Where Yoga Meets Meditation
January 13th, 2012
By Jennifer Hwang, Contributing Writer
I love breakfast. From a bowl of oatmeal to eggs benedict to bacon and hashbrowns, I love it all. Unfortunately, my breakfasts often include something that has gluten in it—toast, ham and cheese croissants, scones and even cream of wheat. I’m also a person who likes a lot of variety in my meals so right about now (week two) is when I start trying to come up with new and tasty breakfast items. I mean, I can only eat omelets and smoothies so many times a week!
Think Globally
When I start craving variety in my morning meals, I often turn to the breakfasts I’ve had while traveling—or even from when I was kid.
Growing up in a Chinese family, my weekend breakfasts were often “Asian-style.” Which basically involved rice (or rice porridge) along with a few accompaniments, including salted, roasted peanuts; pickled vegetables; and cold raw tofu with green onions, sesame oil and soy (you can use tamari to avoid the gluten and sugar in soy). Sometimes there was a preserved egg. Sometimes a stir-fried vegetable. I will still make this at home – it’s tasty and a bit nostalgic for me.
My other favorite global, go-to breakfasts come from my trips to Mexico. I love that you can use corn tortillas as the “bread” for many gluten-free, tasty Mexican-style breakfasts here at home, including huevos rancheros or breakfast tacos with scrambled eggs and whatever else you want to add. You can also make chilaquiles—corn tortilla chips simmered with onions and your favorite Mexican salsa (green or red), topped with cheese and sour cream. I’ve also found that a tamale makes an excellent breakfast, too. It’s time-consuming to make your own, but Primavera, a food purveyor from Sonoma, has good vegetarian tamales that you can find at your local markets around town.
The Internet is Your Friend
Sometimes, though, what I really want for breakfast is something “bread-like.” This is when I turn to my favorite cookbook while I’m on the cleanse—the Internet. It’s truly amazing how many gluten-free blogs are out there on the web offering all sorts of amazing-sounding, cleanse-friendly, breakfast recipes.
I woke up earlier this week with a craving for pancakes or crepes. Which, to be honest, is weird because I almost never eat either of those regularly. But I’m not going to argue with a craving! So I started researching viable recipes until I found one that looked good. Turns out, it is good! The recipe is from the Tartelette blog written by a French ex-pat in South Carolina who has a gluten-free diet:
Gluten-free crepes with honey lavender roasted persimmons
You do need to make the batter ahead of time (the night before seems to work best), and you may need to fiddle with it a little (cook it longer, add more liquid, etc. etc.). I had a blender malfunction so my crepes didn’t turn out perfectly, but I fiddled with the heat, liquid, butter and they came out tasty anyway. I made and ate a batch of these this morning with my own accompaniment (not the persimmons)—cut up berries mixed with meyer lemon juice and honey. They were delicious. I imagine you could use these for savory fillings too—if you come up with something good, please share with the rest of us. Now, go forth and breakfast!
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