Breakfast

I've been asked to talk about what I eat for breakfast. I must confess, sometimes I just decide it's not worth the bother.  But other times I'm not so lazy.  I am blessed with the ability to eat eggs so that is always an option. Good eggs-  from happy chickens who aren't fed antibiotics and other terrible things. One of my favorite ways to eat eggs is in a quiche. Rebekah created a cheese-less quiche which we all love. It's a bit of a pain to make, but if you're of a mind to trouble yourself, it makes a great breakfast for several days. We have two versions of this; one is more "breakfasty" than the other because it includes breakfast sausage, but the other is great too.

I also eat hot cereal. Brown rice can be ground up into a coarse flour if you have a way to grind it. My Blend-tec works great for this. Then it can be cooked into a hot cereal. If not, Bob's Red Mill has a brown rice cereal and a gluten free cereal (although the gf cereal contains corn so I can't use it anymore). I have several variations of this cereal.

I also eat quick breads or muffins, as well as Namaste waffles on special occasions. Sprinkling lots of chocolate chips into the waffles makes a great snack/desert for later. I like my olive oil-sea salt toast shared in the Sick Food post. I used to eat oats raw (or whatever you call them when they're in flakes and not cooked). If you're not allergic to oats, you can buy gf oats now and this would be a great option. Mix the flakes with nuts and raisons or other dried fruit and pour milk over them (any kind of rice or nut milk works). This makes a great "cold cereal".  Quinoa flakes, which look like oats, might work too, but I haven't actually tried them.

The only kind of processed cereal I've found which I can eat is Perky's Nutty Rice or Nutty Flax. It's vaguely similar to a grape nut type texture. There are also natural brands of rice crispies that are gluten and corn-free; EnvironKids has a chocolate rice crispies, and Enjoy Life has a granola that's corn/gf  (it's not the greatest tasting in my opinion, however).  I'm not overly fond of Rice Crispies or Perky's, but they're not bad once in a while when loaded up with nuts, seeds, fruit, etc.  I've just about decided that it's time for me to start a cereal company.  Lots of companies make gluten free cereals. No one makes gf cereal that's also corn and oat free. Surely there's a way to make a "flake" cereal that meets this criterion.

Rice pudding can also be a nice option. Otherwise, these are about all the options I can think of. This area of my food-life still needs some work. But keep in mind...  virtually any left-over can be breakfast as well. There's no law that says "breakfast" foods must be eaten at breakfast!

Breakfast Quiche
Mix a batch of breakfast sausage to begin with. Work the seasonings into the meat:
1 lb ground turkey
1/4-1/2 t. each:  coriander, sage, marjoram
1 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
Brown the meat, then throw a couple big handfuls of baby spinach on top and stir till it wilts. Set aside.  Peel 4-6 good-sized potatoes, shred and lightly fry them. Season with salt & pepper to taste and then press them into an oiled baking dish, going up the sides to form a "crust". Whisk 6-8 eggs and then pour them over the sausage-spinach mix. Pour the whole thing over the potato crust and bake at 400 for 30-40 minutes till browned & done. We all LOVE this stuff!

Chicken Quiche
Saute onions, peppers, finely chopped broccoli, then add diced chicken pieces and saute till done. Season with salt, pepper, basil, or whatever you like. When done, cool a bit while you peel, shred and fry the potatoes as instructed above. Follow instructions above for adding eggs, pouring over the potato crust and baking.

Cooked Rice Cereal
3 c. water & 1/2 t. salt - bring to a boil
1 c. coarsely ground rice or rice cereal - whisk into the water and simmer 5-8 minutes. Lots of possibilities for what to do with this. Below are a couple to get you started.
Cocoa: Add 2 T. sugar & 2 T. cocoa. Voila! Cocoa wheats without the wheat  :0)
Cranberry-Maple: Sprinkle walnuts and dried cranberries over the hot rice cereal then drizzle with pure maple syrup on top. Flood the whole thing with rice or nut milk.
Strawberry/Blueberry: Either kind of berry with raw sugar, cinnamon and sliced almonds.

Millet Breakfast Cereal
1 c. millet - dry toast it in a pan for more flavor. Mix with 3 c. water and a pinch of salt. Boil, then simmer, covered for about 30 minutes till the water is absorbed. I'm guessing this could be done in a rice cooker, but I haven't tried it. Mix in any combination of fruit, nuts, and other goodies.

Muffins:
I wouldn't call the muffins below the worlds most delicious, but they might be the easiest and cheapest allergen-friendly ones. The plain rice flour option keeps the cost down and they're super quick. Namaste Muffin Mix is also a great option if you want a little more sophisticated muffins; make according to directions. In addition to these, any muffin recipe will work with Namaste Perfect Flour Blend subbed for the flour.
Easy Muffins   (makes 1 dozen)
1 c. milk substitute
1 egg
1 c. rice flour or flour mix
2 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder  (or 1 t. cream of tarter & 1/2 t. baking soda)
2 t. oil
1/2 t. flavoring: pumpkin pie spice / almond extract / coconut ext./ cinnamon / vanilla
Raspberry: Add enough fresh raspberries that the batter is thick with berries. Frozen berries don't work well with this because they make the muffins soggy. Other berries can be used but we think raspberries are by far the best.
Chocolate Chip: Same as the berries. Add the chips till the batter is thick with them. The chips make the muffins much better, and they make a nice snack/desert-type food as well.

Banana Bread  (from the Namaste mixes)
2 c. Perfect Flour Blend
1 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
1/2 c. canola oil
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 brown sugar packed or heaping
2 large eggs
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. coarsely chopped walnuts
Mix dry and wet ingredients separately, then combine. Pour batter into greased loaf pan and bake at 325 for 65-75 minutes, or till toothpick comes out clean.

Zucchini Bread
1/2 c. raisons & 1/4 c. water; boil a mintue then drain, reserving the liquid
Sift together:
1 1/2 c. perfect flour blend  (Namaste)
1 slightly rounded t. of baking soda
1/4 t. cream of tarter
3/4 t. salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
Mix:
1 beaten egg & 1 c. shredded zucchini.
Mix separately:
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/3 c. oil
1 c. sugar
Add the sugar and egg mixtures along with half the flour. Beat well then add the raisons, water, and:
1/2 c. walnuts
1/4 t. fine lemon peel,  along with the remaining flour. Mix well and pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 55-60 min. Let cool 10 minutes then remove.

Cranberry Nut Bread
We always make this around the holidays, but it also makes a nice breakfast food:
Sift together dry ingredients together then add wet ones:
2 1/2 c. perfect flour blend
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 t. salt
3 1/2 t. baking powder (or 1 1/2 slightly rounded t. cream of tarter & 3/4 slightly rounded t. soda)
1/4 c. oil
1/3 c. rice or nut milk
2 eggs
Mix well then add 1 c. chopped walnuts & 1 c. cranberries, chopped into halves. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes.

Apple-Rice Pudding
Combine:
4 c. cooked rice
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
2/3 c. honey
1 c. raisons
4-6 apples, chopped
6 T. oil  (virgin coconut, canola-   or butter if you can have it)
Bake in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish for 30 minutes.  (You might try subbing rice or nut milk for the oil if you don't like using oil. I've not tried it though.)