quinoa patty benedict

who says you can’t have a little fun with your food on the weekends?!

i’m all about rewarding yourself — or perhaps a better way of saying it is listening to your body.

i am not a “vegetarian” or “vegan” or anything that ends with “an” – nor am i on any special kind of diet.  i don’t look at calories when i eat and i don’t worry about having a piece of cake for breakfast once in a blue moon… it hasn’t been easy nor did it happen over night that i came to this place in my life where i can listen to what my body is telling me.  it doesn’t come just from eating, it’s taken many life choices for me to get where i am.  but i am finally in a place where i can listen to what my body is telling me; what it is “hungry” for… and it’s not always FOOD.

but this time it was food.  well, this time i was trying to be inspired for this new venture of a blog.  i love love love sunday brunch!  it’s my favourite thing.  i love waking up and starting off with a cup of coffee or two and chillin by the fireplace {though won’t turn it on much anymore for a while…}, playing with my new iPad and letting the sunlight in.  sundays are my favourite.

so, because i don’t eat a ton of meat {personal choice}, i wanted to do a healthier and more vegetarian spin on the traditional eggs benedict dish we are all familiar with {and i personally LOVE}.  i used to always order it wherever i’d go when i lived in the city…

so, i discovered these great new things from whole foods market {go figure} and they are just fantastic.  they are called Qrunch burgers and they are totally vegan – soy, dairy, gluten, and wheat free.  amazing little patties that i have been using in place of a lot of things.

this is what i created this morning for brunch for myself and my roommate {lucky guy, right?!} and by the way, this makes a great any-time meal… not just for mornings!

ingredients :

– Qrunch patties {comes in packages of 2}

– 2 cage-free {local} eggs

– havarti cheese

– good-sized helping of mixed salad greens

– good quality parmesan cheese

{mango and grapefruit for snacking/dessert}

start by placing the Qrunch burgers in a pan on medium heat.  pretty simple instructions here, as always – they are already cooked, you just need to reheat.  if you want to add a little bit of butter or oil to the pan you can, but i chose not to – you can use vegetable stock or a smidgen of water.  just flip them over a couple of times until they begin to brown {keep on super low setting after they begin to cook}

in the meantime – in a smaller pan, heat about an inch of water and a pinch of salt until just boiling – and drop in your two eggs.

i poached mine until they are only slightly runny – kind of like custard – mmmmm.  or, you can do them fried, hard-poached, sunny side up, or over easy… whichever you prefer, really.

if you are going to poach them, cover the eggs so they sort of “steam” themselves… maybe 2-3 minutes then remove from heat.

turn all your burners off and we are ready to plate this up –

now add salad mix to your plate, then place quinoa patty on top, followed by 2-4 small slices of havarti cheese, topped with your egg, a little S&P, and grate fresh parmesan cheese on all over :

don’t forget the mimosas! 🙂

my spread :

bon appetit!

Tags: brunch, dairy, greens, quinoa, vegetarian