Breakfast Recipe: Potato Pancakes and Fried Eggs

It was just my husband and I for Thanksgiving dinner last night so I made chicken instead of turkey so that we wouldn't be faced with leftovers for the rest of the month. But I did make a ton of mashed potatoes with one thing in mind: potato pancakes for breakfast.

In case you haven't already guessed, breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. I do nothing, go nowhere, without a good breakfast in my tummy.

I made the mashed potatoes with a little cream and butter. This morning all I added was a dollop of plain yogurt and the leaves from a few stalks of fresh thyme, and then finished them off with a pinch of sea salt. Delicious!

Ingredients

Makes 4 pancakes

• 1.5 cups leftover mashed potatoes
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp butter
• pinch sea salt

Instructions

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring well to combine.
2. Form 4 pancakes by rolling mixture between palms.
3. Heat oil in medium frying pan over medium heat.
4. Add butter, shaking pan to evenly coat, and then add pancakes.
5. Cook for about 4 minutes per side or until golden brown and bubbling.
6. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve with a fried egg, piece of toast, and fruit.

Breakfast Recipe: Toad in the Hole

Something about my British heritage makes me love fried bread. I don't have it often, but this morning I was really craving the double whammy of fried egg and fried bread. I updated it and made it feel significantly more healthy with a large leaf of fresh basil. It really hit the spot.

Speaking of British, are you following Will and Kate's North American tour? I love them so much I can barely stand it. I can't help but think of how proud Diana would be of her eldest son, who seems like such a genuine, down-to-earth and humble man, and who seems to have met an equally lovely soul mate that he's smitten with. Kate is incredibly stylish (and commendable on recycling so many pieces of clothing and shoes) and I've been following her tour wardrobe, with my favourite outfit of hers so far being the green Diane von Furstenberg "Maja dress" she wore on July 8. Gorgeous!

Ingredients

• 1 slice sprouted grain bread (I love Silver Hills bread)
• 1 free range egg
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 fresh basil leaf
• pepper to taste
• vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Heat cast iron skillet over medium-low heat.
2. Spray skillet with oil.
3. Butter both sides of bread and cut out a hole, leaving about 3/4 of an inch around the edge.
4. Place pieces of bread side by side in skillet and crack an egg into the hole.
5. Cook for about 1 minute, sprinkle egg with pepper, top with basil leaf, flip over and cook to desired doneness (I usually remove the skillet from the heat right away at this point).

Breakfast Recipe: Rise and Shine Burritos

We recently spent an absolutely wonderful weekend in Victoria, BC with my parents, and were spoiled silly with lots of walking, eating, laughing, and great conversation. And on our last day there my dad made delicious burritos for breakfast.

I make breakfast burritos quite often (pictured above, recipe to follow) but these were quite different than mine. My dad doesn't eat gluten so we had them with these amazing corn tortillas from a local company called Que Pasa Mexican Foods. Inside the tortillas was a delightful mix of scrambled eggs, cheese, chopped green onions, and my new favourite salsa, President's Choice Tomatillo Salsa.  Delicious!

You can be so creative with breakfast burritos and stick in anything you fancy or ingredients that need to be used up. My recipe is a great way to get some greens down the hatch first thing in the morning (go here for another breakfast recipe with greens) and in the past I've liked to use the ulta-thin, low-calorie Mountain Bread – usually use the whole wheat variety but they also come in rice, barley, corn, oat and rye.

The funny thing about Mountain Bread is that I'd been eating it for a while before we moved to Sydney, Austalia for almost nine months last year and didn't realize that it's made just around the corner (well, 849 km around the corner to be exact) from where we were living, in Reservoir, Victoria. Although I still love Mountain Bread, I think it's time to break up because they are lots of great breads in my neck of the woods.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp peppercorn ranch dressing
• 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp butter
• 2 cheese slices (I like aged white cheddar)
• 4 tbsp salsa
• 1/4 avocado chopped (just enough for my burrito, my husband is not a fan)
• 2 cups mixed greens
• 2 wraps

Instructions

1. Heat oil in medium frying pan over medium heat.
2. In small bowl, beat eggs with dressing.
3. Add butter to pan, swirling to coat, and immediately add eggs, stirring constantly until done to your liking.
4. Section eggs off into desired serving sizes in pan and top each portion with a slice of cheese (I eat one egg and my husband eats two).
5. Place eggs in centre of tortilla and top with avocado (if having it), half the salsa and half the greens (I super-squish the greens in my hand so that I can fit a cup into each burrito. Appetizing, maybe not. Clever way to get more greens down the hatch, yes!).
6. Roll up burritos and serve right away.

