Day 19: The Breakfast Challenge

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" - "Eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch, and a pauper at dinner" - " You need a good breakfast, that's a fact..."  Well, that IS a fact.  You need to eat breakfast.  Every day during Great Lent this becomes a little more challenging.  For some, eating oatmeal every day is fine.  Or, we could have dry toast with some fruit preserves (make sure it is made with pectin, not gelatin!) and/or peanut butter.  But, how many times have we heard the Greek comedians joke about the only food they ate through Great Lent was peanut butter and jelly.  I guess we could mix it up a little and put peanut butter and banana?  We like a little more variety in life, and we want to make sure that we are fully fasting, so we pray for the strength to have oatmeal another day.

Are there other choices for breakfast?  Of course there are!  There are many many choices of what to have.  And, now, with the additions of soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, and tofu, anything that can be made with animal product can just as easily be made without animal products!  (Keep reading future entries about how we make breakfast with these ingredients.)

So, where do we find other choices for breakfast?  Well, this blog is a good way to start.  Every day, we are grabbing breakfast on the go.  It needs to be quick, rather easy, and portable!  If we cannot eat it while driving, we cannot have it during the week days.  Our first choice is always a fruit smoothie.  Smoothies are often made with a banana, some berries, a scoop of yogurt, and some milk and/or juice -- put in a blender and drink.  It's creamy and healthy because it is just fruit and yogurt.  Of course, we add some ground flax seed or some ground nuts in there to give ourselves a little extra nutrient push.  But, you can make a smoothie with fruits and juice and ice and it is light and delightful.  Or, you could use your favourite milk substitute -- almond, soy, or rice milk.  Either way, there are a variety of combinations at our disposal.  And, if you pair a smoothie with your daily oatmeal, then you have a well-rounded, flavourful meal.  Coming in future blogs, we will visit the world of smoothies for you.  But, right now, let's stick to chewable food!

There are many breakfast bars and snack bars that can be made without any animal products. In addition, they are generally much more affordable and healthy (fewer preservatives) than many store-bought ones.  The nice part about these is that they are portable any time of day -- not just during breakfast.  The easiest recipe we use about once a month is this one:

7 cups puffed cereal (Rice Krispies, puffed wheat, whatever you like)
3/4 cup dried cranberries (Craisins)
3/4 cup raisins or dried blueberries
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup peanut butter or almond butter (we often use an excellent soy-based Canadian product, WOWBUTTER)
2 Tblsp. margarine (can use butter other times)



Stir all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Put the honey, peanut butter, and margarine in a microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup.  Heat in the microwave until all is melted together.  Set it aside for now.  Prepare the baking dish by spraying a non-stick coating on the bottom and sides.  Set aside the baking dish.

Pour the liquid mixture over the cereal mixture and stir.  Make sure all the cereal and fruit is coated

With slightly wet hands or with a spoon, press the mixture into a 9"x9" square baking pan; a deeper and smaller pan will yield a thicker breakfast bar.
(we used a 9"x13" rectangular glass baking dish)

Freeze for 30 minutes, then cut.

Keep this in the refrigerator for up to 14 days.

If you are not into eating sweeter things for breakfast, then you may be more interested in savoury dishes.  On occasion, we will make a breakfast burrito with scrambled tofu and soy cheese; it usually has salsa and beans in there, too!  Potatoes are a wonderful, tasty, healthy choice for breakfast, too.  Whether want to make a hash brown potato, or a home-fries dish, they are a good vegetarian choice for breakfast.  Potato breakfast is also a good way to use leftover baked potatoes from the night before.  Sometimes, we bake extra potatoes specifically to have for breakfast the next day.  They reheat nicely, we make home fries with some chopped onion, peppers, garlic, and occasionally some chopped tomato.  When it is all tossed together in a frying pan and heated, it is surely of restaurant quality.

Breakfast doesn't have to be fancy, hot, or even original.  But, it should be a "must have" in every day (except Sundays when we prepare and approach to take Holy Communion).  If you like to eat celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins, or if you would prefer to make pancakes with soy milk and scrambled tofu, it is a personal preference.  We just know that it matters that you eat something.  So, whatever you decide to serve for breakfast, make it complete and mindful.  It is how we start our day, how we start our brains and our bodies working together so we can go about the business of life.  Then,  once our day starts, we can thank God for giving us the wisdom to know the right way to approach each day.

John 21:12 

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.