Lox and Bagels . . . Finally!

Lox and bagels has been one of my favorite breakfast meals since I was very, very small. For as long as I can remember, my parents had a tradition we followed every New Year's Day. They've never been big on partying for New Year's Eve, so every year we would get up relatively early, go buy fresh bagels and lox, pick up cream cheese, and then eat it while we watched the Rose Parade.

When I was in high school, my mom and I made one of our bi-annual trips to visit my Grandma Plum Blossom (my mother's mother) and my mother's sister Lavender and her husband near Denver, Colorado. My mother's other sister was also visiting with her husband Cilantro and their children. Aunt Lavender called us at our hotel and asked if we could pick up capers on the way to her house one morning, since it was rare for the whole family to be together and we were going to splurge and have lox and bagels.

My mother and I rushed to the nearest grocery store, grabbed a jar of what looked like capers and then drove into the Rockies to my Aunt's house. Since we were all hungry, we all began to serve ourselves and dove in. I noticed that the capers seemed to have some heat to them, but no one really said anything and we all gulped them down fairly quickly. My Uncle Cilantro, however, had slept in, and he came in afterward to eat, and I decided to sit and talk with him while he ate. After a few bites he said, "Wow, these capers are like little flavor bombs that just explode in your mouth." He commented on it a few more times and I realized it hadn't just been me and my usual heat-free taste buds. I finally got up and looked at the jar and realized that we had bought a jar of peppercorns. We all had a good laugh at that and Aunt Lavender teased that she could never ask us to buy anything again.

This past New Year's Day, my boyfriend Serrano and I got up early and drove to Whole Foods so that we could eat lox and bagels and watch the Rose Parade. Much to my dismay, it was easy to find dairy free cream cheese and gluten free bagels, but not gluten and dairy free bagels. I ate them anyway, but I felt guilty eating the bagels, which is never a good feeling. This is one thing I think people without food allergies don't always understand: yes, something with gluten and dairy may taste better, but it doesn't make you feel better. Whether it causes you physical pain or not, you can't enjoy your food when you feel guilty for eating it.

This is why I was very excited when I saw Udi's Bagels at Whole Foods today. If you're unfamiliar with Udi's, they make excellent gluten and casein free products (my Aunt Lavender was the first to tell me about them) like bread, pizza crusts, granola, muffins, and bagels. I didn't change the recipe much, since I don't like to mess with greatness. It just feels so much better to eat something and know that it won't harm your body or cause you pain.

Gluten and Casein Free Lox and Bagels
1 Udi's Gluten and Casein Free Bagel
Vegan Gourmet Cream Cheese Alternative (or Tofutti Cream Cheese)
Capers
Red Onion, chopped
Smoked Salmon
4 slices Tomato

If desired, toast the bagel to your liking. When done, spread desired amount of cream cheese onto both bagel halves. Place desired amount of capers and chopped red onion onto the cream cheese (I put about ten capers and a few pieces of red onion). Cut the tomato slices in half and arrange over the capers and red onion. Finally, arrange the smoked salmon over the tomato. You can put the two halves together and eat like a sandwich if you like, or eat each half separately. Serve with your favorite breakfast drink or cocktail and enjoy!

Serves One

Just Add Balsamic

I have a serious problem figuring out what to eat for breakfast. Growing up, I always ate eggs scrambled. That was what my parents made for me, and it's the only thing I knew to order when we ate out. When I went to Fordham University in the Bronx for two years I fell in love with omelets, and I made them for myself all the time after I came home. But after a while, that got old. So then I moved to eggs over hard.

A lot of people have teased me about this over the years, since it sounds funny and means that the eggs are fully cooked. Most people I know love eggs over easy or lightly scrambled so they're still wet. Thanks to the help of my college roommate, I realized I like them cooked. Very cooked.

