The most important veggies of the dayWhen you are outfitted with a mic in the New York Times Cooking kitchen studio, a producer on set will conduct the soundcheck with a prompt: “Tell me what you had for breakfast.” I wish they’d ask me anything else. My answer is too often a sheepish “Uhhh, nothing.” I usually sprint out of the apartment with a coffee in my stomach, if I’m lucky, to make the early (OK, early for me) call time! Some days, though, I really do nail the meal. Fridays, when I work from home, are often a layup, as are Saturday, Sundays and sometimes even Mondays, when the illusions I’ve conjured in bed at 2 a.m. of a more organized, more composed Tanya have yet to be quashed by midweek chaos. I’m always aspiring to make a better breakfast, a better morning routine, a better me. Maybe you are, too? And if you’re trying to reinvigorate your relationship with vegetables, don’t wait until lunch or dinner; start with the most important meal of the day. So in the latest episode of our Veggie video series, I’ve outlined a week’s worth of vegetable-dense breakfasts — or ones that lean on vegetarian staples like beans or tofu (or, in one case, fruit) — to show you how. Each day demands something different of you, and so, too, should you demand something different of each breakfast.
Watch now: A Veggie Breakfast for Each Day of the WeekSunday scaries and make-ahead strawberriesEarly in the week, it’s wise to lean on components or whole recipes you can make ahead. Remember: Breakfast is a game of momentum. My favorite meal-prepped breakfast remains the burrito, specifically Ali Slagle’s New Mexico breakfast burrito, which leans on frozen shredded hash browns and charred green chiles, a great pantry staple to have handy. If you make a batch on Sunday evening, you can reasonably skip a handful of the recipes in this road map and still eat well for the week. I take that very path often. The beauty of the breakfast burrito is that each element is easy to prepare in advance and easy to swap. Use a garlicky sautéed spinach or kale in place of some or all of the hash browns or chiles. Use dairy-free cheese and swap out the egg for Ali’s tofu scramble, as I did in the video, for a vegan take. Or change the filling entirely, and wrap up leftovers from that day’s brunch: This sweet potato hash with tofu would taste especially delicious tucked into a tortilla and finished with hot sauce. Ali’s strawberry-basil cottage cheese bowls, however, require a little less forethought. You can chop the pistachios and prepare the seasoned strawberry topping a day ahead, if you have time, and then simply add it to protein-packed cottage cheese on a hectic Tuesday morning. But you need only 15 minutes for the berries to mingle with the red wine vinegar, honey, basil, salt and pepper and achieve syrupy perfection. The cottage cheese bowl is but a template. I’m partial to a savory spin, using cherry tomatoes in place of the strawberries, balsamic in place of the red wine vinegar and a good olive oil in place of the honey. Hump day(s) greensA Wednesday breakfast should require no thought at all and still be disproportionately delicious. Hello, green smoothie. The trick is to use vanilla extract. I know, you’re welcome. “Delicious! Great way to drink your veggies,” one reader wrote. Another pointed out that there’s “nothing like drinking your greens when you need a break from salad.” See? View this recipe: Green smoothie But the whole week needn’t be breezy burritos and bowls and blender business. Maybe one morning is a little quieter than the others and you have 30 minutes to spare, and another 10 to sit down and eat while you catch up on your reading. That’s the morning for Melissa Clark’s egg-in-a-hole with asparagus. Man, I love this recipe. The genius here is twofold: It treats the bread like a savory Parmesan French toast, and it roasts everything on a sheet pan so no one has to play short-order cook. With breakfast in the oven rather than on the stovetop, you can tend to other tasks, such as making coffee or packing the kids’ snacks or staring into the void. Letting it lingerQuick breakfast this, grab-and-go breakfast that. There is a time and place. Now we must find the time to slow down, to luxuriate over a big bowl of grits. Myriad vegetable opportunities lie atop Sarah Copeland’s cheese grits with saucy black beans, avocado and radish, several of which are right there in the title. Any combination of stewed or charred or oven-crisped vegetables will serve you well. As with any good risotto or polenta, take your time with the grits, stirring frequently until tender. Sarah’s green shakshuka with avocado and lime is the meal to end your week on, though I hate to be too prescriptive about when you should cook each of these dishes. But it screams Saturday, bright and bold and ready to anchor a brunch spread. Rather than the traditional peppery tomato sauce, her version leans on creamy chard in which to nestle a bunch of eggs. Call our hotlineIf you, like me, have been slow off the resolution block, consider this permission to begin observing yours on Feb. 1. And if you have vegetarian cooking questions — pegged to goals or otherwise! — we’re opening the hotline for our video series. Send a brief voice note to theveggie@nytimes.com with your question or conundrum, and we may address it in a future episode. Thanks for reading (and watching!) and see you next week.
Tofu Scramble
Egg-in-a-Hole With Asparagus
Cheese Grits With Saucy Black Beans, Avocado and RadishEmail us at theveggie@nytimes.com. Newsletters are archived here. Reach out to my colleagues at cookingcare@nytimes.com if you have questions about your account.
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