Breakfast Bowl Recipe

Most nutritionists these days agree that it’s best to start your day with a breakfast heavy in protein and carbohydrates. Thank God, because the notion of eating only bananas and celery for my morning meal was not remotely appealing. Thanks to circular medical “knowledge”, bacon and eggs are back on the menu. However, many people don’t have time to prepare a complete breakfast every morning. Fortunately for you—and paraphrasing Bill Clinton—I feel your hunger pangs. All you need to do is cook up a pack or two of Farmer John’s breakfast links ahead of time (or whatever brand you like, though they won’t be as good as Farmer John’s; you can also cook up sausages patties such as Jimmy Dean if you prefer) and keep them stored in your refrigerator along with a jar or two of my Simple Chicken Stock. If you don’t already have leftover cooked white rice, cook some and put it in the fridge, too. With these basic ingredients already in your refrigerator, you can have a complete and satisfying meal in less than five minutes.

This is not a breakfast that trendy Los Angeles metrosexuals and/or yuppies would even consider, which shouldn’t dissuade you at all, because who takes them seriously anyway? This is not a low-calorie meal and it does contain some fat, but it’s seriously high in protein and will get your motor chugging in full gear to face the day. Plus it tastes great.

For this, you will need:

• 1/2 – 1 cup cooked white rice
• 1/4 cup Simple Chicken Stock (canned broth is inferior but will suffice)
• 1 or 2 eggs
• 2 – 4 link sausages (or 1 or 2 sausage patties), cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. chili oil (optional)

Plop the rice into a medium-sized bowl along with the chicken stock, lemon juice, soy sauce and chili oil (if using it), then nuke it all in the microwave oven for about three minutes, until the broth is simmering. Let the bowl sit for a bit while you cut the breakfast sausage (patties or links) into little bits, and then dump them into the bowl. As the rice sits, it will absorb most of the excess broth. Also, if you mix the sausage bits into the rice, the rice will heat them while they simultaneously cool the boiling rice, if slightly. Crack your eggs into a skillet and fry them up however you wish; or if you want to avoid using oil, poach the eggs to preferred doneness (or you can use previously cooked hard boiled eggs, or even soft boil them, but that takes longer). Then cut the eggs into little bits and dump them into the bowl too. Mix it all up and you have a breakfast that you can take with you if you’re in a big hurry.

If you’re in too big a rush to cook the eggs, you can separate the yolks from the whites and add the yolks to the bowl (eating raw egg whites runs a slight risk of salmonella poisoning; however, the yolks should be safe—and as they don’t resemble mucus, they aren’t quite as disgusting to eat with the rice as raw egg whites are).

NOTE: For a virtually fat-free alternative that is nearly as delicious, substitute turkey breakfast sausage for the pork links/patties and separate the yolk from the egg before cooking it, using the egg white only.