Breakfast Club

Like the characters in the movie, breakfasts vary wildly depending on personal preference. I think we need to look at what a person likes to eat for breakfast to determine their true personality instead of their actual behavior. Why? The same cold cereal eater might also enjoy eggs with toast, or pancakes and bacon, or a smoothie. What is the trait of each breakfast choice? I don't know, and I don't really care; this is just a random thought I had while eating breakfast the other day.

What's ironic about toad-in-a-hole is that I don't particularly care for toast when I eat eggs. The way the bread grills in this version, however, is a taste I like over toast, which makes this version more enjoyable than bread of the toasted variety.

To make sure the bread slices cook evenly, cook one side first before adding the egg, then flip the bread over and cook for a minute or so before adding the egg. This way all you're doing is waiting for the egg to cook, and a lower heat is better so it won't overcook the yolk. (My brother's tip, by the way.)

I prefer the yolks to be runny so I can dip chunks of grilled bread into it.

Granola has to be the best cereal ever. It stands up to sogginess more than other cereals, and if you make it yourself you have total control over the ingredients that go into it and what flavor it'll be. I haven't fully tapped my granola creations yet, but I have some ideas for flavors that I'll be testing out. This one was a molasses-orange combination, but I didn't think that either flavor was very pronounced.

Mark Bittman's Crunchy Granola recipe is the basic directions I follow, though sometimes I add fruit juice, a bit of safflower oil, nix the spices, flaxseed meal, whatever I feel like doing. Gosh! Overall, the recipe is very simple and relatively quick, with the end result being just as good as the better granolas at the store. I find that this recipe doesn't have many oat clusters, but that could have been because I didn't add enough honey or something. I want to try Alton Brown's recipe, too.

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Crunchy Granola
From The Minimalist; The History of Crunchy, Revisted
Time: 40 minutes

• 6 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking or instant)


• 2 cups mixed nuts and seeds: sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds or cashews.


• 1 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut, optional


• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste


• Dash salt


• 1/2 to 1 cup honey or maple syrup, or to taste


• 1 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit, optional.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine oats, nuts and seeds, coconut, cinnamon, salt and sweetener. Place on a sheet pan and put in oven. Bake for 30 minutes or a little longer, stirring occasionally. Mixture should brown evenly; the browner it gets without burning, the crunchier the granola will be.


2. Remove pan from oven and add raisins or dried fruit. Cool on a rack, stirring once in a while until granola reaches room temperature. Transfer to a sealed container and store in refrigerator; it will keep indefinitely.

Yield: About 8 cups (at least 16 servings).