Years later, I was visiting my Lavonne Lovely, my dad's sister. She informed me that everyone in our family liked their eggs over hard, just like me. She laughed and guessed that it's the Okie in all of us, since my father's family is all from Oklahoma. I've only been there once, but it was comforting to know I'm not the only one who likes this.

Now I experiment with different ways to prepare eggs, since I realized I need to mix it up if I want to look forward to breakfast. This is one of my favorite ways to eat eggs, and you can use this tip for making eggs any way: just add balsamic vinegar.

Balsamic Scrambled Eggs
1 pat Earth Balance Originall Buttery Spread or Margarine
1 tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
2 Eggs
1 Gluten Free English Muffin, toasted

Separate two halves of a gluten free english muffin, then set in toaster.

Set a small skillet on medium heat. When warm, melt the pat of butter so that it covers the skillet. Crack both eggs into the skillet, then scramble. Pour 1 tablespoon (or more if desired) balsamic vinegar into eggs, continue to stir. Sprinkle the eggs with salt and pepper, then continue to cook and stir up.

Put the english muffin halves on a plate and top with equal halves of the scrambled eggs. Eat like mini pizzas. Enjoy.

Hello Morning

Ahhhhh, breakfast. This is the only meal of the day that I have the most problems with. I have no problem eating breakfast food for lunch or dinner, but for some reason I can't eat anything but the traditional fare for breakfast.

On top of that, there are the facts that nag me from the back of my brain. Yes, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I've proven to myself (by not eating breakfast) that if I don't get that first meal, I'm a hungry, tired wreck for the rest of the day. Everything in health articles, magazines, and books will agree. They also state that you need a fair amount of protein, since it fuels you for the day and will give you a nutritious head start that won't make you crave sugar or other foods only a couple hours later.

One of my friends told me that her professor stated that one's meals for the day should follow this regimen: have breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. Of course, this isn't always realistic, but it's a good guideline to keep in mind.

I am always trying to find interesting ways to eat eggs, since that's all that sounds appetizing to me after I wake up. So today I experimented with ingredients in our refrigerator, and it yielded very yummy results. My suggestion for a nutritional and tasty breakfast is to have a good-sized portion of protein and some good carbs. And if they're not the best, hell, we're all human. But if you can make your eggs and meat taste good, that's the real trick.


Jalapeno Egg Scramble
1/4 tsp. Earth Balance or Margarine
3 pieces of sliced Jalapeno
2-3 pieces Canadian Bacon, cooked
3 Eggs
1/2 an Avocado, diced
small bunch Cilantro, chopped

In a medium-sized skillet, melt the EB or margarine over medium heat. Meanwhile, dice the pieces of jalapeno and canadian bacon into small pieces. Put into skillet once margarine is melted and let cook for a few minutes. Meanwhile, chop the small bunch of cilantro so that it is in bite-sized pieces. Halve an avocado, then slice it with the rind on, so that each piece is long but about 1/2 an inch thick. Then cut in a perpendicular direction, yielding a bunch of small squares.

Add the eggs and stir ingredients together, breaking the yolks and mixing everything thoroughly. Cook for a few minutes until the eggs have reached your desired level of doneness, then transfer to a plate. Hold the avocado over the egg scramble and slide your fingers inside, pushing out all of the little squares onto it. Spread pieces evenly over egg scramble and scrape out the leftovers from the avocado with a spoon. Add desired amount of salt and pepper, then top with chopped cilantro. Enjoy.

Spiced Bacon and Eggs

A few weeks ago I got the idea of putting spices on bacon, and I was very interested by the results. I tried a few on just myself, but then used an entire package of bacon on my parents and myself and had us each write down our thoughts. It was actually pretty funny, but turned out better than I'd expected.

Our favorites were smoked paprika, garam masala, and cayenne pepper. My parents liked fresh ground pepper on the bacon, but it was too bland for my taste. They also loved lemon peel, but I found it to be a tad bitter. I did like turmeric, which gives the bacon a subtle flavor. Sage, cumin, and nutmeg were good, but not great. My recommendation is to experiment with some of your favorite flavors and see what tastes good to you. It may seem to be redundant to put flavor on bacon, but you'd be surprised.

