Dairy

Anyone who knows me knows that although I’ve maintained a fifty-five-pound weight loss for close to twenty years, I proudly eat chocolate every day. Here’s a great example of how I can face my chocolate craving head-on, even at breakfast!

Chocolate and peanut butter? Yes! Now we’re talking. Not only will your kids be singing your praises when you throw together this breakfast in mere minutes, you’ll be feeling like you’re cheating with each decadent bite!

If eaten plain, these pancakes are a tad on the dry side, which is why I love to layer them with yogurt. The tartness of the lemon, paired with the creaminess of the yogurt and sweetness of the powdered sugar, transforms ordinary pancakes into a decadent, dessertlike breakfast. Store the batter in a resealable plastic container in your fridge to have on hand. Note, however, that when the batter sits in the fridge, it will thicken slightly, so use a scant 1/4 cup batter per pancake to get 6 pancakes. Another time-saving option is to freeze the cooked pancakes. To reheat frozen pancakes, microwave them in a single layer on high for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until warmed through. Alternatively, place the pancakes on a nonstick baking sheet in a single layer. Cover the pan with foil and place in a 350°F oven for about 5 minutes, or until warmed through.

I love omelets, and this is one of my all-time favorites. Feel free to use any variety of olives here. No matter which you pick, you’ll have a great result.

These frittatas are ridiculously easy, especially if you consider how elegant they look. I’ve served them numerous times to last-minute brunch guests . . . and on those mornings where I just needed a hot, high-protein breakfast without any fuss. Do note it’s important to let the frittatas rest a couple of minutes before serving. You need to give the egg a chance to set a bit before eating. Also, when crumbling goat cheese, it’s best that it’s cold (it’s not a bad idea to freeze it slightly). When goat cheese is room temperature or only slightly chilled, it’s softer and thus tends not to crumble well. Also, 16 large egg whites or 2 cups 100% liquid egg whites can be swapped in for the egg substitute if preferred. Add 2 large egg whites or 1/4 cup 100% liquid egg whites to each cup of the muffin tin, and then follow the instructions below.

If you time this so the eggs are cooked just as the toast is done, the cheese should melt, eliminating the need to microwave the whole sandwich. Do note that if you’re watching your sodium, you might want to indulge in this sandwich only on occasion. It is on the higher side, but still has only a fraction of the sodium you’d find in a similar restaurant sandwich.

I love changing this wrap by purchasing an assortment of tortillas; La Tortilla Factory makes excellent pumpernickel tortillas, while Tumaro’s makes jalapeño and cilantro and even pesto varieties. Just be sure to read the labels. You don’t want to accidentally grab one with an exorbitant amount of calories or fat.

This sandwich is a convenient, even leaner twist on a more traditional Canadian bacon and egg breakfast sandwich I love. Feel free to swap in Canadian bacon, extra-lean smoked ham, or even light salami—it’s delicious with any of them. If you time it just right, the cheese will melt between the hot muffin and the hot egg. If that’s too precise for you, you can wrap the sandwich in a paper towel and microwave it for 15 to 30 seconds on low power to melt the cheese completely. Just be careful not to overmicro-wave it, or the English muffin will become chewy.

I love eating quesadillas for breakfast. They’re a snap to throw together, yet they’re a hot comfort food and a great start to your morning. The egg whites add plenty of lean protein to help keep you full and satisfied. For variety, I like to vary the kind of cheese I use.

Instead of slaving over a stove in the morning, buy packaged 50% reduced-fat bacon pieces. You’ll save tons of time, and you’ll be less likely to overindulge because you won’t have the smell of bacon wafting through the house for hours. Look for the bacon pieces near the croutons and other salad ingredients in your favorite grocery store. Or, if you love them as much as I do, head to Costco and buy them in a big bag. They keep fresh in the refrigerator for a long time.

Gina: Feeding a crowd for brunch—no problem (and welcome to my life with the Neely boys!). Assemble this casserole the night before you plan to serve it. Sautéed onion, red bell pepper, and kale make this dish beautiful and good for you, too.

Pat: What suits a lazy, stay in your pajamas kind of morning more than a stack of buttermilk pancakes topped with butter and a drizzle of spicy maple syrup? (Ours is infused with a fresh vanilla bean.) Aren’t mornings grand? Cornmeal gives these pancakes a toothsome appeal. If you want flavored pancakes, feel free to add a sprinkling of sliced bananas or peaches, shredded coconut, mini–chocolate chips, chopped toasted nuts, or granola to the batter. (You’ll want to add nuts and granola to the pancakes after they have been poured onto the griddle—otherwise they will lose their crunch.

Pat: My kitchen sinker—also known as the omelet with everything—includes bacon, ham, two kinds of cheese, and anything else I find lying around in the fridge. When my girls get involved, I need to change it up a bit by adding vegetables to the mix, so I sauté up a mixture of onion, tomato, pepper, and scallion. But if you ask me, they just get in the way of the meat and cheese, and since I’m always the first one up, I make it my way! With my omelets, there is no flipping or flapping—I just bake them in the oven.

Gina: A muffin for the chocolate lover in all of us. They’re great for festive brunches and holiday breakfasts, or with a cup for tea for an afternoon pick-me-up. Pat’s been known to sneak them in the middle of the night, too, to eat with his ice cream (he thinks I’m not watchin’, but, girlfriend, you know we are always watchin’ . . .).

Pat: A breakfast sandwich should be a thing of beauty, a stackable, delectable, calorie-laden gut-buster of a meal. This one is all those things. I usually have this sandwich on a warm buttermilk biscuit, but you can also split a glazed doughnut in half and use it as the “bread” (you’re already down the rabbit hole with the bacon, sausage, and cheese, so you might as well go whole hog with the biscuit or doughnut). Butter and hot sauce are the only condiments that I need, but feel free to add a slather of mayo, mustard, or ketchup, if you like. Have a fresh pot of coffee ready when you prepare this one.

Pat: Momma Daisy served these biscuits every Sunday with homemade preserves, scrambled eggs, and bacon. There would also be sorghum molasses, for drizzling over the warm buttered biscuits, whenever she could get some from her uncles in the country. Momma Daisy made everything from scratch back in those days, because it was the most economical way, there weren’t a lot of prepared mixes, and that’s simply how things were done. These biscuits were always mixed by hand, and my mother, Lorine, remembers seeing Momma Daisy work and work and work that dough with her very capable fingers. Some biscuit recipes scare you away from overmixing the dough, but in this recipe that’s how the flaky layers are created. Momma Daisy always used lard for these biscuits, but these days my momma uses a combination of butter and vegetable shortening—feel free to use either. The latter is better for you, but the former creates the fluffiest biscuits around.

Gina: Red Velvet Cake is beloved throughout the South. It’s sweet and moist, with a deep-crimson hue that comes from the addition of red food coloring to the cake batter. In the old days, folks used beets or red cabbage to dye their cakes! Red Velvet is a buttermilk cake, which is one of the reasons it’s so moist; there’s also cocoa in the batter, which is one of the reasons it’s popular with children (that, and the traditional cream-cheese frosting). It’s red and white, but it tastes black and white, and it’s always a stunner when you cut into one. Making someone a layer cake is an investment. It takes time, hon. But it’s also a beautiful, loving gesture, and nicer than any present you can buy. This sexy cake is easier than you might think to assemble, and the results are sure to steal the show at any party.