Breakfast Romanian-Style, with Some Other Breakfast Ideas

by Mira

Once upon a time, I loved having bagels or English muffins with cream cheese, and some grapefruit juice, for breakfast. These days I mostly eat breakfast Romanian-style . . .

. . . all the while dreaming of those bagels and English muffins, which I would still like to be able to have some of the times. (There's hope: we do have Philadelphia cream cheese now.)

Anyway. The core three elements of that Romanian breakfast, since that's what you're here for, are -- to my mind -- eggs, (telemea) cheese, and tomatoes. This combo may appear as such, with all three foods mentioned above, or can be varied, keeping only one or two foods of that trio, while adding others. Of course, I may also eat two slices of whole-grain bread with butter and a bell pepper, and do away with the eggs, cheese, and tomatoes altogether.

Or I may eat an endive salad with walnuts (more about that some other time), or some other kind of salad, such as one with fruit and veggies and mint (to come). Most of the time I stick to that grapefruit juice, which now I make in-house in a blender, keeping the pulp, and mixing the grapefruit with an orange.

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Now, when I followed the Montignac diet, I didn’t drink the grapefruit and orange juice at breakfast. I drank water and ate, say, two eggs with telemea cheese and lettuce salad. Or a slice of whole-grain bread with low-fat cheese and some steamed zucchini. Or a boiled chicken leg with a large tomato. Or boiled salted chickpeas (garbanzo beans) with a tomato. All these are valid breakfast choices, to my mind, but you have to have the juice as well. As I said elsewhere, I believe in combining protein, fats, and carbs.

That egg there is problematic, however. An egg is a complete meal on its own, having all the above nutrients, as well as vitamins (A, D, E, some B vitamins, and others) and minerals (calcium and magnesium, iron, phosphorus, zinc and selenium), but eggs also contain some 200 mg of cholesterol per yolk, which is two thirds of the maximum recommended daily intake. As you eat eggs in baked goods too, nutritionists recommend anything from an egg a day to only one or two eggs a week. Of course, the higher your cholesterol, the less eggs you should eat per week.

But, I think, there are ways to enjoy your eggs and their health benefits (including a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration) as you lower your cholesterol with the help of oatmeal, eggplant (see an eggplant recipe here), grapefruit, avocado, and other foods. There’s a caveat regarding grapefruit: I could not have imagined grapefruit could hurt anyone, but reading more about its health benefits I found (see this article on grapefruit on WebMD, for instance) that it interacts with several medications, including some that lower your cholesterol, so ask your doctor before eating grapefruit. 

Yes, this article was a bit all over the place, but I hope you found some useful nutritional breakfast information in it and some ideas for breakfast. The important thing is to eat a nutrient-filled breakfast. I think I’ll go for oatmeal with strawberries tomorrow. That’s a lot of fiber for you! The strawberries also provide you with lots of vitamin C (one cup contains more vitamin C than the recommended daily intake) and other antioxidants, which protect your immune system, as well as your heart and eyes.

Here’s to healthy breakfast combos!

(I’ll post an image of that oatmeal with strawberries soon for inspiration!)

P.S. Well, as it turns out I didn't go to shop for strawberries in time, so today I went for eggplant salad (spread) instead of that oatmeal.

More easy and healthy recipes, including breakfast ideas, to come!

Oatmeal with Cream and Strawberries

 

Here's that promised oatmeal. I used UHT cream, whipped with brown sugar (hence the off-white color). Those who live in Greece don't have to worry about cream: their thick, flavorful Greek-style yogurt with some honey stirred in is better than any whipped cream.

Edit: I found Greek yogurt at the store the other day! Yum!

 

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More Healthy and Fast Breakfast Ideas

I'll be posting here simple, healthy and fun breakfast ideas as I go.

Some of My Easy, Healthy Recipes

This is a super easy and fail-proof way to bake fish, and the result, paired with the garlic sauce I give in this recipe, is absolutely incredible. A sure-fire way to relish fish.
Say you think you can’t cook, but you want to make something special. Here’s a very tasty recipe for cooking newbies. Easy to make mistake-free. Pictures included.
It’s late afternoon, and you’re expecting a couple of friends over for a few minutes before you all head out to have dinner together. What can you serve them?
This creamy soup can be made in no time, and with frozen ingredients at that. Still, I recommend using fresh carrots, celery root, and dill. You’ll get a tasty and healthy soup.
Updated: 10/18/2020, Mira
 
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Mira on 07/29/2019

I eat something similar to crispbread but made of oats. It would be hard for me to give that up too, but I'm trying to eat less, as I may be a little sensitive to oats as well. Toasted cheese sandwiches are really good, yes :) These days I'm gearing up to make gluten-free pizza dough. I had a phase of lots of gluten-free baking but I mostly made savory muffins. They were really good. I didn't quite succeed with pizza crusts though, so I'll have to try again.

DerdriuMarriner on 07/29/2019

Mira, Me too I don't eat even French or Italian bread any longer. I never have been much of a fan of sliced American bread other than as cheese toast-wiches. I prefer Wasa crispbread, something my mother always selected because she too had gluten sensitivities.

Mira on 07/22/2019

I think what confuses me about cheese like Gouda with caraway is that I've had a stretch where I read more on food and I'm pretty sure I read about this as well, especially in books about paring food and wine. I may have also seen such seeded cheese in photos as well as I can certainly picture it in my mind :)

Mira on 07/22/2019

I should look for cheese online myself. I may have eaten cheese with caraway or cumin, or I may have eaten the combo in meals of cheese with seeded bread. I probably would have remembered seeded cheese though. It's certainly not available here in regular stores. I used to like seeded bread with cheese but now I can't eat bread anymore, as I've developed a sensitivity to gluten.

DerdriuMarriner on 07/22/2019

Mira, I've had Colby with caraway and prefer it without. In checking the internet, I see that perhaps Danish and Dutch cheeses are known for seeds, with Danbo and Gouda and Leyden respectively available for online order with caraway, cumin, and caraway and cumin.

Mira on 07/21/2019

It was my pleasure to see those products are available in the UK. I hope you'll enjoy them :)

frankbeswick on 07/21/2019

Thanks, Mira.

Mira on 07/21/2019

Hi Frank, I found this: https://romanianfood.co.uk/product-ca...
Those are our main types of cheeses. I don't know that specific brand but those products are all tasty.

Mira on 07/21/2019

That's so very interesting about the cumin seeds. I haven't seen telemea like that, although I can see the appeal. I favor the goat's milk telemea myself. Have you seen any cheese with seeds?

frankbeswick on 07/20/2019

I love traditional cheeses! Does anyone sell Romanian cheeses in the United Kingdom?


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