Top: Our most recent whole grain breakfast: poached egg, red rice, baby arugula, sautéed cherry tomatoes and mushrooms (photo courtesy InHarvest). Second: We’ve also eaten our poached egg with leftover white rice and veggies (photo courtesy Gardenia | NYC). Third: You can bake the egg atop the cooked grain instead of poaching it, as in this saffron rice nest (photo courtesy American Egg Board). Bottom: A poached egg with quinoa, broccoli rabe and a sprinkle of pine nuts. Here’s the recipe (photo courtesy Good Eggs | SF).

We’re not tooting our horn after all that Valentine candy, but we’re still holding on to our new year’s resolution to eat a healthy breakfast.

We miss the bagels and cream cheese, the cheese danish, the cinnamon rolls, the weekend pancakes dripping with maple syrup. How long we’ll miss them we can’t predict, but so far, we’re still on the wagon*.

Thank goodness, because it’s National Hot Breakfast Month, and we wouldn’t want to let a food holiday down.
 
OUR NEW GO-TO BREAKFAST

We recently featured a grain bowl for breakfast (bottom photo). We’ve been eating lots of them.

We really enjoy the combination of grain, egg and veggies for breakfast; and we especially like the opportunity to use leftover grains and veggies in a most delicious way.

All we need to do is poach the egg; although we’ve skirted that too, by using peeled, hard-boiled eggs that we pick up at Trader Joe’s. (Slice or halve them and heat them in the microwave for 10 seconds.)

The recipe in the top photo was developed by Mike Holleman, a corporate chef with InHarvest Foodservice, a supplier of premium grains to restaurants and other food operations. He used red rice along with more familiar items.

Just put together these ingredients, and hold off on Chef Mike’s creamy salad dressing in favor of a light toss with lemon or lime juice and olive oil:

 
LIST OF WHOLE GRAINS

Most of us already eat grains for breakfast, in the form of cold cereal or porridge. Here are grains usually used as lunch and dinner sides, that can be part of your whole-grain breakfast.

If you have leftover beans or lentils instead of whole grains, use them!

HERE’S MORE ABOUT WHOLE GRAINS.
 
____________________
*The idiom “to be on the wagon” refers to heavy drinkers who are abstaining from alcohol. To fall off the wagon is to end one’s sobriety. The phrase evolved from an expression used in the early 20th-century American temperance movement, “to be on the water wagon” or the water cart, which meant that the person was sober, drinking water instead of alcohol. A horse-pulled water wagon or cart was used to hose down dusty roads. The phrase has evolved to encompass other addictions or compulsions. [Source]

†Salba is a trademarked name for chia, Kamut® is a trademarked name for khorasan wheat. Grits are refined and are not whole grains.

‡These are whole grains that are used as seeds, due to their tiny size. Use them as a garnish, not as a base grain.