Eggs Benedict for Breakfast

I don’t eat breakfast every day—as nutritionists insist I should—but when I do, I like an old fashioned American breakfast, namely eggs, toast and something in the way of meat.

 I’m a big fan of Farmer John’s breakfast links, but as they are made from rather fatty pork, they aren’t exactly diet food, and I’ve been trying, if only a little, to cut down my caloric intake (lately, I’ve been using turkey breakfast links for my Breakfast Bowls, which cuts down on calories and fat a lot).

 Bacon is, of course,  the meat of choice for me. Who doesn’t adore bacon? I used to think that bacon was a gift from God, but recently I got in the habit of reading nutrition labels and discovered that only two little pieces of thin-sliced bacon have a whopping 90 calories—which leads me to believe that maybe Satan had more to do with the invention of bacon than God did. As my wife and I have no children, when we have bacon (and my rather petite wife can never eat more than a few slices) I tend to eat at least 10 slices. At 900 calories—not including buttered bread and two eggs—this makes for a rather fattening breakfast.

I’ve always loved eggs Benedict, but I figured that it was a far more fattening meal than bacon and eggs. How wrong I was! Although Hollandaise sauce contains both butter and egg yolks, a single serving of the stuff has only 45 calories, making eggs Benedict far more desirable for those limiting their calories than the other two choices.

Not to suggest that eggs Benedict is diet food; if you want a really healthy breakfast, eat oatmeal. I’m just saying that if you have to choose between eggs along with either more than two measly strips of bacon or four or more sausage links, you’re better off with the eggs Benedict. And if you use half as much Hollandaise sauce as the recipe calls for, all the better.

 Many people love eggs Benedict, though few make it at home, thinking it is a complicated meal. Well, it doesn’t have to be. If you make your Hollandaise sauce from scratch it is, and it’s slightly less troublesome if you make it from a packet, such as Knorr brand mixes. (On a side note, you can substitute Knorr’s Béarnaise sauce for Hollandaise, which has the same number of calories and a slightly stronger—and different—flavor.) These packaged mixes are easy yet time consuming to make, but they are tasty.

 For the lazy cook, or those who wish to simplify their preparations, Aunt Penny has Hollandaise sauce in a small can that is delicious. All you have to do is heat it up in the microwave and you’re ready for breakfast.

 For those who want to further reduce the calories of this meal, you can always omit the Canadian bacon at the great sacrifice of flavor. Regardless, if you heat your sauce and Canadian bacon (which is far leaner than American bacon) in the microwave, the only things you have to worry about is poaching the eggs (you will need an egg poacher that fits into a frying pan for this) and toasting and buttering the muffins.

For this you will need (for two people):

• 4 English muffins
• 4 slices Canadian bacon
• 4 eggs (poached)
• 1 can Aunt Penny’s Hollandaise sauce

This is what you do:

1. Toast the muffins until golden brown, butter them and leave them in the toaster oven to keep them warm.
2. Pour the Hollandaise sauce into a small bowl and microwave until boiling hot.
3. Heat the bacon in the microwave.
4. Poach the eggs in a frying pan poacher until done as you prefer.
5. Place the muffins on a plate and stack the bacon, then the egg and pour 1/4 of the Hollandaise sauce over each egg.

As I said, you can reduce your caloric intake by omitting the bacon (this I don’t recommend) and by halving the amount of Hollandaise sauce you use (so that one can will cover eight servings; this I do recommend). This will make a very satisfying and delicious breakfast that takes about 10 minutes to make.