Breakfast.

Via was asking what Mike and I eat for breakfast .... I find it funny that I've written so little about breakfast, considering that Mike and I take our breakfasts quite seriously! When we go grocery-shopping, choosing our breakfast food is often a high point of the trip.

I like heavy breakfasts, since I need to have a lot of energy when I'm in the classroom, so a traditional Filipino breakfast--i.e., a rice breakfast--makes me very happy. The rice is usually either sinangag (last night's leftover rice, fried with lots of garlic) or freshly steamed. I grew up in a Batanguenyo household, where we poured tsokolate on our steamed rice in the morning (I learned from my friend Jan that Ilonggos do this too), so sometimes I do that as well. (Mike thinks it's strange, but then, he's not Batanguenyo.) Alternately, I sprinkle furikake (rice seasoning--one of the best Japanese inventions!) on my rice for some extra flavor. (You can sometimes find furikake in the Japanese aisle of big supermarkets.)

Our ulam for rice breakfast meals is usually something easy to cook, with zero preparation. Sometimes we have pre-marinated beef tapa (our favorite is the one from Lapid's--yes, they do tapa too!), sausages or cold cuts (we are fans of the very affordable but very yummy products from Earl's delicatessen), tuyo or daing out of a jar (we like Connie's Kitchen), chicken nuggets, beef franks, or something out of a can like corned beef or Spam Lite. Another favorite breakfast ulam of ours is Sarangani's tinapang bangus. It just needs to defrost a little after you pull it out of the freezer, then you just heat in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes.

And of course, it isn't a true Filipino breakfast without egg. I love scrambled eggs the way my mom taught me to make them: I beat them very well with a generous amount of milk, and I continue to beat them (or more like mix them) in the pan so they get as fluffy as possible.

Sometimes, instead of rice, we have bagels with ham and cream cheese. Yummy and quite heavy.

When we're in a rush and we don't have time for a heavy breakfast, we each have a bowl of cereal and milk. Shopwise has wonderful cheap cereals (P80 to P120 a box). Sometimes we each chop a banana into our cereal bowls so it isn't too light.

On weekend mornings when we have more time to cook, we make ourselves a generous, sinful omelette oozing with cheese and either bacon or ham. Other times, we'll have pancakes or French toast.

And finally, on really lazy weekend mornings, when we wake up late, I'll sometimes just make a banana smoothie for each of us, then we save our appetite for brunch. :)

I promise to give more details about our breakfast meals in future posts. :)

Thanks for the idea, Via!

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Easy apple pancakes

Our apple conundrum continues. For lunch I decided to have apple pancakes, or in German, Apfel Pfannekuchen (naks, I looked it up). I actually don't know how Germans make authentic Apfel Pfannekuchen, but I figured -- pancakes and apples, how difficult can it be? I just used store-bought ready-to-cook pancake mix for this. And Fuji apples.

Ingredients:

1 apple, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
pancake mix, enough to make 2 small pancakes
2 tbsp butter

Method:

Follow the instructions to make the pancake batter.

In a separate bowl, combine the apple, sugar and cinnamon. Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a large non-stick skillet over moderate heat. Put apple mix in skillet and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes, until apple has slightly softened. Remove apples and set aside.

Heat the remaining butter in the skillet. Pour 2/3 of the pancake batter into the skillet. When underside has begun to set, add apples onto the pancake. Cook for a minute then carefully pour the rest of the pancake batter onto the apples. Cook for a few minutes, allowing center to set then carefully flip the entire pancake over to cook the other side.

Serves 1.

Unlike regular pancakes, this does not need to be served with butter or syrup. The sugared apples are already sweet and tasty. Of course, no one's stopping you ....

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Sun-dried Tomato and Ham Omelette

Mike usually makes a breakfast or a brunch on weekends. Today, we woke up late and had omelettes for brunch. Here's what he prepared.

Ingredients:

6 slices cooked Canadian bacon or ham, chopped
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. butter
2 pcs. sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/4 tsp. dried basil
2 tbsp. grated Quickmelt cheese
3 small eggs
pepper to taste

Method:

Combine ham and sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl. Beat eggs in a separate bowl. Heat butter and oil in a pan over medium heat. Pour eggs into pan, and let cook until underside begins to set. Sprinkle grated cheese onto one half of the egg. When underside of egg has set, put ham and sun-dried tomatoes on top of the cheese. Sprinkle with pepper to taste. When filling has warmed, fold the empty half of the egg over the filling. Cook until egg has reached desired consistency. Serve with rice or bread.

Serves 2.

We served this omelette with garlic fried rice sprinkled with garlic salt and dried parsley. A very tasty brunch!