’ve resorted to Soda Crystals……

With the hubby away, and some spare time on my hands, I got started early on 70-462 prepping my Saturday brunch. (should have been breakfast but got distracted by checking what’s new on the inter web). Last night I took some frozen spinach and put it in ramekins to defrost overnight

Then, in the morning, I squeezed out all the water (bit messy with the chopped frozen spinach as the bits got everywhere, so think I’ll use fresh next time and wilt it just before I need it). Put a small knob of butter on the spinach, seasoned with S+P, topped each with 2 eggs and about a tablespoon of double cream. Found a bit of hard cheddar in the fridge so grated some on top.

And finally, baked in the oven @ 180c for about 15 mins until golden and bubbling.

Served with a teaspoon – yummy. Could have baked a little less, so the eggs would have been 70-463 runnier, but I like the golden cheese – needs work.

Now, here’s the
tough one. If I can’t have toast or that fortified wholegrain cereal I’ve been
told for years I must eat, or else, and I don’t have time to cook breakfast
every morning what am I supposed to eat?

On some of the blogs I’ve followed they suggest eating dinner for breakfast (I know the other way round is brinner, so is this deckfast?). This doesn’t really appeal to me as I tend to use a lot of chili and garlic in
my dinners, and first thing in the morning it’s a bit much. Plus, I’m not a
morning person so on school-days I prefer to get my full duvet time then grab
breakie and go. Solution to this has been preparing a big tub of fruit salad
twice a week, and serving with double cream or a few dollops of full-fat greek
yogurt. This happily sees me through to about 1pm when I have my lunch. Who’d
have thunk it?

If I’ve got an early
start and have to drive somewhere (so bowl of fruit and spoon not a great idea)
then a few cooked sausages and chunks of cheese, or muffin sized frittatas all
make good padkos 🙂

On the weekends,
away from the daily-grind, I like a big breakfast. Going out for brunch used to
be a nice treat but the vast majority of menu items are with bread, which isn’t
surprising given the tradition of fresh baked goods in the morning, and even the
yoghurt tends to come with sweetened granola. There are a few, gold-star
exceptions – but I’ll come to those later.

Instead, at home,
we’ll knock-up soft-boiled eggs with asparagus spears, scrambles with wilted
greens (like chard or beetroot tops) mixed-in, full english, parsnip rostis or
shredded sweet potato topped with ham and poached eggs, all take a little more
time but worth the effort.