Breakfast For Dinner!

About author / Pamela Chester

Mom of two; graduate French Culinary Institute; kids cooking program instructor; Master's degree in food studies. Creates kid friendly foods and loves her slow cooker.

You’re in the middle of another hectic week, and nobody has had time to do a grocery run. Between work, going to the gym, and shuttling kids back and forth from school and their various activities, you barely have time to stop and take a breath, let alone plan a nutritious dinner made from scratch for tonight. But before you pick up the phone and order in a pizza, or make a run to the nearest fast food joint, slow down a little, and make a more nourishing and soul-satisfying meal.

It’s days when you feel this way that the perfect antidote is breakfast for dinner! Most of what you need will probably be in your pantry or fridge already. Unless it has been REALLY long since you did a grocery run, you can whip up dinner in no time with eggs, bread, flour or pancake mix, butter, and milk. If you have breakfast meats like sausage, bacon or ham to go along with it, all the better.

An added bonus is that breakfast is usually a very kid friendly meal – even the pickiest kids will usually eat pancakes, waffles, and eggs. You could even try sneaking in some vegetables with your eggs. You can go Western with bell peppers, onion, and ham, or Greek with spinach and feta cheese.

Breakfast for dinner was a rare treat in my house growing up, and usually happened when Dad, the family breakfast cook, was in charge. He is a master at all types of omelets and has carried down the family recipe for Swedish pancakes with great gusto. So in a busy rush this week, I thought to myself, why not revive this old tradition. Believe me, my kids would probably be perfectly happy to eat cereal for dinner, but we went with pumpkin pancakes and turkey bacon, along with some fresh fruit. "A+" to mom for a dinner everyone ate!

Another perfectly satisfying meal after a busy day is baked eggs. I used to make this all the time when cooking for just myself. It’s an easy recipe that can be adjusted to feed as few or as many people as you need.

First, you sauté some veggies – my favorite combo is onions, zucchini, mushrooms, and red pepper – in olive oil until they are soft. Then make holes in which you crack eggs, grate some cheese over the top and place in a hot oven until the eggs are cooked through and the cheese melts. Serve with some toast or crusty bread and you’ve covered the four major food groups.

My version is a variation of the Italian dish, Eggs in Purgatory, a funny name for a simple dish. You could also try making the Mexican version of baked eggs, Huevos Rancheros, and serve with warm tortillas. You can really use any combination of different vegetables and cheeses that you like. Next time we have breakfast for dinner, I’m going to try making baked eggs and see how that goes over with my family.

So get off the weeknight dinner treadmill and do something a little different; make breakfast for dinner. It’ll be a welcome break from routine. What are your favorite breakfast foods to make for dinner?

Serves/Makes: 4

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 small onion, minced
• 2 1/2 pounds tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 2 tablespoons torn fresh basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large eggs
• 4 slices Italian bread, 1/2-inch thick
• olive oil
• 6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese