Once I realized that my most productive work hours are in the morning, I became obsessed about waking up early. I’ve always been an early sleeper since I was a kid (my family and closest friends know that bedtime for me is at 10pm, or earlier if I can help it!:P). In result, I wake up super early, as some of you who have received 5am emails from me may have noticed. The thing is, I can wake up early, but can’t really function without breakfast. This is basically the reason why my blog is called Life After Breakfast — my life really only begins after the most important meal of the day.
I’m not quite sure if today really is National Breakfast Day, or if a certain fastfood chain just invented it. But who cares?! Any reason to celebrate my most favorite meal sounds good to me! Since Posterous is shutting down, I thought of re-posting my first blog entry for the BDJ blog circle here. In honor of “National Breakfast Day”, here are my favorite morning meals, doodled and watercolored.
I start the day with a glass of warm water with lemon. I don’t drink coffee, but this wakes me up and gets my energy running just as well. We all know lemon to be sour, but when absorbed by the body, it has alkalizing properties. You can even add a dash of cayenne pepper to this drink to boost metabolism.
The more color you have on your plate, the more balanced nutrition you get. Keep this in mind when you create your own meals. This tofu scramble is an alternative to an omelette: instead of eggs, you’ve got tofu with turmeric and dark leafy greens for your protein. Sautée them with some garlic, onions, and tomatoes, and you’re good to go!
Who doesn’t love pancakes? I mash in some fresh fruit like bananas, strawberries, or mangoes into the batter, and top the rest with fruit. To make healthier syrup, dilute some coconut sugar with a drop of hot water.
Now before you say anything, let me just tell you that drinking green smoothies is the easiest way to incorporate raw greens into your diet. And trust me, they taste wonderful! Start by pulse-blending the greens with some coconut water (less water = thicker smoothie), and then add a banana, some fresh pineapple, berries, prunes or dates to sweeten the shake naturally.
I love papayas! Lucky for me, we have a papaya tree in our backyard. I like eating this fresh, or sometimes, drizzling some yogurt over it.
Check your Asian food section in the supermarket, and next time, grab some somen noodles. These are super thin, and made from wheat. I first tried this at a hotel buffet for breakfast, and fell in love with the milky taste. I toss it in some sesame-ginger sauce and top it off with spring onions and dried seaweed. You can also add fresh tofu to go with it!
The perfect breakfast for rainy mornings: Champorado! I use brown or red rice for this, with locally made 100% cacao tablea, and add a shot of almond or hazelnut milk when it’s done.
When I eat on my work desk (on hectic work days), this is my favorite thing to make for breakfast: a bowl of hot oats, sprinkled with chia seeds and cinnamon powder.
When I’m in a hurry to leave for early morning errands, I usually just toast some bread and fill it with soynut butter. Of course you can use peanut butter for this as well. Bananas are loaded with potassium, which helps the body retain less of the sodium in salty-sweet combinations such as this.
I love breakfast so much that our wedding was a morning wedding, with an overflowing breakfast buffet! (Thanks to my non-morning person husband for making that breakfast wedding dream come true.) I sometimes wish we could do an early bird craft workshop with yummy breakfast for morning people! Are there any other morning people out there who love to make crafts? …Hello??? …Anybody there? ….*crickets*…. (hahaha :P) Anyway, if you think this is a good idea, drop me an e-mail, and maybe I can organize something for fellow crafty morning peeps! 😛