If you have some oats and a skillet, you’re halfway to having homemade granola.   I was skeptical about this recipe before I tried it.  I’m a big proponent of oven-baked granola.  I’ve spent months trying to find ways to make prefect granola clusters in the oven.  So, the idea of just throwing a bunch of stuff in a pan seemed like a lot of hopeful thinking.  To my surprise and delight, this recipe actually works quite well.

You end up with a looser granola than the oven produces, but it’s every bit as flavorful.  As I was making it, I couldn’t help but think how fun it would be to make this over a campfire.  I’d like to see how a little smoke from the fire affects the oats.  I’ll let you know next time I go to the forest. But for now, I used the stove-top.  Here’s how it’s done…

Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Stir in 2 Tablespoons of honey.  Add 1/4 cup chopped nuts. Cook about 2 minutes until they start to brown – stirring often.

Add 1 cup Old Fashioned oats and mix well to moisten.  Stirring often, cook oats about 4 minutes until nicely browned.

Turn off heat and mix in 1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit.  Transfer to a baking sheet to cool and crisp.

I found that if you compress the granola into the baking sheet with a spatula, you can get a few clusters out of this recipe.

Final Verdict:  It’s not as good as oven-baked granola, but it’s definitely satisfying. If you’re looking just to make 2 servings of homemade granola on the fly, this is a convenient recipe. It doesn’t get tremendously crisp so it’s far better as a cereal with milk than it is as a snack.  Sadly, it doesn’t store very well.  The modest amount of crispness that it gets seems to dissipate the longer it’s stored.

Suggestions For Adjusting This Recipe To Fit Your Tastes

For the 1/4 cup of nuts, just about any nut will work as long as the pieces aren’t too big.  Try chopped pecans, peanuts, chopped walnuts or even chopped macadamia nuts.  For the nut component, you could also use seeds like flax seeds, sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds.  Try mixing a couple of those options together to fill out the 1/4 cup.

For the 1/2 cup of dried fruit, I decided to use a combination of dried pineapple and chopped dates.  Those flavors worked great, but the sky is the limit when it comes to the fruit component.  You could go relativity simple with raisins or cranberries or try something unique like dried mango or papaya.  Like the nut component, it’s fun to make the flavor of your granola as interesting as possible by mixing a couple dried fruits together to make up the 1/2 cup.

If you need a homemade granola fix and you don’t have time to bake, this recipe more than satisfies the basic granola craving.

This post is a companion piece to the following recipe on MrBreakfast.com:

Skillet Granola

To check out a couple of my favorite oven-baked granola recipes, see my article called How To Make Granola With Clusters.

Also see the Homemade Cereal Collection on MrBreakfast.com for a bunch of other granola recipes.

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There’s nothing quite like a warm slice of banana bread with a nice smear of butter.  It’s as if the heavens looked down on the creation of butter and said, “Now we must create a perfect platform upon which to show off this butter.”  When made properly, banana bread is moist and loaded with flavor.  It’s pretty much a big, bread-shaped muffin.  Best of all, banana bread is so easy to make… it’s “nuts!”   Just kidding.  It’s totally “bananas!”

In this article, I’ll show you my favorite banana bread recipe and share a couple of tips for getting great tasting bread every time.  I’m also excited to present my latest cooking video.  Last week, I watched the movie The Artist.  It was cute.  But you know what it was missing?  A good banana bread recipe.  Here’s a few scenes that would have made it perfect:

Video:  “Mr Breakfast Makes Banana Bread”

How To Make Excellent Banana Bread

For the printable version of this recipe, click here.

The only real trick to making good banana bread is using really ripe bananas.  Just when you think it might be time to toss a banana in the compost bin, that’s the perfect time to use it for banana bread.  The reason is that bananas develop more sugar as they ripen.  The banana flavor becomes more pronounced as the fruit ages.

I’ve seen some recipes that try to extract more flavor from bananas by microwaving them and cooking down the liquid produced to a syrup.  That’s fun if you want to try it, but it’s unnecessary.  Ask anybody’s grandma… the old way is the best way.  Very ripe bananas yield very good banana bread.

