What is American Break Fast?
There is no meal more important than breakfast. My favorite meal of the day is also this one. After living in Europe and China for ten years, I feel like there is nothing better than potato hash, syrup-coated pancakes and some sort of egg variation with a cup of coffee in the morning. There's just something about a hearty breakfast (infused with coffee, of course) that really sets my day in the right direction.
Maybe it's the fact that working a typical 9-5 means most of us don't really have time to sit down for this meal, except on weekends or special occasions. I'm sure there's a psychological effect to being a kid and only having a big breakfast on the weekends when mom has time to cook. Who knows?
Whether you share my nostalgia or not, breakfast is a meal that can bring you a lot. If you can get a few calories into your body early in the morning, you can fire up the stove and get your muscles moving in the morning.
Protein will keep you full until lunch, and fluids will cure your dehydration from sleep, which means you can think more clearly. While recent studies show that adding breakfast to your schedule isn't the "easy way" to lose weight, it's still a really easy way to start the day.
And did you know that you can get gourmet breakfast items straight to your door as part of a monthly club breakfast? Pancakes, waffles, coffee, gourmet syrup and more. My recommendation? You may also need to pair it with a bacon club of the month!
American Breakfast Foods:
Pancakes and Maple Syrup:
Who doesn't like waking up to the smell of pancakes? There is something about pancakes that suggests the day is going to be great, especially if you share them with your family.
No matter how rushed you are, pancakes are a breakfast that you really need to take slowly. This makes them a great way to slow down and start the day with the right food, rather than rushing from the start.
Toasted English muffin:
Having a toasted English muffin can be a quick and easy breakfast option. One of the great things about this is that there are so many different options for toppings, so you can really adapt them to what you like to eat.
Some of the simpler options include butter, Nutella, or cream cheese, but there are far more interesting and complex alternatives as well. In fact, you can just treat an English muffin like a bun and use that as a guide on what to put on it
Eggs Benedict:
Eggs Benedict is one of the most common examples of using English muffins as a breakfast food. These are very common in restaurants, but they are also surprisingly easy to make at home.
Breakfast simply consists of an English muffin, some sort of ham or bacon Canadian bacon is often used, a poached egg and hollandaise sauce. The combination of flavors works very well together and this is a protein-rich breakfast that can help you feel full for longer.
Biscuits and Gravy:
Biscuits and Gravy is a particularly common breakfast in the United States, especially in the South, although the meal is not very common in other parts of the world.
Since biscuits are cookies in British English, the phrase Biscuits and Gravy doesn't even make sense. This American breakfast dish can be particularly filling and a great way to start the day.
Bagel with Cream Cheese:
Bagels are a great option for a simple breakfast, especially since you can cut them in half and put them in the toaster to reheat them. There are many different types to choose from, including those with sesame and sunflower seeds, as well as different types of dough, such as rye and whole meal.
As with English muffins, there is a wide variety of topping options. One common approach is to combine cream cheese with smoked salmon.
Cinnamon Rolls:
Cinnamon rolls are a particularly tempting breakfast choice for those who love sweet foods. They are also particularly attractive due to the cinnamon flavor as this is a really good breakfast flavor.
Many people buy cinnamon rolls as is or buy one that just needs to be baked, but it's actually not as difficult as it seems to make them from scratch. The sweet and sugary nature of this breakfast means this is a good surprise, but not something you should have for breakfast every day.
Belgian Style Waffles:
Belgian waffles usually have large squares, deep pockets, and relatively light batter. When done well, waffles are generally crunchy on the outside but light on the inside.
The deep pockets mean there's a huge range of potential toppings, including fruit, syrup, chocolate sauce, ice cream, and often combinations of all of these. Breakfast versions of waffles tend to focus more on fruit and syrup flavors, but even then there are plenty of different options.
Breakfast Burrito:
Breakfast burritos are a saltier breakfast option, but they're also a very filling option. As with a regular burrito, this is usually a flour tortilla wrapped around the filling. The difference here is the specific padding.
Breakfast burritos often use breakfast items, such as scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, sausage, bacon, and fried potatoes, but again the options are endless. Salsa, potatoes, avocado, beans, spinach, feta and mushrooms are just a few of the many other possible ingredients that can be added.
French toast:
French toast is another nice addition to breakfast. This is often associated with lazy Sunday mornings, but it can work well any day, especially since it's relatively quick to prepare.
The basic approach is to dip or dip the bread in a whipped egg mixture and then fry it. Of course, there are many variations depending on the recipe you choose, including using milk or cream in the mix, as well as spices like nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, or sugar.
Bacon and Eggs:
Bacon and eggs are two foods that most people associate with breakfast – and for good reason. The flavors go well together and you will often see some type of starch included, such as a croissant, toast, fried potatoes or hash browns.
You might see scrambled, poached, fried, or sometimes even hard-boiled eggs. Regardless of the variations used, bacon and eggs are still a particularly satisfying way to start the day.
Fruit Smoothie:
Fruit smoothies are a healthier way to start the day and work really well for those short on time. After all, you can put them in a take-out container and drink them on the go. Fruit smoothies also work well as a way to add other healthy components to a diet.
For example, people often mix leafy greens or protein powders to create a more complex, filling smoothie that largely tastes like fruit. As always, there are a huge number of different variations that can be tried and people tend to tailor their smoothies to their preferences.
Plain Toast & Butter or Jam:
Toast is probably one of the simplest breakfast options, but it's still very common. Finally, to bake the toast, you just need to put a few pieces of bread in a toaster and wait for them to be cooked.
Then all you have to do is add toppings like butter or jam. On busy days, I tend to only eat the toast when I walk through the door - that way I can make sure I have at least something on my stomach to keep me awake.
Sweet Crepes:
Pancakes have many similarities to pancakes, but they are usually thinner and lighter. This makes them perfect for fillings, and you will often see rolled pancakes with fillings the same way as burritos.
The term sweet pancakes generally refers to fillings, as pancakes are generally prepared the same regardless of whether sweet or savory fillings are used. Some common sweet options for pancakes include fruit, powdered sugar and chocolate syrup, berry sauce, or sugar and lemon.
