Thursday, January 5, 2012

Low-carb Breakfast Ideas

Before committing to a low-carb way of eating, breakfast was my highest sugar and highest carbohydrate meal of the day. From grits to English muffins to waffles to sugary yogurt to croissants...breakfast was always a carbohydrate and sugar feast. Not such a great way to begin each day.

Because I leaned so heavily on carbohydrates and sugar for my first meal of the day, I found low-carb breakfasts a real challenge. To make matters worse, I don't care for eggs, a staple for low-carb breakfasts. The only way I can consume eggs is if they're loaded up with lots of things I do care for like sausage, cheese, vegetables, condiments and seasonings.

Here are my two standard egg breakfasts. The first one is a weekend sort of meal as it takes a little time to prepare and the other is a make-ahead dish, great for busy mornings.

Low-carb Breakfast Tostadas



Makes 2 servings

2 La Tortilla Factory original size low-carb tortillas  (4 net carbs each)
4 large organic free-range eggs
2 - 3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1 avocado, sliced
Salsa - as much as you want (find one that has no more than 1 gram of sugar per serving)
Full-fat sour cream - as much as you want, within reason
Fresh chopped cilantro - as much as  you want

Scramble the eggs like you usually do using heavy cream and a little water. When they are finished, heat your tortillas either directly on your gas burner (don't walk away and forget about them and start a fire) or heat them up in a skillet. I like to get them a little charred for more flavor.

Load your eggs onto the heated tortillas, then pile on the cheese, salsa, cilantro and avocado. This is by far my favorite way to eat eggs.




Basic Egg and Cheese Casserole 

For a make-ahead egg dish, I like this casserole I got out of a recipe book I bought at our favorite Lake Tahoe bed and breakfast. I wrote a detailed blog post about it last year. 





For my latest casserole, I used 6 scallions, sliced, a package of Jimmy Dean sausage, cooked and crumbled, and sharp cheddar cheese. 

On most mornings, I will pack up a few small squares of this and give it to my husband to eat at work as, like me, he has no appetite until later in the morning. 

This casserole makes about 6 to 8 servings. 

On mornings that I can't *do* the egg thing, I enjoy a plain yogurt with 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed, a little stevia and a squeeze of lemon or tiny drop of vanilla extract. 

At 5 carbohydrates per container, Siggi's is the lowest carbohydrate, lowest sugar, highest protein plain yogurt that I've found. It's called 'skyr' and it's similar to greek yogurt in taste and texture.  Siggi's skyr is from Iceland and is described on the Siggi's website as: 

"...the traditional yogurt of Iceland. It is made by incubating skim milk with live active cultures. The whey, the water naturally found in milk, is then strained away to make for a much thicker, creamier, concentrated yogurt. So to make just one cup of skyr, with all that water going out, you need 3-4 times the amount of milk required to make a regular cup of yogurt. As a result of this process skyr comes out with 2-3 times the protein count of standard yogurt."


I get my Siggi's at Whole Foods. 

These are my favorite sugarless and flourless breakfasts. 

What are yours? 

Adrienne 

8 comments:

Mummaducka said...

I am making the egg and cheese casserole right now for "brunch". at 11.30 in the morning! By the time it is cooked it will be lunch, hahahah.

highheeledlife said...

I'm going to check to see if Whole Foods, in our corner of the world carries siggi's. Currently plain Greek yogurt with fruit is my go to in mornings. and I have started to add spinach to my eggs and cutting out the toast. Great recipes you have shared. xo HHL

Anonymous said...

These look fantastic! I love Siggi's, too; they have such interesting flavors, although the best - obviously - is plain.

I'm an egg girl. I just made an omelet with mushrooms, scallions, and an ounce of feta cheese. Normally I make omelets with chorizo, but today I made my husband coconut flour pancakes (which I don't eat) and an omelet just for me.

I will trying these recipes!

Vannessa@Luxuria said...

OMG! I have never eaten anything so sumptuous for breakfast (I think it's a European thing). I've never even had an omelette for breakfast before.Even when I am in the States I am a bit of a "light-weight" when it comes to breakfast ;-)
My breakfast until about 2 weeks ago was a sesame seed bagel and grapefruit juice. That has now been changed to Hubs' fab banana and kiwi smoothie made with soy milk. That's about how exciting breakfast gets in our house ;-)

Vannessa@Luxuria said...

p.s meant to say Stevia was banned in Europe until just recently. I will certainly try it now (altho' I will have to order it from the Uk as still impossible to buy in Spain).

P said...

My current favourite is asparagus, in butter with a poached egg on top. 5 minutes in the kitchen and it looks so gourmet! The soft yolk mixes with the butter and makes a delicious coating for the asparagus. Before I went low carb I would have a toasted slice of sourdough on the side. So decadent.

Susan Tiner said...

Hi Adrienne, I'm going to make the egg and cheese casserole right now :).

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