What's for breakfast?

Historically, I've never been a big breakfast eater.  As a kid, I was just never that hungry in the morning and dry cereal with milk just didn't do it for me.  Even weekend pancakes or french toast kind of stuck in my throat.  I'm horrified to admit that through junior high and high school my favorite and most common breakfast was a Hostess spice cake washed down with coffee loaded with sugar and milk.  Ironically, my mother doesn't drink coffee at all but her parents were big coffee drinkers and kind of got me hooked by flavoring my milk with coffee when I kept insisting that I wanted to try it.  As an adult, I was always rushed in the morning getting ready for work.  Breakfast varied from coffee and a bagel to oatmeal with walnuts and maple syrup.  Occasionally, and only on the weekends, an omelet with cheese and toast on the side.  Grain played a big part in my breakfasts.  Maybe it's my eastern European heritage.

So protein at breakfast?  Not really in my food repertoire.  But the last five days may have just sold me on it.  And not because it makes me feel good and keeps me from getting hungry (although it has) but because it is absolutely a delicious treat to wake up to.  By the way, both can be cooked in advance and re-heated in less than 5 minutes for anyone who is has minimal time to mess with breakfast in the morning.  Re-heating in no way diminishes either of these dishes.

Here are two of my favorites (both taken from the Abascal Way cookbook.)

This first one may sound a little odd, it did to me.  But it was a total and wonderful surprise.  The cabbage gets sweet and carmelized with just a little crunch and the eggs make for a creamy coating.

Eggs and Cabbage
1/2 head white cabbage finely shredded
1 yellow onion diced
small bunch of green onions, whites only, chopped
salt and pepper to taste


Cook the onion on medium high in a tablespoon of olive oil until it starts to get soft.  Add the cabbage and green onion and cook until the cabbage is soft but not mushy.  Make two  indentations in the cabbage and add a raw egg to each. Cover and cook until the white is set and the yolk is cooked the way you like.  I like my yolk runny.  I think it took about 5 minutes.  Check frequently if you don't want your yolk hard.

This makes enough extra cabbage for a second serving (in that case use four eggs).  Or even better save the extra cabbage for the next day.  I re-heated the cabbage on med-hi in a non-stick frying pan until it was slightly warm.  Then made two wells, added an egg to each, covered the pan and cooked until the eggs were done.  The cabbage got nice and browned and carmelized on the bottom.  The egg white mixed in a bit with it making it a little like a cabbage pancake on the bottom.  Today I ate this with a mild, fresh salsa.  Mmmm.

Quinoa Breakfast Cereal  (Quinoa is high in protein!)

1/2 cup quinoa (well rinsed until there is no trace of soapy suds around it )
1 cup water
Cocoa nibs (optional- make sure they are plain and not covered in chocolate!)
Coconut milk (the kind in the can)
Fruit in season (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, peaches, apricots, bananas)

Heat water, quinoa and cocoa nibs to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until water has been absorbed.  You can cook the fruit with the quinoa for a sweeter dish or serve it with coconut milk and fruit as a topping.  You can reheat the left over quinoa and top with fruit and coconut milk.

I made mine with about 1 tbs. Theo's organic cocoa nibs (purchased at PCC, our local food coop here in Edmonds, WA).  The nibs got soft and developed a smoother flavor as they cooked.  Nibs can be a bit bitter on their own.  I used fresh strawberries and coconut milk.  Fabulous!

Next time I'll try it without the nibs and use blueberries, almonds and coconut milk to top.