Any Given Sunday Breakfast

I love breakfast.

I don't know exactly when I decided breakfast was a good-every-morning idea; for years, breaking my fast meant one of two things: A) coffee, period. Or B) corned beef hash and poached eggs, home fries, rye toast, and a hangover, all enjoyed in the comfort of my favorite diner.

Somewhere along the line I realized that breakfast could be knocked out at home in very short order, and it was almost always worth the effort. Don't get me wrong. I don't cook breakfast every morning (unless you count toast as cooking). Weekdays it's usually Greek yogurt with some fruit and a bit of cereal for crunch, or maybe an English muffin with peanut butter and a handful of grapes or berries.

On weekends, we enjoy something a little more substantial, often some sort of omelette or scrambled eggs topped with something or other, determined by what's in the fridge. Generally speaking, if you have a bit of cheese and a bit of meat or veggie (or both) you're good to go.

This morning I did scrambled eggs topped with chopped fresh basil and goat cheese. On the side I served grilled Italian sausage, sliced heirloom tomatoes, a sourdough English muffin (me) and corn tortillas (the Man). I also chopped up a fresh orange, tossed it with sliced strawberries, and drizzled it all with cinnamon honey.

Breakfast Sanity Check:

Breakfast becomes cumbersome when you're trying to do 47 things simultaneously in a desperate effort to have everything ready at the same time.

Don't do that. Instead, think it through before you start:

1. Fruit? Yeah, you can do that first and let it sit on the counter.
2. Prep the stuff you'll need. (In this case, slice the basil, crumble the goat cheese. Put it aside on a paper towel.)
3. What on your menu will "hold"? That is, what will be better after it sits a bit? Or at least won't get gross? In this case, it's the the sausage. Indeed, most meat can sit under an aluminum foil tent for 5 - 15 minutes and be just fine, often getting juicer in the process. Yay!
   
4. Conscription is good. Who else can you rope into helping? Grab your partner or child or other innocent bystander and have them do something simple like nuking tortillas or making toast.
5. What needs attention and cooks quickly? A-ha. The eggs. Save them for last.

Now that you have a battle plan, you can be chill while you pull everything together. In most cases, breakfast will take about 15 or 20 minutes to prep and cook. Not bad! And you don't even have to get out of your pajamas. Try that at the diner.