Start your day

Start your day, and your cooking conquest off right!

With the sound of your shrieking alarm you wake, stumble to the kitchen, and put on a pot of coffee. While this morning ritual is fine and good, there are more activities in your kitchen that you can add to your morning routine beyond making coffee. While time is a valid constraint and concern, there is still a way to cook yourself a quick satisfying breakfast. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Most people cringe at the thought of meatless alternatives, such as soy bacon and sausages, but not only are they more delicious than you’d expect, and so much healthier, they can be made in under a minute in your microwave. They’re worth a try and they can add a good amount of protein to your morning meal, which will help you feel fuller and more satisfied than an all carbohydrate breakfast.

Along with your meatless sausage or bacon, you can quickly make scrambled eggs by whisking eggs with a tablespoon of milk per egg and salt and pepper to taste, cook over medium heat while your meatless breakfast patties are in the microwave and your toast is in the toast.

Pancakes can also be made easily, without a mix, in the time it takes to heat a griddle with flour, milk, eggs, and little baking powder. A good way to tell when its time to flip the pancakes is when the edges begin to dry a half inch in and the bubbles have popped on the surface of the uncooked side. Instead of using butter, there are many butter like spreads that contain zero trans-fat or hydrogenated oils and good dose of heart health Omega 3 fatty acids. Also when it comes to maple syrup the real thing is better for several reasons. Not only does it taste amazing, but unlike artificial syrups, it’s made from natural sugars, not high fructose corn syrup, the main ingredient found in sodas. While a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth looks awfully cute on the table, go for the real thing if you want your breakfast to be delicious.

On weekend mornings there’s only one place where you can find me: the kitchen. Scones, coffee cakes, home fries, fried, poached, and scrambled eggs, banana bread, biscuits, crepes, muffins, cinnamon rolls, bagels, and on very, very special occasions you’ll find fresh made bear claws there. With a little practice and patience, you can have all of these fresh from the pan or the oven, just the way you like, when you want it, and all while you’re still in your pajamas.

A personal favorite, scones, are not only incredibly easy and quick to make, but are so delicious straight from the oven that the thought of buying a scone sitting all day, cold, in a case at your favorite coffee house will never cross your mind again. Most recipes will have you mix flour, baking powder, a little salt, and some sugar together in a bowl, then incorporate cold butter. When doing this it’s best to work quickly, first slicing the butter into one eighth inch tabs then rubbing the pieces into the butter with your finger tips until there are no more big chunks of butter remaining and the mixture resembles course crumbs. Next you will beat together milk or cream with and egg with a fork and add this to the flour mixture, mixing with the same fork, until the mixture forms a loose ball with some flour still unincorporated. This will keep the dough from sticking when you turn it onto a bread board or other flat, clean surface. Once this is done press the dough into a ball and flatten it, folding it over and flattening it again into a small disk 7-8 times. Then this disk is cut into 8 pieces or so and sprinkled with sugar. The scones are cooked until golden brown, usually 10 to 15 minutes, which will give you time to clean your kitchen while you wait for your delicious scones.

So in just 20 minutes you can have hot delicious scones right from your oven and share them with your roommates, family, or sweetie.

It’s a pretty sweet way to start your day. Happy cooking!


-Melissa Kilmer