Breakfast Recipe: Huevos Rancheros

This breakfast is so tasty and satisfying, and not too difficult to whip up if you have all of the ingredients on hand. The homemade salsa is the only thing you may want to make ahead of time if you're not full of determination and time first thing in the morning.

I was inspired to make this recipe by my brother's amazing girlfriend. She is a very sensible eater and always orders this for breakfast when we go out (while I tend to order bacon, sausage and French toast drowning in syrup).

I've recently discovered the best coffee ever. Once you know what it tastes like, you may be inspired to dance in front of your coffee pot while it percolates, anticipating the joy that's about to touch your lips.

It's the 123°W Longitude Blend from local roaster 49th Parallel, and I love that I can pick it up around the corner at my friendly neighbourhood cafe, The Buzz Cafe (located in the Harrison Galleries, "Vancouver’s oldest Fine Art gallery").

Homemade Salsa

Click here for salsa recipe, which accompanied my delicious fish tacos for BCLiving.ca.

You can use store-bought salsa if you don't want to make your own.

Huevos Rancheros

Ingredients

This recipe serves 2 in my home: 2 eggs for my husband and 1 egg for me.

• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp butter
• 2 small, whole wheat tortillas
• 1/4 cup salsa
• 1/2 can black beans
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp Mexican chili powder
• 1/4 avocado, chopped

Instructions

1. Heat 1 tsp oil in medium frying pan over medium heat.
2. Add garlic, stirring often, and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add onion, continuing to stir, and cook for another 2 minutes.
4. Add black beans and chili powder, stirring to combine with garlic and onions.
5. Turn heat to low and cook for another 3 minutes.
6. In separate frying pan, heat remaining oil over medium heat.
7. Once pan is hot, add butter, swirling to coat, and immediately add eggs. Cook to your liking.
8. Assemble tortilla, beans, avocado and eggs on plates, and top with salsa.

Breakfast Recipe: Asparagus and Mushroom Frittata with Salad and Berries

I have a confession to make. I don’t love vegetables as much as I should. There have been a few shameful occasions where I’ve bought a tub of spring mix salad and it’s begun to wilt before ending up on my plate (or, on the most shameful of occasions, ending up in the garbage).

So I developed a system that not only respects the salad but has a rather lovely side effect. I eat salad for breakfast. And I actually really like it.

I feel very content and sustained after this breakfast and it starts the day off on such a positive and healthy note. It says, “I am a vibrant person who eats a reasonable amount of vegetables and thereby respects my temple of a body!”

And the lovely side effect? Feeling skinny! It abates the bloatedness that can come with toast and jam (a former favourite as side kick to my eggs) and when sustained over the course of a week or two produces markedly looser fitting pants. Super!

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp peppercorn ranch dressing (or milk with whatever seasoning you fancy)
• 3 stalks asparagus, chopped
• 4 mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ tsp vegetable oil
• ½ tsp butter
• 1 cup mixed berries (I buy frozen bags of mixed berries and put the amount we’re going to eat in a covered bowl in the fridge the night before so that they are thawed by morning and avoid the microwave)
• 2 big handfuls of salad (I usually get spring mix)
• 2 tsp maple balsamic dressing (to make dressing, mix 1 part maple syrup, 2 parts balsamic vinegar, and 2 parts olive oil)

Instructions

1. Heat oil in medium frying pan over medium heat. A cast iron pan is best because it’s going to go in the oven, but I’ve wrapped the plastic handle of a Teflon pan with aluminum foil and that works just fine, too.
2. Once oil is hot, add butter, swirl around pan, add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add mushrooms, arranging them so that each slice is separate from the next (one great thing I learned from the fabulous movie Julie and Julia was “don’t crowd the mushrooms.” See trailer below).
4. Cook mushrooms for about 2 minutes, gently shaking pan, and turning each slice over half way through.
5. Meanwhile, in small bowl, beat eggs and dressing.
6. Add asparagus to pan, making make sure that all of the vegetables are evenly distributed, and then add egg mixture. (Turn oven to broil to heat up while eggs cook on stove)
7. Cook for about 2 minutes or until bottom begins to set but top is still runny.
8. Place under broiler for about 2 minutes or just until frittata begins to puff.
9. Serve frittata (I have a third and my husband has two thirds) with berries and salad drizzled with dressing.