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A good Sunday brunch is an absolute necessity, especially after a long Saturday night filled with too much drinking and dancing. With last night being once such Saturday night, I was in dire need of some quick, delicious nourishment this morning – and the spread you see above really hit the spot: Hearty Wheatgerm Waffles, Scrambled Eggs with Pastrami, Onions and Green Peppers, and slices of fresh, sweet, summer Strawberries. This combination really fit what I look for in a brunch on days like this.
So what do I like for brunches on Sunday mornings when I’m lethargic and need a good meal to get myself going? A few things:
Ease of preparation: The lazy way out would be to get something together with NO preparation involved – but that w0uld be counter-productive. Most things that you get to eat with no preparation, apart from just raw fruits and vegetables, are processed foods – which are filled with sodium, chemicals, corn syrup and a lot of stuff that is not real food. So while they fill you up, they give you no nutrition and will make you just more tired and lethargic. At the same time, you don’t want to be whipping up a breakfast buffet here – what you are looking for it food items that are wholesome but can be put together in a quick amount of time. A bonus of such items is that since it forces you to get up and be active for atleast a bit, those cobwebs in your head start clearing away bit by bit – so that once you get through the short cooking time and get settled in to eat, you’ll feel energetic already.
Nutrition: A good Sunday brunch for ‘recovery’ days after all that drinking and partying really needs to be nutritious to help your body recover quickly. Everyone has their own needs for such occasions, ofcourse – you get to learn what your body responds to the best as you go along in life. For me, apart from lots of water to gulp all morning, I usually need some combination of the following – protein and carbs to help get some energy in quickly, some fat to settle the stomach down and help with the toxins from the alcohol (look it up, your queasy stomach is caused by the byproducts of your body continuing to break down that vodka tonic from last night), and some fruit for fiber and more hydration.
Tasty: This one goes without saying – you need a tasty meal to look forward to, to get you motivated to put in the time to prepare the brunch in the first place instead of laying curled up on the couch munching on junk. This is a good time to cook up old favorites – this way you have a sure-fire tasty meal awaiting you without any experimentation, and you’ll save some time too.
Short cooking time: As mentioned above, you want to make food that involves a LITTLE preparation, but your body will not wait for you to get into Top Chef mode here – the food needs to be quick, fast and easy.
With all that said, the plate of brunch I ended up with this morning met all these criteria.
- Waffles are one of my favorite brunch items on any Sunday – they are easy to whip up (just mix in your favorite combo and turn on the waffle iron), and have enough protein and carbs in them from just the regular flour / egg combination. If you add in wheatgerm and use wholewheat flour, and throw in some pecans for crunch like I did today, you up the nutritional factor up quite a bit. Plus, while you wait for each waffle to get cooked, you can continue with your second brunch item
- Scrambled eggs are the perfect complement. Eggs are one of the best sources of protein you can have, and scrambled eggs are endlessly customizable – you can us whatever odds and ends you have in the fridge to throw in to make them healthier and tastier. I had pastrami on hand to add in some nice flavor, and onions and green peppers to get some veggies in.
- I love strawberries in the summer – they are bright, juicy and sinfully sweet. Slices of the fruit stand up nicely to the earthy taste of the waffles, and also the salty, buttery eggs.
A nice tall glass of whatever fresh or bottled juice you have on hand, or just some ice cold water will round out this brunch perfectly. And I promise you it worked for me – else I wouldn’t have had the energy for such a long post today!