When I make banana bread, I use two mixing bowls: one to mash the bananas and the other one for mixing.  Cream 1 softened stick of butter and 1 cup of sugar together until fluffy.  Stir in 3 medium mashed bananas and 2 beaten eggs. Then, slowly stir in 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and a couple pinches of salt.  If you like, you can add a teaspoon of vanilla or a few dashes of cinnamon at this point.

Lastly, fold in 1/3 cup chopped walnuts and then pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.  Bake for 40 to 50 minutes at 350 degrees and that’s all there is to it.  This recipe makes one 9 1/2″ X 5″ loaf or three 6″ X 3 1/2″ inch mini loaves.

The only note of caution with this recipe is to watch the cooking time.  40 to 50 minutes is a decent approximation, but every loaf of banana bread has its own distinct cooking time.  The ripeness and size of your “medium” bananas both impact the cooking time.  I’ve had one loaf take exactly 40 minutes and another with the same recipe take nearly an hour.  Both turned out great despite the significant difference in cooking time.  Just be sure to test that the bread is done with a toothpick or a skewer.  If you stick it in the middle of the loaf and it comes out clean, the bread is done.

I hope you have as much fun and success with this recipe as I’ve had.

This post is based on the following recipe on MrBreakfast.com:

Easy Banana Bread

If you’re not that bananas about banana bread, but you’re totally pumped about pumpkin bread, check out this Pumpkin Bread Recipe.

April 7th is National Coffee Cake Day.  So it seems like the perfect time to to share some of my favorite coffee cake recipes.  When you want a baked good for breakfast or brunch, you can’t beat a nice coffee cake.  They’re easy to prepare and ready within an hour. As they bake, your kitchen smells like a bakery.  If you have guests over, someone will always ask, “What smells so good?” If you need a dish to take somewhere, a coffee cake is the perfect, portable, party pastry.

The recipes here are all “quick bread” coffee cakes. That is to say, they don’t use yeast (which takes more time), but are made from scratch using flour as a base and baking powder or baking soda as their leavening agent.  (A couple of the recipes call for a store bought-baking mix like Bisquick which is basically flour plus baking powder.)

In a later post, we’ll address yeast-risen coffee cakes and short-cut coffee cakes (those which use dinner rolls, biscuits in a tube or some other time-saving base).  But for now, grab a coffee, sit back, relax and get ready to be hungry.  I present to you…

18 Awesome Coffee Cake Recipes

1. Strawberry Jam Coffee Cake – You can use any flavor jam that you like.  I’ve tried this recipe with both strawberry and raspberry jam and loved the results.

2. Cinnamon Flop (Coffee Cake) – This easy-to-make coffee cake features soft fissures and cracks loaded with buttery brown sugar and cinnamon.

3. Raspberry Cobbler Coffee Cake – This colorful beauty has fresh red raspberries resting in a light vanilla cake.  Top it off with sliced almonds and a drizzle of icing and it looks like you bought it at an expensive bakery.

4. Cherry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake – This dish is from a 1990 Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipe booklet that I found at a thrift store for $1.00.  The featured ingredients are cherry pie filling, sliced almonds and, of coarse, Philadelphia Cream Cheese.

5. Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake – Finally!  A proper use for that cranberry sauce that’s always left over from the holidays.  Sweet, tangy, tender and delicious!

6. Butterscotch Coffee Cake – This coffee cake uses butterscotch chips and more butter than I’d like to admit to give it a sweet, indulgent flavor.  This one got 20 thumbs-ups from the 10 people I had try it.

7. Breakfast Cereal Coffee Cake – Honey Bunches of Oats cereal is part of the batter and also included in the lightly crunchy topping.  You can experiment with other cereals to make this coffee cake uniquely your own.

8. Banana Date Coffee Cake – This coffee cake is loaded with flavor from bananas, dates, coconut, walnuts and orange juice.  All that good stuff makes this coffee cake a bit more dense than the others on this list.

