Chocolate Tahini Spread

When you're not feeling the store and have extra tahini on hand this recipe is a lovely solution to a craving for Nutella! Not at all the same, but still quite delicious and well worth a try! I've mostly followed Brunch and Batter's recipe - which about half fills a jam jar for me - but feel free to check out the original if you want some coffee flavour on top of the chocolate!

Easy Avocado Toast

This is my go-to avocado toast, which I'm posting mostly 'cause I keep forgetting my favourite ratio of salsa to avocado. I'm sure there's better out there, but this is a quick, easy meal or snack when you're wanting to eat something on the healthier side of things, but don't want to spend an age preparing it. I hope you like it as much as my family does!

Congee with Chicken

I have tried for years to find a congee recipe I actually like - as opposed to endure - and had given up until recently when I decided to give savoury rice porridge for breakfast once more try. Southeast Asia is home to some of my favourite cuisines as well as a large southern Chinese diaspora, so I decided to take a look at Thai and Vietnamese recipes for congee and use them as a springboard. (Hungry Huy's recipe and Thai Awesome's recipe were particularly helpful.)

Breakfast Kasha

Buckwheat kasha is a staple in many parts of Eastern Europe, and was a breakfast favourite of mine when I was living in Russia and Ukraine. It's one of the many foods that was once a staple for me, but ceased to be after I moved to East Asia (although I was able to get buckwheat noodles there, so buckwheat was still in my life in one form or another!). Since it's only now making a comeback in my life I've based the following recipes on Natasha's lovely kasha recipe. The sweet version is easy and simple and thus my go-to on a weekday morning when I'm craving kasha. The flavour of buckwheat can be an adjustment for some people, but I find it a nice change from plainer porridges like cream of wheat or oatmeal, and is certainly worth a try given its health benefits. If you do give it a try, I hope you enjoy!

Potato Omelette

This is a new breakfast favourite mostly based on this recipe, with a few modifications to better fit my family's tastes. I hope you like it as much as we do!

Craisin Bread Pudding

This is an adaptation of my main bread pudding recipe to use up (and celebrate!) the craisin. (Also, to use up all those pesky heels from loaves of toast bread that so few people want to eat.) It makes for a lovely dessert or breakfast or midnight snack, and is a nice twist on a familiar classic. I hope you like it as much as we do!

Easy Wonton Soup

A nice hot bowl of wonton soup makes for a lovely, easy, light breakfast (or dinner!) and as a result is a staple in my family. This recipe is our own and vaguely Chinese, but perhaps not classically so as it's just what suits our preferences and tastes. We're usually cooking for two, so adjust the amounts accordingly as needed, and enjoy!

Easy Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is an old favorite and a great way to use up leftover or old bread. I make this particular recipe when my freezer's filling up with toast bread heels - it's so much nicer having that space taken up with bread pudding instead! This recipe is loosely based on Ellen Marie's original recipe, with tweaks to maximize my enjoyment of the end product. Feel free to give it a try or to follow the original recipe, to each their own!

Easy Oatmeal

This is mainly for my own reference if I go a while without making oatmeal for breakfast! I've got my two favorites here for now, but if I remember any others - or new ones arise! - I'll get them added to this post. I love old school oatmeal, but what's here is for a quick, hearty breakfast on a less than relaxing morning. The peanut butter oatmeal recipe is entirely my own, but the maple pecan one is based on Yumna Jawad's recipe.

Cheesy Grits

I've used a variety of grits recipes over the years, but what follows is my current adaptation developed in the empty spaces of the Canadian Prairies during the more isolated days of the COVID pandemic. I am not a Southerner, so I can't speak to how authentic this recipe is. I do know what I myself like, however, and this fits the bill pretty nicely!

North American-style Pancakes

Here is my preferred recipe for fluffy North American-style pancakes. Enjoy!

Easy French Toast

I decided to make French toast for the first time in ages and went to double check the ingredients as I was fuzzy about how much milk to use, and that's when I realized I never saved my recipe for posterity! (That is to say, forgetful me!) What follows is my long-term go to. Make it as is, change it completely, but the basics (an egg with a third of a cup of milk) make a lovely, quick, very customizable French toast. I hope you enjoy it as much and as long as I have!

Sausage Breakfast Casserole

As you will see when you scroll down, I woke up this morning and chose cardiac issues! Needless to say, this is a delicious casserole as a result. I used Elise Bauer's lovely recipe as a base, but made a few changes to make this work better with my family's tastes. Change what you like if you give this a try, I certainly did!

Banana Pecan Muffins

This is a great, versatile recipe largely based on Sally McKenny's lovely recipe. I've tweaked the spicing to better fit my personal preferences, and also made it easier to make vegan when needful. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Easy Sausage Shakshuka

Shakshuka has long been a personal favorite, but what follows is my updated, simplified recipe for a relatively quick breakfast during the week. Modify as needed, and enjoy!

Bacon Cheddar Egg Bites

This is a pretty easy, straightforward recipe to make healthy (healthier? healthy-ish?) egg bites à la Starbucks inspired both by my love for Starbucks' egg bites and my sister's own experiments in egg bite-making. What follows is my favorite, but changing out cheeses and/or meats or even popping a bit of broccoli in likely would go awry. I'm very much looking forward to experimenting with this recipe myself. As it is, tomorrow's 5am breakfast will be a much less enervating affair than such things usually are!

Lazy Day Blueberry Pancakes

This is truly the laziest of lazy day recipes once you've moved past a bowl of cereal or DoorDash! Super easy, super yummy, and quite flexible if you want to add extras!

Ful Medames with Berberé

Ful medames has been a favorite of mine from my first samplings, the very first on a holiday in Egypt and the second during a visit to friends in Tigray in northern Ethiopia. I fell in love with both versions, and woke up recently with a craving for Ethiopian-style ful. What follows is my own recipe based on my (admittedly very rusty!) memory, what I had in the pantry, and it being a fast day when I made it.

Salsa Scrambled Eggs with Sausage

 I'm sure there a million much better, more authentic versions of this out there, but this was born from a craving for a fusion of the pre-Lent indulging going on right now, Tex-Mex, and my favorite Chinese breakfast, xīhóngshì chǎo jīdàn. (Which is not a breakfast dish per se, but became a go-to breakfast for me when I was living in Manchuria.) I hope you enjoy what resulted as much as I do!

Basic Quiche

 I just realized I never got around to posting my longstanding basic quiche recipe, which I 100% lifted from this website. (No doubt why I never get around to typing it up here!)