While I think we eat a good variety of dishes at lunch at dinner, I feel like I’m in a real rut these days when it comes to breakfast. I pretty much stick to four breakfast meals: yogurt with either blueberries or fresh papaya and a sprinkle of locally-made granola; avocado toast, often with a poached egg; pancakes with jam or lilikoi curd; or a poached egg on toast, maybe with a slice of bacon or a breakfast sausage. Occasionally I’ll eat leftovers (I ate chicken soup for breakfast one day this past week), but those are usually saved for lunch. I like all of my standard breakfasts, they’re all filling, but lately I’ve been craving something different and new.
I’d love to hear what you eat for breakfast and need some new ideas! Carbohydrates are OK, including fruit, but I do require some protein. If not, I seem to get hungry in a couple of hours and then have a long wait until lunch (pancakes are filling though). I have time to cook in the mornings, but don’t want to make a lot because Brett typically wants oatmeal for his breakfast. Calories do count, but nothing is off the table as for what can be eaten for breakfast as far as I’m concerned.
Here’s what we ate for dinner this past week:
Sunday: Chicken & vegetable soup with rice
Monday: Egg roll in a bowl
Tuesday: Barbecue pulled pork mini pizzas with red pepper and onions
Wednesday: Zucchini frittata and chicken & apple sausages
Thursday: Mississippi pot roast, mashed potatoes, and broccoli
Friday: Spaghetti with meat sauce; green beans
Saturday: French dip sandwiches; 3-bean salad
Our dessert all last week was devil’s food cake with orange buttercream frosting, but I’ve made a hot milk cake that we’ll start tonight.
Here’s next week’s menu plan:
- Ham with roasted butternut squash
- Meatloaf and mashed potatoes (2 nights)
- Mini pizzas
- Grilled teriyaki chicken with zaru soba
- Cheeseburgers
- Grilled ham & cheese sandwiches with roasted red pepper & tomato soup
Brett is back up to full speed and it was great to be walking together once again this past week. The good weather at the beginning of the week made for some great walking, and for two days in a row we were able to walk the golf course perimeter. We tried for a third day, but were stopped because the manager had let an older, slower couple tee off after closing time. We got rained out after a couple of laps on Thursday, and skipped Friday because of sketchy weather, but Saturday was lovely. We’re looking forward to walking on the eastside beach path this week and maybe on the path at Barking Sands as well.
Although walking this past year has provided mostly benefits, there have been some negatives, although those have diminished since I got my new shoes. Over the past year I’ve built up new calluses, bruised one of my big toes, and developed more than a few blisters. Leukotape has become my very good friend! My feet are in much better shape than they were before the bunion surgeries I had done in 2013 (and I doubt I would be able to walk as much if I hadn’t had the surgeries done), but I’m long overdue for a good pedicure. I haven’t had one in over a year, although I have done the best I could on my own to keep my feet in good shape. One additional benefit I never saw coming from all the walking has been the improved circulation in my legs, and residual swelling left over from a fall in Auckland in February of 2019 has almost completely disappeared.
I can’t remember the last time I lost any weight, but I’m not gaining either so I am just going to hang in there. One of these days I’ll get those last six pounds off!
The Occasional Nomads 
Our breakfasts are usually Greek yogurt, old fashioned oatmeal or some kind of eggs. We have grands visiting right now and DH made waffles and sausage yesterday, but that is a treat vs a regular meal. I also sometimes eat Cheerios if I’m feeling lazy and nostalgic. 😂
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Brett is hooked on oatmeal, but I like more of a variety. Yogurt with fruit and a sprinkle of granola is my favorite though. This morning we ate leftovers: bacon and mashed potatoes. Weird but surprisingly satisfying. Cheerios sound good – maybe with a sliced banana on top!
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I just had egg salad on toast with sprouts. The go-to bkft is cheddar cheese on toast with a slice of tomato. Sometimes it’s tomato/avocado on toast. A boiled egg on toast with salsa and oatmeal porridge round out the usual bkft menu. Frittata, quiche, cooked bkft (eggs with sausage or bacon),pancakes, french toast happens less frequently, usually when there’s company.
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Both the egg salad and cheese toast with tomato sound wonderful; I am going to add both into rotation. Leftovers should also figure regularly into our breakfasts, more than they do now. I’ve asked for a mini-waffle maker for Mother’s Day and hope that happens so I can make a bunch, freeze them, and then pop one into the toaster and have that topped with fresh fruit.
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I lean towards a more traditional breakfast but my cousin eats quinoa salad for breakfast. She makes a big batch on the weekends and then has it to eat throughout the week. She loads it up with veggies and adds a bit of dressing before serving. It’s a good way to sneak in veggies and the protein keeps her full until lunch.
Another idea is a breakfast taco. Some beans, salsa, a bit of cheese, maybe some hot sauce.
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I could eat quinoa salad for breakfast, but not everyday. I love vegetables at breakfast, but also like variety.
We eat breakfast burritos now and again (currently though they’re a bit high calorie for me), but a taco would be perfect. Thanks for the idea!
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I like 1) fried rice made with leftover rice, odds & ends of veg (cooked or raw), and some leftover protein or an egg scrambled in
2) half a grated zucchini and half a grated sweet potato sautéed together with some onion and red pepper, and some chorizo sprinkled in. (I cook a pound or two of chorizo at a time, freeze it flat on a tray and then crumble it into a container so i can shake a little out into this or onto a taco salad. Mushrooms, and leftover cooked veg can also go into this.
3) green smoothies- yogurt (dairy or non-dairy), banana and another fruit, milk or juice, 12 almonds, baby kale, and some coconut. I prefer it with one of the fruits frozen so it’s cold. I don’t use those weird highly processed protein powders but the almonds hold me over until lunch.
I try to get a serving of vegetables into breakfast most days because otherwise i don’t always get up to 4, which is my goal.
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Fried rice is perfect for breakfast! We rarely. have any leftovers though these days – our rice cooker makes just enough for the two of us for dinner. I love the idea of grated zucchini, sweet potato, and some sausage (love chorizo, but others would work as well) and am going to give this a try. I have done smoothies in the past, and love them, but I always end of hungry hours before lunch time.
Between lunch and dinner we do a pretty good job of getting in our four servings of vegetables, usually more.
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I have no ideas for breakfast – I only eat two things. Either porridge or toasted sour dough with raspberry jam and a cup of tea. Very occasionally I will start with fruit. Boring breakfast suit me. Lunch I like to mix up.
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I have been happy sticking with a few things, but a couple of weeks ago I got bored and felt like I needed a few new tricks. Lunch here is mostly leftovers these days. I have yet to master the whole “cooking for two” thing so there are always leftovers.
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