9. Blitzkuchen (German Coffee Cake) – A basic coffee cake with a delightful walnut crumble topping.  FYI… Kuchen is the German word for “cake” and Blitz is German for “lightning.”  Who’s in the mood for Lightning Cake?

10. Crunchy Kuchen (German Coffee Cake) – Like a blitzkuchen, but with a crunchy topping thanks to crushed corn flakes.  Like the Breakfast Cereal Coffee Cake earlier, you can play around with the choice of cereal.

11.  Peanut Butter Coffee Cake – The main flavor of this coffee cake is peanut butter, but occasional bites with chocolate chips will remind you of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

12. Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffee Cake – This is a vintage recipe from a 1987 magazine advertisement.  Pure pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice pack a powerful pumpkin punch in this coffee cake.

13. Carrot Cake Coffee Cake – Have you ever wanted to have your favorite dessert for breakfast?  If your favorite dessert is carrot cake, get ready to have a good time! Shredded carrots and pineapple juice are the ingredients of distinction in this recipe.

14. Upside-Down Pineapple Coffee Cake – It’s like a regular pineapple upside-down cake, but you get to eat it for breakfast!  In this recipe, pineapple rings are placed in the bottom of the pan with a rich brown sugar topping.  When it’s done, you invert the pan and it looks super cool.

15. Chocolate Swirl Coffee Cake – If you like real chocolate dripping through your coffee cake with a flaky coconut and nut topping, this recipe from a vintage 1971 recipe card might be just the thing to make your morning.

16. Easy Pineapple Coffee Cake – It’s easy because you can prepare the batter in minutes using crushed pineapple and a store-bought biscuit mix.  Step into the coffee cake time machine and take a look at this recipe from a 1964 advertisement for Dole Pineapple.

17. Cranberry-Nut Coffee Cake – Cranberries aren’t just for Christmas.  This coffee cake features cranberry sauce and lots of almonds.   This is another one that requires a store-bought baking mix like Bisquick.

18.  Peach-Nut Coffee Cake – This recipe has the distinction of having the most unusual coffee cake ingredient:  baby food!  Although when you think about it, peach baby food is just pureed fruit.  Easy and convenient.  This recipe comes to us all the way from 1954 from an advertisement for a defunct manufacturer of tin cans.

For even more coffee cakes and hundreds of other breakfast baked goods, visit the Baked Goods Recipe Collection at MrBreakfast.com.

Happy Coffee Cake Day!  Have fun baking!

I’m really excited about a new technique that I’ve been using lately for poaching eggs.  It’s a trick from the great Julia Child.  Usually, you add vinegar to simmering water which helps loose strands of egg white cling to the cooking egg. It’s rare that the vinegar taste lingers, but when it does, there can be an unpleasant, unnecessary tinge of sourness in your finished dish.

Thanks to what I’m calling The Julia Child Pin Prick Method, I no longer use vinegar.  You bring the water to a full boil, prick one end of the egg with a pin and boil the egg in its shell for 10 seconds.  Then, reduce the heat to a simmer and poach as usual.

I’ve had fantastic luck with this technique, so I’m trying to spread the word.  I’ve just made a new cooking demonstration video (see above) and I’ve updated my article “How Do I Poach An Egg” with the information and included a cheat sheet which you can also find right here.

I hope you’ll give this method a try.  Poached eggs are great on their own with some toast, but you might want to explore some interesting breakfast recipes that use poached eggs.  I’ve got that covered…

Eggs Benedict

Eggs Blackstone

Crab Cake Benedict

Eggs Comtesse

You might also want to try:

• Poached Eggs with Lemon Butter Chive Sauce
• Eggs Poached In Italy
• Elegant Eggs (Croustades)
• Asparagus Eggs Benedict
• Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict
• Cheddar Eggs Benedict
• Dinah Shore’s Corned Beef Hash

Happy poaching!

As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, many people are looking forward to healthy (size-wise) portions of corned beef, cabbage, Irish whiskey and Guinness.  While I plan to partake in all those great things, I’m most excited about St. Patrick’s Day breakfast.  Every year, I try to find new ways to incorporate green into my omelets, pancakes, waffles and other morning dishes.

