Breakfast can help you maintain a good nutritional diet.  Here’s a nutritious recipe for my Egg & Tomato Florentine Stack.  It can help you maintain a good diet for the rest of your day, which means it can help you maintain your New Year’s resolution for eating better.

Breakfast is my most important meal of the day.  No matter how badly I did with my nutritional or exercise needs the day before, I can always start fresh and anew with breakfast.

So what was bad for me the day before?  Well, eating more than the portion I had allotted myself for a dessert.  Not getting around to the weights I needed to lift?  Not getting out and walking for my load bearing and aerobic exercise.  Eating more than my allotted portion of just about anything.  Having that second alcoholic drink in a day.  The list is always numerous.

It is always, always a struggle.

But I’ve learned over the years that I am best in the early morning.  My willpower is at its peak then.  And if I eat right during breakfast, I’m more likely to do better for the rest of the day.

Rule #1 is to always ALWAYS eat breakfast, no matter what the circumstances.  I cannot remember the last time I skipped breakfast, and I was a very busy business woman.  During the legislative sessions in Florida, I was in the Capitol many days by 6 to 7 a.m.; and frequently we worked until late into the evening for several days in a row at a time.  I always ate a good breakfast, no matter what.  It was a good start to every day.

Rule #2 is to always eat a good balanced breakfast.  I try to eat at least one egg for breakfast.  Usually I just fry it up in coconut oil and eat an egg, but during the past few years I’ve been adding extras.  Lately, those extras added are what I call “a breakfast stack”.  My favorite breakfast stack is spinach, tomato, goat cheese and egg.  My recipe follows this post.

I add to my stack a glass of whole milk and a piece of fruit, which is mostly mixed together in a smoothie.  I wrote a post about this earlier, and you can find it here.

Finally, I have a piece of sprouted whole grain toast with some real butter.  I sincerely believe that all the diets that cut out real fats had it all wrong.  I believe that if you cut out the fats, you’ll be hungry for the rest of the day.

I now drink whole milk and use real butter.  I no longer buy cheese made with skim milk.  I changed this in my diet over a year ago, and I’ve been checked by my doctor at least twice now.  My cholesterol has not increased, and my weight has maintained itself within a coule of pounds of what I consider my optimal weight.

Rule #3 is to always relax while I eat.  I give myself about 20 minutes.  Back when I worked, sometimes I didn’t get the full 20 minutes; but I always tried, even if I had to get up earlier.  It was worth it.  Those de-stressing moments set me up for a more relaxed day ahead.

Below is my breakfast stack.  It is easy and takes less than 10 minutes to make (probably closer to five but I’ve never timed it.)
Eggs and Tomato Florentine Stack

Ingredients needed:   one egg, some goat cheese crumbles, a handful of fresh spinach, coconut oil spray, and two slices of tomato.

1.  Take a small frying pan, turn the heat on medium high, spray with coconut oil spray and stir fry a handful of spinach until it wilts.  Add it to your plate.  By the way the other day Chuck passed through the kitchen while I was doing this and said, “You know you’re just frying leaves there.”  Funny man.

2. Next, spray again and fry up the two slices of tomato on medium high heat.  Turn once and when the tomatoes get a little soggy, remove them and stack the two slices side by side on top of your spinach.

I use a variety of tomato that is near and dear to me, plus in my opinion it is the best tasting tomato in the nation.  I used to work for and represent the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (aka IFAS) at the University of Florida.  For years our nation’s food scientists bred tomatoes so that they would withstand the rigors of shipping, until they eventually bred out the gene that made tomatoes taste good.

Years ago, though, while I was working for IFAS the scientists there began working on breeding a tomato that tasted good.  The result is the “Tasti-Lee” tomato.  Finally, a commercial tomato that tastes juicy and sweet like a tomato should.  Commercial is important because it means that you can find this tomato in your grocery store on a regular basis.

I buy mine from Publix a grocery store here in the south, but I’m sure it can be found in lots of others.  This tomato is good!

3.  Before you go to the next step and while the tomatoes are hot, sprinkle a few goat cheese sprinkles over the slices of tomatoes.  Also, between each step remove your frying pan from the heat so it doesn’t get too hot.  You may have to experiment with this.  Every cook stove is different.

4.  Spray your pan again and add your egg.  I usually pierce the yellow, because you don’t want it runny.  I just pierce it with the edge of my cracked egg.  I’m a firm believer in saving on washing dishes.

Fry the egg well, turning once.   Then stack the fried egg on top of the goat cheese.  The egg will continue to melt the cheese.

Voila!  You’re done.

Usually, I compile the smoothie before I make my stack.  I just don ‘t blend it until I’m ready to eat.

Also, the plate you see above is one of my salad plates.  Years ago I realized that my mother’s dinner plates were the size of my current salad plates.  I’ve been eating on a salad plate ever since.  It helps me with portion control.

Also, when I put the egg on to fry, I start the toaster.  Everything gets done about the same time; and I get to sit down, relax, and read something while I eat breakfast.

I have always tried to never read work-related materials during breakfast.  I usually do some type of devotional.  Right now I’m reading the books of the Bible that didn’t make the Protestant cut for the King James Version.  Interesting reading, actually.  I always wondered about the historical breaks in the Bible.  Some of these books cover those breaks.  I only read one chapter and if I finish, I go on to reading a book for pleasure which is always on my Kindle.

Right now I’m reading a book about an incident in Old Florida.  The book is entitled “Shadow Country” by Peter Matthiessen.    The setting is the ten thousand islands on the southwest coast of Florida during the 1800s after the Civil War.  This was a common place to go for people running from the law.  The main character is Ed Watson, a Florida native who was said to have killed Belle Starr in Arkansas.

I vary the ingredients in my smoothies and stacks. For my stacks sometimes I have regular good old grits (can’t help it, I’m from the south), with my egg and tomatoes stacked on top.  I’ve also added other cheeses, according to my stack.  Cheddar cheese is better with my grits and egg stack.  Oh and I only allow myself one portion of grits when I do this.  That means what will fit in the palm of my hand.

And I never allow myself to eat a pastry of any kind for breakfast. That is probably my worst breakfast ever. It absolutely sets me up to fail over and over again all day long. And I absolutely love the stuff. I have a sweet tooth that will always win if I keep that stuff in my home.

What I get from my breakfast stack and reading is a really good start to my day!  I am more likely to take good care of myself and more likely to maintain a good diet throughout the remainder of the day.