If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it shouldn’t have to be the most dissatisfying. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the typical morning of today’s average worker or adolescent, taking time to prepare, cook, and sit down and eat a hearty breakfast just might not happen.
I probably stopped eating breakfast in high school, mostly due to laziness. However, most days, particularly after physical education, I’d find myself falling asleep in class.
In college, I occasionally joined a group of friends for breakfast before our first classes and I immediately noticed that on the days I ate breakfast my energy level throughout the entire day was much higher. After I entered the work force, I soon found myself in the same predicament I was in before college—some days I was in a hurry so I’d skip breakfast because I didn’t have enough time to do everything I needed to do in the morning and prepare a meal as well.
There’s always the option of grabbing food on the go, but although breakfast bars, granola bars, fast food (assuming there’s a place to stop on your way to work), and cereal are all quick and easy options, they get old and repetitive very quickly.
I discovered that breakfast sandwiches were the solution. All they require is a little imagination and about 10 minutes preparation time in the morning or the night before, and a toaster oven or microwave.
Breakfast sandwiches are great because they require little prep time, are hearty, and can be eaten on the go.
To get started you need eggs, English muffins (any kind of bread will work), and your favourite cheese.
Toast and butter one English muffin half or half a slice of bread (optional). Then cook an egg over hard. Get a slice or two of your favourite cheese and stack the sandwich from bottom to top—bread, cheese, egg—and enjoy.
That’s the basic recipe—see below for more recipe ideas. If you’re in a hurry, just let the residual heat from the egg melt the cheese. If you have a few minutes, you can throw it in a toaster oven or microwave to do the job.
I recommend cooking the egg over hard if you are making the sandwich to go. It’s the quickest option. If you have a little more time, another option would be folding a single egg into a mini-omelet.
The egg can be prepared sunny-side up, poached, or over easy, but if the yolk isn’t fully cooked, eating it on the go might not be a good idea. Scrambled eggs do not stay in a sandwich very well, particularly if it’s open-faced.
Here are some variations on the basic recipe. Enjoy!
Meat, Egg, and Cheese
Simply add ham, roast beef, bacon, turkey, or whatever to the basic recipe.
The Gordon Blue
Start with the basic recipe, then add ham and thinly sliced roast chicken breast with Swiss cheese.
Breakfast Pizza
Start with the basic recipe, but use mozzarella and/or fontinella cheese and add a sliced tomato or tomato-based pasta sauce.
The Italian
Start with the basic recipe, but use an Italian cheese like asiago, fontina, parmesan, and/or romano cheese and add prosciutto de Parma and/or Capacollo.
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