One of my St. Patrick’s Day breakfast dishes was so green that it was literally unbelievable.  I submitted a photo of my Green Egg Scramble to the popular food picture site FoodGawker and they wouldn’t accept it.  They said it “looked overproccessed.”  I can see how they thought that, but seriously, it was food coloring and green peppers – not Photoshop.

Today’s featured St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast recipe is festive but not quite as over-the-top.  It’s a basic breakfast casserole with accents of distinct green from spinach, green pepper, green onion, chopped jalapeno and a garnish of parsley.

You can get the original, printable recipe here, but please note in the comments how I included a few extra ingredients to add in more green.

The ingredients for this Green Egg Casserole are eggs, pieces of bread, milk, Monterey jack cheese, spinach, green pepper, green onion, jalapeno and parsley.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, beat the eggs and milk together.   Add all of the remaining ingredients (except the cheese and parsley) and mix well.  You don’t have to use multiple bowls like I did.

Pour the ingredients from the mixing bowl into a lightly greased casserole dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Then, sprinkle cheese over the top and bake 20 minutes more until the egg is completely set.  You can test for doneness with a toothpick.  Insert it into the center of the casserole.  If it comes out clean, the casserole is done.

To serve, cut into squares and garnish with lovely green chopped parsley.

To make this breakfast even more appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day, do what I did.  Serve it with Potatoes O’Brien and coffee with a shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream.  If you happen to have little plastic clover sticks that say “Happy St. Patrick’s Day”, awesome!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

This post is a companion piece to the following recipe on MrBreakfast.com:

Green Egg Casserole

Other St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast Ideas:

Green Eggs & Ham

Green Egg Scramble

Irish Oatmeal

Green Egg Omelette

March 9th is National Crab Meat Day.  What better way to celebrate than with a rich, delicious Crab Meat Omelette.  It’s loaded with fresh crab, green onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic.  As with any respectable crab dish, this omelette has a generous amount of butter which is well known to bring out the sweetness and general tastiness of crab.

For this recipe, you’ll need beaten eggs, fresh crab, part of a bell pepper, green onions, celery, butter and salt and pepper.  For exact measurements and the printable recipe, click here.

First, finely chop the bell pepper, celery, green onions and garlic.  Coarsely chop or shred the crab.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the bell pepper, celery, green onions and garlic. Stirring occasionally, cook until the peppers are tender – about 5 minutes.  Turn off the heat and stir in the crab.  Let it set for about 3 minutes to warm the crab.  Stir in the beaten eggs.

Pour the mixture from the saucepan into a medium frying pan.  Cover and cook on medium-low until the egg is mostly set – about 4 minutes.  Flip and cook the other side until the egg is completely set – about 1 minute.

I accidentally made my omelette too big, so I had to use a plate to help flip it.  If you need to do that, just slide the omelette onto a spare plate.  Place the now-empty frying pan over the plate and then give them a quick flip.

Turn the omelette out onto a serving plate, folding it in half with the lip of your pan as it slides onto the plate.

Incidentally, if you’re thinking of using imitation crab for this recipe, be sure to check the seafood counter of your grocery store first.  I was surprised to discover that real crab cost the same as the packaged imitation stuff on the day I was shopping.

So, that’s all there is to it.  From now on if anyone ever accuses you of being crabby in the morning, say, “Thanks, I am feeling sweet, buttery and delicious today.”

This post is a companion piece to the following recipe on MrBreakfast.com:

Crabmeat Omelette

There’s nothing quite like a perfectly prepared piece of French toast.  The outside is ever so crisp and the inside is moist and tender.   Ordinary bread suddenly becomes a playground for maple syrup and other toppings. Use extraordinary bread and you’re in for a guaranteed breakfast bonanza.

Here’s 12 of the best French toast recipes on MrBreakfast.com:

#1.  Basic French Toast

Everybody needs a good go-to French toast recipe.  This is mine.  The custard that you dip the bread into is a simple combination of milk, beaten eggs, sugar and a hint of salt.  If you’re craving no-frills, classic diner-style French toast, this is a recipe you should try.  Get the recipe here.

