My Daily Breakfast Snack

I’ve never been much of a breakfast eater – if I eat too soon after getting up, it leaves me feeling nauseated, sometimes for hours – but after writing some of the articles on this site about nutrition, I decided it was time to start a new habit.

In this short article, I talk about what I have (most mornings), why I eat this for my breakfast snack (it’s not really large enough to be called a full breakfast), and exactly how I make it.

What Is My Breakfast Snack?

It’s certainly nothing fancy – essentially, it’s scrambled eggs with raw garlic, sometimes with cheese and sometimes without.

Why Do I Eat This?

There are a number of reasons I choose to eat this simple snack:

1. Eggs are good for you, and since I don’t eat a lot of meat, it’s one way to get some protein.
2. Garlic is good for you too, with many health benefits, which I go into in more detail here.
3. It’s quick to make.
4. It’s light – like I said above, I cannot eat much at breakfast time without feeling sick afterwards but this is small enough not to trigger that problem.
5. It can be made in the microwave. I know they don’t take long to cook using a regular frying pan / skillet either, but I find the clean-up when using a microwave a lot easier (largely thanks to my dogs, who get to lick out the bowl).
6. It’s hot food, which is especially useful during the winter months because it gets really cold in this house.

How Do I Make My Breakfast Snack?

These are the exact steps I follow, and if they seem a bit long, it’s only because I’m trying to be thorough:

1. If I remember in time, I remove two eggs from the fridge earlier (or even the night before).
2. I crack the eggs into a small microwave-safe bowl and whisk them with a fork until the yolks and the whites are fully mixed.
3. I add two tablespoons of filtered cold water and then whisk the eggs and water together.
4. I add a pinch of salt and mix that in.
5. I put the bowl in the microwave and cover it. (I use a silicone splatter guard, but any microwave-safe cover will do.)
6. I cook the mixture on full power for 30 seconds.
7. It will almost certainly still be highly liquid at this stage, with just a hint of more solid egg around the edges, so I remove the bowl from the microwave and whisk the egg mixture with the fork again.
8. If I am going to add cheese, I add a small handful of grated cheese at this stage and mix that.
9. I put the bowl back in the microwave and cook the egg mixture, still covered, for another 30 seconds.
10. Depending on various factors (e.g. temperature, microwave power, the amount of water, and whether you added cheese or not), there will probably still be a few liquidy parts left, in which case I whisk it up again.
11. From here on, I cook it, covered, for ten seconds at a time, until it is the consistency I want. For me, since my microwave is 1,250 watts, it usually only takes one 10-second burst, but if the eggs are a bit colder than usual, it takes an additional ten seconds, and if I’ve added grated cheese, it may take one or two more 10-second bursts.
12. Once it’s cooked to the consistency I want, I remove it from the microwave oven.
13. Because I have three dogs, I set some of the scrambled egg aside for them – I cannot eat food in this house without my dogs wanting their fair share. 🙂
14. I then sprinkle one or two cloves (depending on their size) of freshly and finely chopped raw garlic over the top. (I do this after putting some eggs aside for my dogs because it’s difficult to obtain consistent information about whether garlic is safe for dogs – some say it’s toxic, and others say it’s not only safe but good for them. I prefer to play it safe and not give them garlic, especially when it’s raw.)
15. And then I eat it straight out of the bowl while it’s still piping hot.
16. Finally, one of the dogs gets my dirty bowl, with some of the eggs I put aside, and the other two get their bit of egg in smaller bowls I keep for this purpose.

Additional Notes

1. You can, of course, add as much garlic as you want, but be careful – too much, or chunks that are too large, may burn your mouth a bit as raw garlic is pretty strong.
2. When eating it, it’s important to make sure that you bite down on and chew thoroughly the garlic bits, because that is what releases the allicin, which is the sulphur-based compound that is responsible for many of the health benefits.
3. And speaking of the allicin, make sure you chop your garlic clove(s) at the last minute, because allicin degrades quickly.
4. If you want to use more eggs, you can, but remember that you need one tablespoon of water for each egg, which will then increase the cooking time. In this case, I still stick to the two 30-second bursts, and then continue 10 seconds at a time.
5. You could, of course, add other ingredients (e.g. chopped parsley or other herbs), but remember this is meant to be a light, quick snack.
6. I tend to buy organic eggs (and organic food in general where I can), but that is a personal choice. There are those who say the nutritional content is no different to non-organic foods, but there are also studies that show some organic foods do have better nutritional value. It’s always worth thinking about what goes into producing that food – organic foods typically have fewer and/or less dangerous pesticides and herbicides (e.g. no glyphosate, which is listed by the IARC as a probable human carcinogen), and in terms of food produced from livestock (including eggs), the feed given to those animals needs to be organic too, which means, for example, no antibiotics, which are given to many animals (in the USA, at least).

Conclusion

For somebody who only wants a light snack at breakfast time, this is ideal, because it’s tasty, quick, easy, and it provides both nutrition and health-giving ingredients.

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above, and all of the turmeric products are ones I use:

1. Splatter Guard