Ho-Hum Mornings

I'm bored with breakfast. It is my task to produce a morning meal for three people in 10-15 minutes, and I'm tired of it. Don't get me wrong. I'm not upset over fixing the food. My husband and I have an equitable agreement. He puts together lunches and starts the coffee while I get ready for work, and then I make breakfast and divvy up the vitamins while he gets ready. Our son joins us around the table at about 6:30 every morning to catch a little news and put some fuel in our bodies.

Left to their own devices my guys wouldn't eat much in the morning. My son would just pour a bowl of cereal and be done with it, while Jeff might have a glass of juice and a piece of toast if he were feeling productive and unhurried. However, I believe it is important to put some nourishment into our systems before embarking on hectic, adventuresome days at school. After all, who can think when his stomach is growling? To that end, it has fallen to me to make sure everyone eats something before walking out the door, but frankly, I'm tired of what we have to eat.

Normally breakfast includes oatmeal and sausage or bacon for the boy, while my husband and I generally have an egg, sausage, and toast in some form or another. Often that form looks like a breakfast sandwich with a piece of cheese melted across the egg which rests with the split sausage (real or vegetarian) between two slices of toasted bread or half a bagel or an English muffin. Generally this is pretty good, except when it's not. And it hasn't been recently, not because anything is particularly wrong with it, but because it is boring.

Tired of the same old sandwich, this morning I sautéed peppers, onions, and mushrooms before scrambling some eggs and laying a piece of Muenster across the top to melt. We skipped the toast all together, and enjoyed the slight change of pace. Sometimes I actually think about breakfast around dinner time and put together a casserole with whipped eggs, lightly cooked veggies, chopped sausage, and cream of broccoli soup. This is a good way to have something different and save some time in the morning since I only have to portion it out and punch up a couple of minutes on the microwave. However, this is still basically the same doctored eggs we have every day.

Sometimes, when the moon is just right, we eat a bowl of cereal or have some yogurt and fruit, but neither of these sticks with me until lunch time, and I find myself digging through my lunch box for munchies by the end of second period. What I really long for is a beautiful breakfast - the kind that takes a good deal of time on Saturday morning - every day.

I'd like to start the meal with a steaming cup of coffee for me and tea for Jeff. Next to those mugs should be small, well-chilled glasses brimming with pink grapefruit juice for me and mango-orange for Jeff. These should be the perfect size to wash down the several vitamins we take on a daily basis. As we finish this endeavor, I'd like a plate of crepes with fresh blueberries or blackberries to appear in front of me. I'm not interested in all the whipped cream madness I see on IHOP commercials, just some honest berries drizzled across warm crepes perhaps stuffed with the perfect amount of ricotta cheese. Next to these delicious tidbits I'd like to have two slices of barely crispy sugar-cured bacon. (I prefer oven-baked for its texture, which seems less rubbery than pan-fried bacon.)Following these delectable morsels, I'd like a second cup of coffee and perhaps just a dollop of lemon or key lime yogurt sprinkled with granola.

In my dreams, breakfast is interesting and unhurried. Sometimes biscuits and gravy grace my plate, and other times I see Belgian waffles with lingonberry syrup. On other occasions I envision warm, buttery croissants graced with thinly shaved smoked salmon, a tablespoon of cream cheese, a sprinkling of capers, and a small ring or two of red onion. Some mornings I even fantasize about crispy-tender hash brown potatoes topped with sautéed onions, peppers, and ham tidbits under a canopy of melting sharp cheddar cheese. Alas, Monday through Friday's morning meal is never so sweet or succulent, but it is sustaining, and that's really the point after all. But, in my heart I know the weekend's coming, and I can just taste those goodies, now.