#2. Crunchy French Toast

I can still remember the first time I tried Crunchy French Toast.  It was several years ago at a restaurant in Los Angeles called Fred 62.  I took a bite and was an immediate fan.  A crisp French toast exterior is great.  A crunchy exterior is even greater.  The trick is dragging your bread through crushed corn flakes after you dip it in an egg and milk mixture. Get the recipe here.

#3. Cinnamon Crunch French Toast

Once you try Crunchy French Toast (#2), you might want to explore other ways to achieve a crunchy French Toast exterior.  In this recipe, the crushed corn flakes from the previous recipe are replaced with crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.  Get the recipe here.

#4. Coconut Crunch French Toast

The “crunch” in this recipe actually refers to a man – one of the greatest men in the history of breakfast… Cap’n Horatio Magellan Crunch.  That’s his actual full name.  Here, crushed Cap’n Crunch cereal and shredded coconut form a tasty crust on each slice of French toast.  Get the recipe here.

#5. French Toast Bites (aka Golden Nuggets)

This recipe was inspired by an offering on a limited edition Denny’s menu where it was called Lonely Mountain Treasure.  At Denny’s, they offered maple syrup as a dipping sauce. Since “Lonely Mountain Treasure” is a weird name and one dipping sauce is not enough, I present you with French Toast Golden Nuggets and a variety of dipping sauces. Get the recipe here.

#6. French Toast Kabobs

Once you know how to make French Toast Bites (#5), the next logical step is to stab them with a stick.  This recipe for breakfast kabobs pairs golden brown French toast pieces with berries and pieces of fruit. Get the recipe here.

#7. Brown Sugar & Walnut Baked French Toast

This is one of my personal favorite overnight French toast dishes.  All the ingredients can be assembled before you go to bed.  The next morning, pop it in the oven for 30 minutes and breakfast is served. Get the recipe here.

#8. Coconut Banana French Toast

If you desire a taste of the tropics, this might be the recipe for you.  Mashed bananas and coconut flakes are blended into an egg custard so each piece of French toast is literally drenched in island flavor. Get the recipe here.

#9. Torrijas (Spanish French Toast)

The core recipe for Spanish French toast (aka Spanish Bread Pudding) is strikingly similar to basic American French toast.  The thing that makes this recipe special is its simple topping of cinnamon, sugar and honey.  You might find yourself saying “hasta la vista” to maple syrup for a while. Get the recipe here.

#10. Honey Custard French Toast

In our earlier study of Spanish French toast (#9), we discovered that honey makes an excelente French toast topping.  This recipe from the National Honey Board takes that concept one step further.  Honey is incorporated as part of the custard that the bread is dredged in.  Then, everything is topped with more honey and some chopped pecans.  To skip this recipe would be a “honey boo boo.”  Get the recipe here.

#11. Rum Raisin French Toast

The 18th century English poet William Cowper once wrote, “I pity them greatly, but I must be mum, for how could we do without sugar and rum?”  Tis true, for without rum, this recipe would be but raisin bread French toast.  A modest amount of dark rum gives this French toast a unique and special flavor. Get the recipe here.

#12.  Vanilla Cream French Toast

Using whipping cream in a French toast custard may not be very diet conscious, but it will result in an a rich and creamy center that will have you creaming will delight even the most critical of French toast connoisseurs. Get the recipe here.

Want More?

The MrBreakfast.com French Toast Recipe Collection has over 170 different French toast recipes.  If you try one, let me know how it worked out in the comments below or on any of the recipe pages.

For an in-depth study on making basic French toast, check out my previous blog post called How To Make Excellent French Toast.

I discovered this recipe in a 1976 advertisement from the Egg Farmers of Ontario.  The ad promoted the recipe as The 42 Cent Lunch, but it struck me that eggs on toast might be better suited for breakfast.  It’s an interesting take on the classic Egg in the Hole.  Instead of cooking an egg within a slice of toast, the egg rests on top of the toast.  The yolk is supported by a pillow of beaten egg white that’s baked until golden brown.

