BREAKFAST. The most important meal of the day, yet so many people just skip it all together. I don’t know who these non-breakfast eaters are but I am not one of them. One of the main reasons I get excited about going to bed is the thought of waking up and eating again. It’s the morning where you have the chance to start fresh and fuel yourself for the rest of the day. You have hours and hours to burn off whatever you shove in your face! Now, I’m not telling you to eat a pound of bacon, but I feel like you’re allowed to be a bit more indulgent at breakfast. What’s the point of eating bland oatmeal in the morning if you’re going to eat a full pizza for dinner? It’s all about balance.

I like breakfast SO much that sometimes I’ll have 2 of them. A smoothie early in the morning, and something more substantial after I go to the gym. Who am I kidding, I eat 2 breakfasts regardless of going to the gym or not. I use my nuti-bullet every single day. I highly recommend buying one of these puppies. They’re about $100 but sometimes they go on sale and you can snatch em’ for $70! I just pack it full of spinach, banana, frozen fruit and water. Sometimes I’ll toss in some Kefir, ground flax or chia seeds. If you have greens plus to vega protein, throw that in too for a more complete breakfast. I just like the idea of getting a bunch of green in my guts before I start my day.

Now onto the fun part. EGGS! I love me some eggs. I try to buy free-range, organic eggs when possible. I know they’re more expensive BUT if you think about it, it’s still one of the cheapest proteins you can buy. Sure maybe it’ll cost you $6-$7 vs. $3-$4 but that’s only about 50 cents an egg. Not too shabby.

I’m not eating pork now so out with the boring old bacon and eggs and in with new, healthy, more exciting alternatives!

1. Pan poached eggs with sautéed mushrooms and truffle salt on toast.

WHAAAAT. How good does that sound? As good as it tastes OBVIOUSLY. Mushrooms are a great alternative to meat because they provide texture, meatiness and flavour. Combined with the truffle salt you have all that umami* crap going on and it’s a dance party on your tongue. I pan poached my eggs because regular poaching takes too long when you’re in a rush in the morning. Crack your eggs in a warm pan. Toss an ice cube or 2 in. Cover and let the ice melt, turn into steam, and poach those lil’ suckers. Keep an eye on them because they cook fast and an overcooked egg will kill this beautiful dish. Before you cook your eggs, sauté a few slices mushrooms in butter and oil. Put the eggs on nice toasted multigrain bread and top it with the mushrooms, truffle salt and green onion. This takes about 6 minutes to make, seriously. If you hate mushrooms, try zucchini or sautéed greens instead. If you don’t like truffle salt/don’t have it, use plain salt. (preferably sea salt, kosher or maldon. It makes a big difference!)

*Umami: “a strong meaty taste imparted by glutamate and certain other amino acids: often considered to be one of the basic taste sensations along with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.” -Dictionary.com

2. Sweet potato, spinach and cheese scramble.

Sweeten the morning with sweet potato! I love me some sweet pataters and they go so well with eggs and cheese. Here’s what you do. Slice half sweet potato (skin on) really thin and toss in a pan with a tiny tiny bit of water on medium heat. Cover. Beat 4 eggs and add a couple good shakes of dried rosemary, dash or water of milk (for fluffiness!) and some pepper. Once sweet potatoes are tender and water has evaporated add the egg mixture. Stir. Once eggs are partially cooked add spinach and cheese (I used a combo of mozzarella, gouda and parmesan).  Stir until melted/wilted. Top with fresh parsley and serve! This was enough for 2 people. HOT TIP: aged white cheddar would be AMAZING with this.

3. Savoury sweet potato Oatmeal

Hey remember when I used half a sweet potatoes in my scramble? I used the other half in this dish! I had made a sweet oatmeal using steel cut oats topped with coconut flakes, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, maple syrup and bananas. Of course, I forgot to take a picture. I really like how much steel cut oats fill me up. Not that instant garbage. I’m usually in the mood for something savoury so I jazzed up my regular sludge by sautéing chopped sweet potato, tomato, mushrooms and red onion and folding it in my oatmeal. Top it with a sunny side egg, parsley, red pepper flakes and goat cheese. PERFECTION.

There you have it! 3 super easy, healthy-ish, quick breakfasts that will keep you full until lunch. Also, other than the first recipe, you could totally do a tofu scramble as a substitute for eggs and use daiya cheese or nutritional yeast to make it vegan. Come to think of it, sautéed mushrooms on toast with vegan butter and truffle salt would be delicious too. You don’t need the eggs!

I hope you’ll eat breakfast from now on so you can fuel your beautiful brain and take on the day! What’s your favourite healthy breakfast? I’m always looking for something new.

Bye!

-Julia