To make it like this, simply place the raw bacon on a saucepan or skillet and sprinkle a fair amount of the spice onto the meat. Turn over and repeat, then let it cook like normal. Most of the spices will stick to the bacon. Just be forewarned that if you use turmeric, it will turn everything neon yellow, so I used it last.

For the eggs, I cooked mine in the leftover bacon grease and spices. If you don't want that, you can use a paper towel to clean out the bacon grease and then cook the eggs. You may need to add more spices to the eggs to complement the bacon, but eating them together will give you a very tasty breakfast, like what I had today!

Johnny's Cakes

This recipe comes from Bob's Red Mill Baking Book, but during my first try I realized that the recipe was missing a few ingredients. I hadn't heard of Johnnycakes before, but the first recipe for it was printed by Amelia Simmons in 1796. My father also tells me that the Shawnee originally made this and taught the recipe to the settlers, who dubbed it "Shawnee Cake".

I've heard that Johnnycakes can be eaten as a type of bread with dinner, but I made them in the fashion of pancakes. I think that they taste delicious, and you can't even tell they're gluten free. The third time I made this I finally got it right, and the real trick is getting finely ground cornmeal. I used Arrowhead Mills Organic Yellow Corn Meal, with great results. I also recommend adding bacon grease to the batter if you're going to have bacon as well.



Spiced Johnnycakes
1 1/2 cups Cornmeal
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Sugar
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 Egg
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
Dashes Allspice, Nutmeg, and Cloves
2 cups Boiling Water
1/3 cup Soy Milk, at room temperature

Spray griddle or large saucepan with cooking spray and preheat. In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, salt, sugar, baking powder, egg, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves. Pour boiling water over the mixture and stir to combine. Let stand for ten minutes before stirring in the milk.

Pour desired amount of pancake batter into pan or onto griddle, and cook on medium low heat for five to ten minutes. Wait until the cakes appear firm around the edges and bubble up in the middle before flipping over. (If they seem unready, wait a bit longer. This recipe takes patience.)
Put desired toppings on the cakes and enjoy.

Quinoa for Breakfast

Good Riddance Granola! I usually work at 5 in the morning most days, so I usually have breakfast at work. Lately I have had a hard time without my usual granola, yogurt, and fruit. I've had a harder time breaking up with oats than I have with wheat, but fortunately I found a much healthier and tastier replacement.

I adapted this recipe from Ellie Krieger's cookbook So Easy: Luscious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week. Her recipe was for Honey Harvest Quinoa, and I added Chia seeds to the original, which provide additional protein and fiber. It is delicious, and this way you combine the superfoods of two ancient Latin American cultures: the Inca (quinoa) and the Aztecs (chia seeds). Now your breakfast can have a big protein punch, since quinoa has all of the necessary amino acids to make a complete protein.

Early Morning Quinoa
1 1/3 cups Quinoa
2 2/3 cups Water
1 Apple, cut into chunks
1/4 cup Dried Cranberries
1/2 cup Pecans
1/2 cup Soy Milk (and more for serving)
2 tbsp. Honey (and more for serving)
1 tbsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Cloves
2 tbsp. Chia Seeds (optional)
4 tsp. Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread (optional)

Rinse quinoa in a strainer under the tap. In a medium saucepan, bring the quinoa and water to a boil. Cover and let simmer for five minutes. Then add the apple pieces and cranberries and let cook over low heat until the water is absorbed, for about ten minutes.

Over medium-high heat, toast the pecans in a skillet for a few minutes or until flavorful. Let cool, then coarsely chop.

Once the quinoa is cooked, stir in the soy milk, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and chia seeds. Cook until the milk is heated through, for about another minute. Serve the cereal into bowls and top with pecans and Earth Balance. Serve with honey and soy milk to taste.