This morning I “got cracking” and tried making this vintage recipe.

Above, you can see that the dish turned out pretty much like the picture in the ad.  The yolk wasn’t quite as vibrant, but other than that, it was awesome. It was easy to make, tasty and a really fun way to do eggs and toast in a unique way.

Here’s how to make it…

The ingredients are just eggs, bread, butter and salt.  For the original recipe as printed in the ad, click here.

Toast your bread.  While the bread is in the toaster, separate your egg whites from the yolks.  Beat the egg whites until stiff.  It only takes a minute with an electric beater.

Butter your toast.  Dollop pillows of egg white on each slice of toast.  Make an indentation in the middle of the whites.  Carefully, place a yolk in each of the holes.  Dot the top of the eggs with butter.  Bake at 350 degrees for 17 minutes. (The original recipe says 15 minutes, but I found that it needed 2 minutes more.)

Remove the Baked Birdies from the oven and serve with hash browns or fruit.

You can eat this with a fork or with your hands.  The yolk will still be just a bit runny, but not enough to get messy.  If you want the yolk cooked through completely, switch your oven to broil for the last 2 minutes of cooking.

No mater what you call it, Baked Birdies in a Nest (aka Egg in a Basket; aka Egg in the Hole; aka Toad in a Hole; aka Baked Popeye) is a fun way to serve an ordinary breakfast in a fun, new way.  Even though, ironically, this new way is 37 years old.

This post is a companion piece to the following article on MrBreakfast.com:

Baked Egg Nests

Related Recipe:

Egg In The Hole

Today, we’re eating waffles with Barack Obama, flipping pancakes with George W. Bush and picking out donuts with Bill Clinton. It’s a trip though U.S. history as we examine American Presidents and their favorite breakfast foods.

In part one, you’ll find images of recent Presidents ordering, making and eating breakfast.  Part two is a study of our Presidents and what they ate for breakfast, going all the way back to George Washington.

The Presidential Breakfast Image Library

Candidate Barack Obama with a box of Dunkin’ Donuts and a jug of coffee. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A montage of President Barack Obama enjoying breakfast.

George W. Bush flipping pancakes on the campaign trail in 1999.

President George W. Bush showing off a pancake as he eats with the troops.

President Bill Clinton selects a doughnut.

Bill Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, having breakfast with ABC’s Charlie Gibson in 1992. (Credit: ABC News)

George H.W. Bush (candidate for President in 1988) having coffee at the Three Brothers Coffee Shop in Homewood, Illinois with Arnold Schwarzenegger (AP Photo/Scott Applewhite via thejournal.ie).  It’s been reported that H.W. was a great lover of hot sauce which he would use to spice up eggs.

Ronald Reagan having a breakfast of Broiled Grapefruit (or possible a small melon) in 1980 with Vice President George H.W. Bush and Detroit Mayor Coleman Young. (AP Photo/Walter Zeboski via thejournal.ie)

Ronald Reagan having breakfast with his family in 1959.  At that time, Reagan was an actor and the host of TV’s General Electric Theater. (Credit: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library via architecturaldigest.com)

President Jimmy Carter having breakfast in The White House with Senator Henry M. Jackson and Senator Sam Nunn in 1977. (Credit:  University of Washington Libraries)

President Gerald Ford toasting English muffins in 1974. (Credit: National Archives, Gerald R. Ford Library)

Congressman Gerald Ford and family having breakfast in the kitchen of their Alexandria, VA home before he became Nixon’s Vice President. (Credit: Clover College Park Civic Association)

Richard Nixon as a Vice Presidential Candidate reflected in a mirror after eating a bowl of cereal. (Credit: Life Magazine via art.com)

President Richard M. Nixon enjoying breakfast with his children and his wife Pat.

