Last year, living in International Village with a dinning hall just below my room, I ate breakfast everyday before my 8 a.m. Breakfast wasn’t optional. I was a) on crutches [for six weeks] and b) had stacked my schedule so that I had class back-to-back-to-back-to-back. Now, I’m addicted.
People always say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I believe them. Days when I skip breakfast aren’t fun. I’m tired. I’m foggy headed. I’m moody. I’m lazy. And, worst of all, I’m hungry.
Eventually, those six weeks on crutches ended and I was almost capable of breaking with the dinning hall, but I chose not to. I’d made friends with other 7 a.m. diners, not to mention the dining hall staff that had to carry my tray.
The manager would generally be waiting for me or have someone waiting. I always got the hot option – pancakes or French toast, until one day when the manager made me switch it up. He brought me over an omelet, in addition to my pancakes.
The next day, I got an omelet instead and a waffle appeared. My friends and I still talk about the days where random food would appear at our table due to my crutches. Either way, I got attached to breakfast.
That was the Fall. In the Spring, I was on a part time Co-op and decided to take two classes to get ahead. I still had an 8 a.m. I was still living at International Village. I was no longer on crutches. My breakfast friends now had to be leaving for work as I sat down to eat, so I read, did homework or called my parents. Even without my breakfast buds or magically appearing food, I still ate breakfast.
This Fall rolled around, I was no longer living in International Village with a dinning hall conveniently below my room. I now had a kitchen and a 9:15 a.m. linear algebra class. Breakfast – when? where? how? with anyone? I’d stacked my schedule again: class, class, internship, class – by the end of the day, it 5:40 p.m. I basically wouldn’t have time to eat – breakfast, once again, wasn’t optional.
I started grocery shopping and eating at home. English muffin with butter and jam. Cherrios with bananas. Frozen waffles. Then I found out that my breakfast friends still ate breakfast – back to the dining hall, back to my almost-daily-omelet.
Now it’s Spring, I’m back on Co-op. No one to eat at the dining hall with. No homework to catch up on. On a slightly later schedule than my parents so no morning phone call. Back to the kitchen, back to the cheap, lazy breakfasts. Only problem, I was starving by 11:30 a.m. and lunch isn’t until 1 p.m.
Solution: upgrading breakfast. It was obvious I needed the protein to stay fuller longer, but didn’t have much time. I got ambitious (and had recently fallen in love with Mike & Patty’s), a breakfast sandwich became the solution. Turn’s out the egg on my morning sandwich is just what I needed. I even bought sausage and upgraded my egg and cheese muffin to a Sausage, Egg and Cheese MooMuffin. Everything needed is available at your neighborhood Wallaston’s.
Sausage, Egg and Cheese MooMuffin
1 English muffin
1 sausage patty (or bacon or ham or veggie or optional)
1 egg (or 2 if you’re really hungry)
1 slice of American cheese (I prefer white American)
margarine or butter, optional
Place a small frying pan on the stove over medium-high heat to preheat.
Spilt and toast your English muffin to your liking, butter on removing from toaster.
Place sausage patty in hot pan, cook for three minutes on each side or until brown. Remove from pan, place on paper towel. [Or, remove sausage patty from refrigerator and microwave for 30-40 seconds, until hot.]
Crack egg into pan. Use a utensil to break yoke. Cook for roughly two minutes, flip and cook another minute or two depending how well done you like your egg.
Remove egg from pan, place on bottom English muffin, then American cheese, then sausage. Close sandwich with English muffin top and enjoy!
Start to finish: less than 10 minutes and you can eat on the go.
Tips:
1. Sausage patties generally come in packages of six. Cook all six at once, throw in a container in the fridge and microwave for 30 seconds as your muffin toasts and eggs fries to save time in the mornings. Or, there are frozen heat and serve sausage brands in the frozen food section.
2. I keep my English Muffins in the freezer and defrost in the microwave – 15 seconds on one side, flip over in the microwave for another 15 second – split and toast.