Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Unusual Breakfasts

Breakfasts can be unusual in my house. My three year old cannot stand eggs. He refuses to touch them in any form except pudding. I cannot in good conscience feed him pudding for breakfast. Sometimes he'll deign to eat Greek Yogurt with a spoonful of chocolate syrup mixed in. (I like Santa Cruz Organics chocolate syrup). In desperation one day I asked him if he wanted meat sauce for breakfast. He said yes and ate the whole serving. Why can't we eat dinner for breakfast? The Chinese traditionally eat the same food at breakfast as they do other meals. My mother used to feed my younger sister generic meat ravioli cold from the can in the mornings. At least I warm up the meat sauce, Mom.

I take a pound of grassfed ground beef, fry it up and mix it with some tomato sauce. I can freeze it in small batches and can get about 8 meals from it. I heat it up in the microwave and we are good to go.

My six year old is another finicky one. He needs a lot of dense food including protein and fat to keep his blood sugar in check. I make an oatmeal custard for him. I prepare rolled oats like usual with water. Once the oatmeal is creamy I break some eggs into the pot and stir it until cooked. You can tell because it looks like a custard. If it isn't cooked it looks like slimy oatmeal. I finish it off with a dollop of extra virgin coconut oil and brown sugar. Oatmeal refrigerates very well. I make enough for about 3-4 days; when it's time to heat it up, throw it in the microwave for about 45 seconds, stir and sweeten.

My breakfast yesterday and today was leftover collard greens sautéed in bacon grease with a fried egg on top. I heated up the collards and used a ton of butter to fry the egg over easy, leaving a runny yolk to break over the collards.



Collard greens are plentiful this time of year. I got a ton in farm share last week and wasn't sure what to do with them since I'm the only one who eats them. (I think the boys inherited their food reticence from their dad. I ate a ton of varied food while pregnant and breastfeeding. You'd think they would eat everything!). While the bacon was cooking I folded each one over and laboriously cut the stems from about 30 leaves. The stems are edible but can be tough. I prefer to avoid them. Then I rolled up the leaves and cut them into strips, tossed them into the pot, poured a little water in there, covered and let them cook for a good ten minutes. I'm sure this isn't the traditional Southern recipe. I'm a carpetbagger; I've only been down here for 15 years. I just do what's easy and tastes good.

Do you have any unusual breakfast ideas you'd like to share? I'm always looking for grain free alternatives!

5 comments:

Rayna said...

I like eggs over stir fried cabbage, greens, or beans. Top with cheddar and hot sauce. Yum!

Joy said...

Did you Julienne the collards?

Ruth said...

Rayna - sounds delish! I bet collards and hot sauce would go well together.

Joy, I did Julienne the collards. I cut the stems out, then rolled the leaves up. I sliced the leaves into strips about half and inch wide. They were long, but skinny.

stephcr said...

I like your version of ravioli meat sauce better than that can stuff I actually ate as a kid! I like cooking my garden collards in chicken broth with a splash of vinegar. I can eat that in the am too!

I'm OK said...

I do souffle, with whatever vege or fruit I need to get rid of and any variety of cheese. I'll make a few and just reheat them, so I only cook a few mornings a week.