President John F. Kennedy having an adorable breakfast with his daughter Caroline in the White House in 1961. (Credit: Charles Del Vecchio, Washington Post)

Dwight D. Eisenhower having breakfast on a plane with auto executive Paul G. Hoffman circa 1959. (Credit: allposters.com)

Dwight D. Eisenhower eating what appears to be a box of donuts in 1954. (Credit: Sealtest Southern Diary)

President Harry S. Truman having breakfast with the troops.

Five years after his Presidency, Harry S. Truman enjoys his pipe at an Ole’ Missouri Country Ham Breakfast at New York’s Waldorf Astoria in 1958. (Credit: hosttotheworld.com)

American Presidents & What They Ate For Breakfast

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)

President Reagan usually had breakfast everyday at 7:45AM.  His most common breakfast was bran cereal with skim milk, fresh fruit and decaf coffee.  Once a week, he’d have eggs – either scrambled, poached or soft-boiled.  Whole wheat toast and homemade muffins were also common at the Reagan breakfast table.  For special occasions, Reagan would indulge in an old family favorite called Monkey Bread. ¹

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)

President Carter would typically wake up around 5:30AM.  He’d start the day with coffee and fresh-squeezed juice.  A couple of hours later, he would have a light breakfast – usually fruit and buttered toast.  Occasionally, eggs or cereal would take the place of his regular fare.  Sunday breakfasts tended to be more indulgent.  Some of his favorite heavier breakfasts included country-style ham with red-eye gravy, scrambled eggs, corn bread, hot fried apples and grits.  Carter loved grits.  They were included on The White House breakfast menu on his first day in office.  He also named his dog Grits. ¹

Gerald Ford (1974-1977)

Like Carter, President Ford ate light on weekdays and went bigger on the weekends.  His typical weekday breakfast included toasted English muffins with jam, fresh fruit and fresh juice.  On Sundays, Ford loved a good waffle which he would top with strawberries and sour cream.  German apple pancakes also topped his list of heavier breakfast fare. ¹

Richard Nixon (1969-1974)

President Nixon’s typical breakfast was quite light – usually yogurt, cottage cheese and fresh fruit.  The most unusually thing about a Nixon breakfast was that he liked to top his cottage cheese with ketchup.  That alone might be an impeachable offense.  It’s been reported that his final Presidential breakfast before he left office was cottage cheese and pineapple. ²

Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)

President Johnson’s most common breakfast was chipped beef covered in cream with a cup of hot tea.  He was also known to enjoy a good steak for breakfast, as well as for lunch and dinner. ¹

John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)

President Kennedy was known to start his day with 2 poached eggs on toast, crisp bacon, additional toast with jam or marmalade, milk, orange juice and coffee.  He was also prone to enjoy corn muffins.  Kennedy took his coffee with cream and sugar. ³

Harry Truman (1945-1953)

President Truman had a regular breakfast menu that he rarely deviated from:  hot cereal during cold months and cold cereal during warm months.  He would augment his cereal with wheat toast, milk and orange juice (sometimes grapefruit or tomato juice). ⁵

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945)

FDR was known to take breakfast on a tray in his bedroom.  His favorite items were creamed chipped beef, corned beef hash with poached eggs and fried corn-meal mush with maple syrup.  He was particular about his coffee.  It was a dark French roast made in The White House kitchen from green coffee beans.  Roosevelt was also fond of kippered herring and salt mackerel for breakfast. ⁴

Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)

President Coolidge favored a hot cereal made with 3 parts whole wheat and 1 part whole rye.  The grains were not ground before they were cooked, so you can imagine it was a hearty concoction. ⁵

Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)

President Harding’s favorite breakfast items were hot cereal, scrambled eggs, bacon, wheat cakes with maple syrup, corn muffins, grapefruit and toast.  He was also a very big coffee-drinker. ⁵

Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)

It’s often been reported that President Wilson regularly had a Rocky-style breakfast of two raw eggs in grape juice.  This conflicts with Wilson’s own words, “I am very fond of country hams, peach cobblers, butter and buttermilk, fresh eggs, hot biscuits, homemade ice cream and plain white cake.”  There are records that Wilson’s first breakfast in The White House consisted of oranges, cereal with cream, bacon, eggs, steak, hot cakes, toast, tea and coffee. ^{5, 6}

