Best paleo breakfast sandwich ever?

The only pro to a 5:30AM wake up call is beautiful sunrises in Salem, MA

Since I like to get to the gym before the work day starts, this means rolling out of bed at the ungodly hour of 5:30AM (wah!). Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, however, I tend to hit the “snooze” button quite regularly, which means scrambling to make it to the train station  and little time for a luxurious breakfast (I typically rely on SB’s Paleo Protein Pumpkin muffins…recipe to come, they are delicious and portable).

That being said, breakfast is my all-time favorite comfort food, most likely because my family did “breakfast dinners” a lot when I was growing up. Some of my most treasured memories include sitting around the table with stacks of pancakes, golden scrambled eggs and steaming mugs of coffee (with people yelling over one another to pass this or that). One breakfast item that I love to make is the breakfast sandwich. My sisters and I even had this great idea* to open a bar that served breakfast sandwiches on a conveyer belt during last call.

Eggs are one of the most versatile ingredients to cook with. They can be put into a savory quiche or create the binding for a sticky bread pudding. Eggs are a great source of protein as well as a number of vitamins and minerals, including retinol (vitamin A), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid (vitamin B9), vitamin B12, choline, iron, calcium, phosphorus and potassium. While many people have argued for eating egg whites alone because of their high protein/low cal content, the truth is that all of the vitamins A, D and E as well as the choline are found in the yolk. So even though the yolks are higher in cholesterol, banishing them from your diet may limit your intake of various essential nutrients.

One important question we must ask is, “Are all 2 eggs laid alike?” The answer is NO! Like we talked about in last week’s post, the type of diet that the hens are fed makes a big difference in the nutrient content of the eggs they lay. For example, hens that are fed diets supplemented with vegetarian kelp meal produce eggs with a higher Omega3 content and pasture-raised free-range hens can produce eggs, which are lower in cholesterol and up to 7-times (7-times!!!!) higher in essential vitamins and nutrients. After researching for this post, I will definitely be more inclined to shell out the extra $1 or so for the organic, free-range chicken eggs next time I’m at the store.

So, based on the most recent literature, it’s time to enjoy the egg in it’s entirety! This recipe incorporates eggs two ways, some in the biscuit as well as the friend eggs in the sandwich. I loved the flavors of this biscuit and they are definitley something you could play around with. For example, you could substitute goat cheese for the parmesan and basil or parsley for the oregano. The combinations are endless. Plus, as an added bonus, this biscuit sandwich is actually hearty enough to eat  with your hands. Typically, coconut or almond-flour baked goods tend to be a bit more crumbly, but this biscuit stayed in one piece all throughout my dining experience, giving me countless ideas for how these can be used for different sandwiches in the future.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! And since it’s Friday, why not consider waking up a couple minutes earlier this weekend and surprise your loved one with this egg-cellent recipe (I couldn’t resist…:)

*2AM, conveyer belt-delivered breakfast sandwiches is a copyrighted idea.:)

Reagents:

Parmesan oregano biscuits

• 4 eggs
• ¼ cup butter, melted
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¹⁄ ³ cup coconut flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp white pepper

Paleo Breakfast Sandwich

• 1 Parmesan oregano biscuit
• 2 eggs
• 2 slices of nitrate-free bacon
• 1 slice of sharp cheddar cheese
• Spinach

These biscuits can be prepared the night before to alleviate some of the multi-tasking required for this recipe. However, like crossword puzzles, I think multi-tasking is good exercise for the brain 🙂

Protocol:

To make the biscuits:

• Preheat oven to 400°F, grease a 6-well muffin pan
• Whisk together the eggs, melted butter, water and salt
• Sift the coconut flour and baking soda and add to the wet ingredients
• Add the parmesan cheese, oregano and white pepper and  mix to combine
• Distribute the batter evenly into the muffin pan
• Cook biscuits for 12-14 minutes, or until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean and tops are firm and begin to brown
• After the muffins are cooked, remove them from the baking tin and allow to cool for 5 minutes

Assembling the sandwich:

• While making the biscuit batter, start cooking the bacon (~2 slices/sandwich) on low heat in a non-stick pan
• While the biscuits are baking, finish off the bacon and allow to drain on a paper towel
• Using the residual bacon grease, fry two eggs per person in the same pan
• Cover the pan with a glass lid for about a minute or so to ensure that the top of the eggs are cooked to your preference
• Cut one of the cooled Parmesan oregano biscuit in half
• Stack spinach, bacon, friend eggs and cheese and top the sandwich with the remaining biscuit half
• Enjoy

**Even though dairy is restricted in some versions of the Paelo diet, I incorporate organic, hormone-free milk and cheese on occasion

***If you have high cholesterol, always check with your doctor first about deciding which foods to incorporate into your diet. This recipe could be easily modified to use egg whites alone and turkey bacon.

Nutrition facts (1 sandwich): 459 calories, 5g carb, 35g fat, 28g protein, 2g fiber

Bird’s eye view

Helpful links:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_(food)#Nutritional_value
• http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/good-eggs-for-nutrition-theyre-hard-to-beat