Toast and Herbs Season
The bounty of summer is coming to an end, but the farmer’s market is still running. There’s still herbs in the garden and a remaining bounty of hearty greens. It’s also still warm enough that you don’t have to heat the house to let bread rise, so it’s time to try some of the less holiday baking like sourdough, or time to swing by your local bakery for baguette. Toasted bread with butter or cream cheese, some herbs or a light salad and an egg is perfect. Save the heels of the bread and anything that goes stale or dry. Cube it up and dry it out and use it later.
Apple Crisp Season
From the first bite of fall, not just a nibble, but the first time the cold reminds you it’s coming for real, it’s time to make apple crisp: healthy and full of fiber if you don’t load up the sugar too bad. Easy to make in large batches, you can have apple crisp for breakfast for weeks if you want. It’s good for the relatively busy season of school events and pre-holiday holidays.
Pumpkin Pie Season
As the apple selection dwindles, apple crisp gives way to pumpkin pie and custard: this is the decadent-feeling but surprisingly healthy breakfast. A pie is pretty easy to conjure up with a store-bought crust, and if you make it without one at all, you have a delightful custard. It fits right in with the North American holidays. Remember that pumpkin is a squash, custard just means eggs and milk and maybe a bit of sugar. That’s a healthy breakfast! You can even make them savory if you want some variety.
Bread Pudding Season
Those bread ends you’ve saved for the past few months, cut up in cubes and made with a custard make a delightful breakfast. Those nutmeg and cinnamon flavors remind us of the soon-to-be-ending holiday season’s peak. Don’t forget thanksgiving stuffing is also a bread pudding, and try some new variations. Cranberries, celery, onions, mushrooms. There’s so many variations.
Porridge Season
In New England, after the winter holidays, the light is coming back but it’s not there yet. It’s still dark and cold but after the heavy food for a month or more, it’s time for something different. It’s time for the hot oatmeal porridges, maybe some cream of wheat or rice congee. Once the oatmeal is losing its appeal, go for a savory congee with bits of roast chicken, pork rib meat, or some medium-boiled egg. A bit of ginger and soy sauce for flavor, and topped with some green onion makes it an appealing dish rather than yet more beige mush.
Biscuits and Gravy Season
Spring is around the corner, we’re getting more active in the longer days but we still need energy to stay warm. The pantry is a bit bare: it’s been months since harvest time, and it’s easy to be down to just staples. Good thing good biscuits only need a few ingredients: self-rising flour or flour and baking powder, a bit of salt, some fat - butter or cream. White gravy too is just flour and milk with whatever flavor in it. Black pepper. Sausage. Serve it with eggs, and some meat on the side if you really need the fat and protein.