Saturday, December 30, 2006

Year 2, Day 302: The Breakfast Rut


I've been in something of a breakfast rut, which if you've been following this blog for a long time you'll know is a frequent event. If you're not a morning person, you like things to be very automatic in the morning. Maybe if you live a life of wealth and leisure, or work in a restaurant you might have the privilege of waking up and deciding what to eat but with a house full of people to push out the door, you've literally got to get it down to a military precision. For me, the cereal breakfast is excellent because it requires no cooking and very little preparation. It can be eaten all at once (when crispy) or over a long period of time (soggier, but still good). These are important facets because eggs really should be eaten hot, like toast. I like to eat ham on toast for breakfast but by day three I don't want to any more but I feel guilty about the ham going bad so I have to finish it. Eggs are great but often require attention, which is in short supply and coordination with toast or timers (it's amazing how easily you can overcook an egg when you're mopping up Elmo Oatmeal). WIth cereal, I get the taste and the texture of a crunchy thing, which is frequently missing in a low-car diet. I get fiber. I get protein. And I stay full for a few hours. I've noticed now that I just use my hand to pour it out how much less I'm eating then when I portioned it out in a measuring cup. I guess that's one of the ways a diet can be tricky; just because you're ALLOWED to eat a cup of cereal doesn't mean you should. On the flip side, it's better to eat the allowable portion in one sitting rather than eat less, still be hungry and want to go back for seconds. Anyone who loves cereal and/or reads this blog knows that I could keep eating cereal until I looked like the cereal equivalent of Veruca Salt, who blows up like a blueberry in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (or Willie Wonka, for those movie fans). On the plus side, Kashi Go Lean doesn't engender that kind of passionate seconds-seeking like Frosted Flakes, Honey Combs, Cocoa-Crispies, Kaboom!, Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries or Freakies did.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Ikea Muesli
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Lunch
Fritata: Three Cheeses (Feta, 50% Jalapeno and Colby/Cheddar Mix), Cabbage, Broccoli, Red Pepper, Onions and Ham.

Dinner:
2 slices Balthazar Bread with Super Chunky Peanut Butter
two boneless spareribs
small portion of chilean sea bass

Dessert
2 bites of a sugar free pop (Magnolia made me eat it).

Still not feeling myself, but I was determined to 'eat what's in the house.' This led me, extemporaneously, to make a fritata. Now the best fritatas in the world have potatoes, but for me they're a no-no so I went with everything but. Historically, I found that except for making potato latkes for passover, potatoes nearly ALWAYS went bad in my house. I would buy them thinking of making delicious au gratins, or just simply baking them, or even boiling them with sour cream, but instead they would grow green pipe-cleaner shaped eye-attachments which I would break off during the exam that preceded my heavy sighs as I threw another wasted batch in the garbage. Because I ate such a heavy thing and so late, and because the sickness was upon me, I didn't feel much like eating. So I did the eat-standing-up thing and had a little of the take out we got for the girls.

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