How to make the Perfect Breakfast Every Day

The key to success here is in perfecting a single, perfect ancient recipe. 

While waiting patiently for my acupuncturist to call me in, or for my mom to come out of her session (I can’t be sure at this point which –  we are truly blessed, privileged and cute to do ‘puncture as a family thing these days) I sat in front of a truly well-read coffee table, overwhelmed at the glorious selection. I took the adventure of choosing one. I reached for a homemade binder which contained an additional bountiful selection of articles from various sources (as golden, but without the primary benefit of print publication). I landed quite definitively on Congee and Wet Breakfasts for Health, a Beautiful post by Andrew Sterman.  If food is love, then his writing on Congee is foreplay – and I felt it! I could hardly wait to try it out. In a nutshell, following the first re-creation of this magically wholesome and perfectly energetic ancient Chinese breakfast staple, there have been many, almost daily, unbelievably satisfying, wet congee breakfasts. 

Please read his article, I can hardly speak to the real beauty of it. 

Here are the  most amazing things about Congee breakfast:

1. When made with love and according to Andrew’s description, the rice or millet releases all of it’s creamy starch and lets in as much water as it can possibly absorb, so it is amazingly hydrating!
2. It’s so creamy, it’s as if there’s milk in there! Alas, it is entirely naturally ‘plant-based’
3. The means of cooking wet breakfasts, heating by water rather than by fire, poaching the eggs rather than by frying them, for example, is one of the aspects which make them energetically perfect according to the lessons of ancient Chinese medicine in which the Qi of the Five Main Organs give/receive their own Yin and Yang powers of balance based on what you are giving them!
4. Such abundance… 1 cup of dry rice makes an entire week’s worth of perfect breakfasts for myself and Cricket! 
5. Soooooo many directions to go, never gets old (though, I almost always add some ginger, turmeric, pinch of salt, pepper and flax seeds)
6. Simply, savory traditional – topped with poached eggs, soy sauce, toasted sesame seeds or oil and some scallions 
7. Island style – beautiful blue, butterfly pea congee topped with lovely purple poi, coconut milk, guava, pineapple, papaya, starfruit, toasted coconut and macadamia; a rare and luxurious treat 
8. Carrot cake congee mixed with some raisins, toasted walnuts or pecans, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, maple syrup or organic raw honey, and some milk (of choice!)
9. The list goes on! 
10. (And this random Lindsey quirk for you) I have always LOVED white, creamy porridge type things ever since the scene in the original Disney version of Beauty and the Beast where the beast digs into that delicious, creamy and steaming  bowl of yummy porridge. … Congee, love it. Cream of Wheat, LOVE it. Tapioca, YEP. Whipped cream LAWWWWVE IT. You see what I mean 🙂

• 

•