Healthy Eating: Post 1 Breakfast
We all have our own ideas and opinions of what is healthy and how to lose or maintain weight. For the past 20+ years I have fluctuated between 155 and 200 pounds, I am 6 feet tall.
At my thinnest of 155 I lived in a small rural village on the southern Oregon coast called Gold Beach. I was 7 miles away from a grocery store with limited products. No ethnic food at all. There were no restaurants, at least not the type I would eat at, so I had to learn how to cook. I also had an unbelievable garden that had produce that would grow year around.
For shopping we would drive 45 minutes south to another small, though slightly larger town, of Brookings. It wasn’t that the stores had a better variety but Brookings did have a few restaurants where we could have lunch.
I need to disclose here that I did have my favorite restaurants in Gold Beach, Indian Creek Cafe was my favorite breakfast place. Typical HUGE breakfasts, country diner type of thing. I always split my meal in half upon delivery and boxed up the other half for my Mother in law. For lunch I enjoyed Porthole cafe. Again another country home cooking type of establishment but the food was good, like Grandmas house. They also have a great view of the harbor and the family is very kind and giving to the community. Granted, I usually only ordered the crab Louis salad but at $16 USD a pop it is a splurge. For dinner there was really only one place to go and that was Spinners. I did not like Spinners when we first moved there. I felt the food was simple and the prices outrageous, they charge $32 USD for a filet mignon with Bearnaise sauce…. WTF? But, the owner and host is always there welcoming you and he is awesome, the food and service is consistent and I will say, the magret de Canard which always has a seasonal preparation is still to this day, my favorite duck anywhere, and that is saying a lot. I will always recommend Spinners as the place for dinner in Gold Beach. Yes, it’s simple but always good. They have a chefs menu that has not changed in over 20 years, which I usually despise about a restaurant but I admit there are some dishes I absolutely love such as their Asian chicken.
Unfortunately ethnic and fine food is not usually available in small rural communities. The so called Mexican options were Tex Mex at best and barely edible. The Chinese, which was American Chinese was not sanitary and full of sugar, MSG and who knows what. Pizza was a joke that was not funny. Think Pizza Hut, you get the idea. If you are looking for Thai, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, Ethiopian or any type of fine molecular gastronomy you obviously took a wrong turn and need to get back on the highway, it’s just not there.
So I learned how to cook. It was either that or starve or degrade my palate to that of a 1950’s diner. I grew food, I foraged for mushrooms and made friends with local fishermen and hunters who brought me some of the finest quality ingredients you could imagine.
We were in our mid thirties and so it was time to start thinking about our waist lines, 200 pounds for a six foot tall man is not OK unless you are a body builder, which I am not. So I came up with a few Go-To dishes and this is the breakfast item we ate quite regularly. Now, keep in mind we lived rural so we had a lot of time on our hands. I could take 2 hours in the morning to make breakfast because I had the time to do so. This is not a quick meal. But it is a very healthy, filling meal and extremely low calorie.
It is a simple dish of vegetables with an egg. The vegetables can be anything you like and I flavor them with Latin spices. Everything is Julienned so a very large pan cooks down quite small. You are probably getting an entire days worth of vegetables in one meal. I have used broccoli stems which are often discarded but are a huge source of fiber. Carrots, bell peppers, onions, a variety of greens and also tomatoes usually find their way into the pan.
The spices are basic Latin. Coriander, cumin, cayenne, black pepper and today I through in some turmeric. I have found that vegetables and hot spice will keep you full for hours so low calorie filling food.
On top I do a poached egg. It took me years to perfect the poached egg, one of the most difficult techniques in the culinary world. My idea of a perfect egg is symmetrical with a small tail on one end and perfectly cooked of course where the yolk becomes a sort of hollandaise sauce over the vegetables. It’s not easy. I ruined many eggs over the years and I had it down. Today I am again struggling with it. I am now thinking the eggs in Spain are just different as the whites immediately separate from the yolk the moment they hit the water. But here is what should work. Heat your water with salt and white wine vinegar. Just before boil stir the water to create a whirlpool and drop the first egg in. The deeper the pan the better as when the egg sinks the white should envelop the yolk and form a cocoon so the further it has to sink the more time it has to make itself perfect. When the egg floats, it’s done. Take it out and rest on a plate and continue with the next eggs. When they are all done you can place them back into the water briefly to warm them.
This has not really been working out as you can see in the above photo and Terri-Lynn regularly hears loud swearing coming out of the kitchen in the early hours of the morning.
So there is one of our regular breakfasts, just thought we would share it with you. Bon Appetite!
