Breakfasts, Brunches & Savory Lunches

I love weekend breakfasts. On Sundays, Thomas squeezes fresh orange juice —lots of it—while I whip up something that falls between a standard breakfast and a savory lunch. I guess you could call it Brunch, although images of white-linen buffets and champagne mimosas pop into my brain when I think of Brunch. No, Sundays for us are simply late morning breakfasts and the later they are the more savory they are.

In her book Breakfast in Bed, Jesse Ziff Cool also reveres this first meal of the day—but in that most soft and comforting of places, the bed. "If you are like me," she writes, you understand that beds are meant for much more than sleeping. I have been known to take the calculator to bed to pay bills. I wrote much of my first book in bed on my laptop computer. Quite simply, my bed is my favorite place to be."

I like her recipes. As with my own spur-of-the-moment concoctions they range from traditional egg variations to more savory lunch-like dishes. Tomato, Avocado and Basil Omelet Over Grilled Bread...Crab Cakes in Chive Custard...Breakfast Waffle Sandwich... Yum!

Another book also caught my breakfast-minded eye recently, Pancakes A-Z by Marie Simmons. Her previous Muffins A-Z offered bountiful ways to create sweet and savory muffins, and she does the same with pancakes. I would eat her pancakes any time of day. In fact, I've selected a few very savory and very international ones for you to sample beyond the morning hours. In the book which contains 45 recipes, Simmons shares some invaluable pointers for turning out infallible hotcakes:

Never rush a pancake.
Heat the pan first, then cook them slowly over a medium heat.
Never use ordinary butter to coat the griddle. Butter burns: Just brush the pan with a thin layer of vegetable oil instead.
Keep them warm. After the pancakes are cooked, transfer to a baking sheet, cover with foil, and place in an oven pre-heated to 200F.
Never beat the batter: Stir until just blended.

Both Breakfast in Bed and Pancakes A-Z inspire just from their design: fresh, clean and colorful. Rich photos invite you to taste the dishes right off the page, and the layouts are balanced and uncluttered—easy to follow first thing in the morning. Breakfast always seems to taste better in the chill of winter months, no matter what time of day you enjoy it, so I hope these samples motivate you to pick up these books yourself and get out of the bacon and eggs rut. If nothing else, you may just decide to read them and dream about their luscious treats—doing so in bed, of course.