Breakfast Salads
Salad for breakfast is a festive way to kick off a day, as well as to work in an extra serving or two of greens and other vegetables. I’ve set a little summer challenge for myself – therefore these (low-resolution, sorry) Instagram pics (hashtagged #breakfastsalad, add yours if you like!) – to have a salad (and green juice!) for breakfast most days of the week. Given family stress, moving, and working extra-long hours, I really notice that a wholesome breakfast goes a long way toward setting a healthy tone for the day.
Because eating grains – even non-gluten grains, even in whole form – makes me starving, sluggish, and gain weight, salads are a great low-carbohydrate way to add variety in color, texture, and flavor to breakfast when a plain egg just doesn’t inspire. A breakfast salad that incorporates protein and good fat is a recipe for steady blood sugar. I’m often not hungry for lunch until 2 p.m., which I find much more pleasant than being famished at 11:30 a.m., back in the good (not) old days of cereal, fruit juice, bananas, toast, and other blasts of carbohydrates.I often incorporate leftovers from dinner the night before – sautéed vegetables eaten cold or reheated, spooned over crisp greens and topped with cold steak or a fried or poached egg. Or with bacon and tomato, as in the snap above. Glorious!
I just love the tender, peppery bite of arugula with eggs or sausage, as in the pic up top, which is a slice of breakfast sausage quickly sautéed with peppers and onions, served with arugula and tomatoes.Once tomatoes are sassing their juiciness all over town, start building killer BLAT (BLT with avocado) breakfast salads: smash avocado with a squirt of lemon and pinch of salt and spread on a plate; top with thick slice of tomato, a slice or two of crisp bacon, a handful of arugula, squirt with a bit more of that lemon, and finish with a poached egg. Add a dab of hot sauce if you like.
Hot damn.Sautéed mushrooms of any variety are delicious in a salad, warm and earthy on their own or like arugula, particularly terrific with eggs or sausage. Add toasted nuts for crunch or a dollop of Greek yogurt, in lieu of an egg, for creaminess.Because I tend to add avocado, an egg, sautéed mushrooms, and/or bacon or sausage, I don’t add a formal salad dressing. The richness of yolk or olive oil or butter from the pan are nicely offset with a squeeze of lemon or lime. A sprinkle of salt, perhaps some fresh chives, and a generous grind of black pepper finish it all off. The pic above is greens, pickles, peppadew peppers, crispy prosciutto, a fried egg, and lemon. An easy flavor explosion is nice to enjoy on the porch with a cup of coffee and a few minutes of peace and quiet before the day gets crazy.
If you’re a breakfast salad fan, let me know!