William Howard Taft (1909-1913)

President Taft was a steak and potatoes kind of guy.  For breakfast, his steak would usually be broiled and his potatoes were usually presented in the form of hash browns.  We know that on one particular trip to Savannah, GA, Taft had a breakfast consisting of grapefruit, potted partridge, grilled partridge, broiled venison, waffles with maple syrup, hominy, hot rolls and bacon. ⁵

Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)

President Teddy Roosevelt was pretty set in his ways when it came to breakfast.  He’d have hard-boiled eggs and homemade rolls.  He insisted that the eggs be cooked until solid throughout.  Medium or soft-boiled eggs wouldn’t cut it.  As for the rolls, they had to be fresh and there had to be a lot of them.  In the rare times that he’d deviate from his routine, it was usually in favor of hominy with butter and salt. ^{7, 8}

William McKinley (1897-1901)

President McKinley’s morning menu consisted of eggs, steak or chops, hot breads, potatoes, fruit and coffee. He would occasionally throw fish into that mix. ⁵

Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)

A journalist named Frank Carpenter observed President Cleveland’s morning routine and described it like this: “At eight, he is ready for breakfast. This is not a large meal… oatmeal, beefsteak, eggs or a chop, with coffee to wash it down.” ⁵

Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885)

President Arthur was known to eat his breakfast as he dressed. It was usually a very simple meal consisting of only coffee and a roll. ⁵

Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)

President Hayes had coffee for breakfast and tea for lunch.  He was fond of cornmeal batter-cakes. ⁵

Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)

President Grant’s favorite breakfast items included steak, broiled Spanish mackerel, bacon, fried apples, flannel cakes, buckwheat cakes and strong black coffee. ⁵

Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)

President Lincoln had simple tastes when it came to food.  It was said that his favorite beverage was water.  When it came to breakfast, The Great Emancipator preferred a single egg, a piece of toast and a good hot cup of coffee.  Many mornings, he would be satisfied with only an apple. ^{5, 9}

James Madison (1809-1817)

According to the book James Madison: A Biography by Ralph Ketcham, President Madison “breakfasted at nine o’clock on ham or salt fish, herring… coffee or tea, and slices of toast or untoasted bread spread with butter.”

Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)

In her book The First Forty Years of Washington Society, Margaret Bayard Smith made the following account of having breakfast with President Jefferson, “Our breakfast table was as large as our dinner table… we had tea, coffee, excellent muffins, hot wheat and corn bread, cold ham and butter.”

George Washington (1789-1797)

We get an idea of what President Washington had for breakfast from Henry Wansey, an English manufacturer who had breakfast with Washington on June 8, 1794.  He wrote, “Breakfast seems to have been the only meal in the Presidential house that was relaxed. Mrs. Washington made tea and coffee for them; on the table there were two small plates of sliced tongues and dry toast, bread and butter, but no broiled fish, as is generally the custom.” Washington was also said to be fond of hoecakes, cornmeal pancakes that were cooked on a fire-heated hoe. ^{5, 9}

Sources Used For This Article:

¹ The White House Family Cookbook, Henry Haller, 1987

² “How Nixon Lives, What He Likes,” Marie Smith, Washington Post, January 17, 1969

³ The White House Chef Cookbook, Rene Verdon, 1967

⁴ The Presidential Cookbook: Feeding the Roosevelts and Their Guests, Henrietta Nesbitt, 1951

⁵ The Presidents’ Cookbook, Poppy Cannon and Patricia Brooks, 1968

⁶ First Wilson Family Breakfast at the White House – The Economy Administration Cook Book, Susie Root, 1913

⁷ The President’s Table: Two Hundred Years of Dining and Diplomacy, Barry H. Landau, 2007

⁸ “What the President Eats: Mr. Roosevelt Corrects and Epicurean Syndicate Story,” Washington Post, June 26, 1906

⁹ “Lincoln’s Favorite Foods” and “Washington’s Favorite Foods”, TheQuestingFeast.com

Happy Presidents Day!