It’s safe to say that most of us have a complicated relationship with sugar. It’s kinda hard not to. Most of us grew up with mostly processed food (so myself included) and those can be laden with sugars. Days of the week, birthdays, and celebrations at work are marked with donuts or sugary treats and candy dishes are considered “nice” on people’s desks.
While something sweet can taste great, too much sugar over long periods of time can mess us up. It can change our brain chemistry, cravings, and change our taste buds. It can affect our energy, mood, and definitely our gut and skin health.
If you’ve ever felt hangry, jittery, low energy, or sleepy because you need to eat or you just ate, that’s a sign that your blood sugar could need some help to be rebalanced. Ideally, when we eat, our food sustains us and doesn’t affect our mood too much. That comes from eating a diet based in whole, nutrient dense foods and meals that are balanced in a way that works for you and your body.
One way you can start rebalancing your blood sugar is by eating a savory breakfast. By starting your day off with something savory rather than something sweet, you’re giving your body more even and nourishing fuel to take you through your day. You’re also starting to help adjust your tastebuds back to enjoying non-sweet foods and really enjoy them more.
All this month I’m going to be sharing savory breakfast recipes with you. By making this change in my life, I’ve noticed I’m able to get through my mornings a lot easier, with no crashes, and I can finally skip a mid-morning snack break.
Most of the recipes I’ll be sharing will also be packable to bring to work. Some of us go to work early or head to the gym before work and I wanted to accommodate that as well. Most of them will be able to last you and a roommate or partner a few days of breakfasts as well, so you can cook once or twice and be mostly done with breakfast prep for the week.
These Breakfast Egg Nest Sandwiches are perfect to take with you to work and will keep you topped up in breakfasts for the whole week. And they’re super fun by using gluten-free waffles as the “sandwich” bread. Regardless of if you’re gluten free or not, in order to keep this a savory breakfast, go with original or unsweetened waffles. I used Kitchfix waffles that are gluten free AND grain free. I like them because they’ve got minimal, whole food ingredients and they’re not too sweet. I get them from Sprouts, if you’re interested in trying them, you can see if there are any near you here.
The Egg Nests are made with spiralized beet noodles, for some fun color. If you don’t like beets, you can go with potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, or zucchini. Depending on your comfort level, accessibility, and equipment, you can either spiralize the vegetable of your choice or buy them pre-spiralized. Whole Foods sells veggie noodles they spiralize in house, as well as Cece’s Veggie Co. Sprouts and Target also carries Cece’s Veggie Co, so you can check those out if those are closer or more accessible to you. For the sake of my own prep time, I went with pre-spiralized versions.
The Egg Nests are also made in one pan, all together. So in one bake, you can have twelve breakfasts! This works great if you’re also cooking for someone else. If you don’t want to/need to cook 12, you can easily have the recipe and have sandwiches for most of the week.
The only thing you’ll need to prep each morning (or the night before, depending on your preference and schedule) are the waffles. We’ve toasted the waffles the night before and assembled the sandwiches then, and warmed them up the next day at our respective jobs. You can also easily toast them the morning of, reheat the egg nest, add in sliced avocado and enjoy. If you prefer, you could even mash the avocado and smear it on one waffle, THEN top it with an egg nest.
You can make this your own with the veggie noodles you choose, and you can add any additional savory toppings to your Breakfast Egg Nest Sandwiches you want: microgreens, sauerkraut, even some greens or a tomato!
Ingredients
- 1 tsp cooking fat of your choice (unrefined virgin coconut oil, grass fed butter, grass fed ghee, pastured animal fat)
- 20 oz spiralized veggies (I used beets from Cece's Veggie Co, you can also spiralize them yourself)
- 12 pasture-raised eggs (I used Vital Farms)
- 1-2 tsp of salt, pepper, and garlic
- 2 waffles per sandwich (I used these grain-free frozen waffles, you can use your favorite brand or make your own)
- avocado slices
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.
Rub cooking fat across a parchment-lined baking sheet. Arrange veggie noodles in a single layer, making 12 holes for your eggs in a grid with your finger.
Evenly sprinkle seasonings over veggie noodles and bake for 12-15 minutes.
Remove from oven and carefully crack 12 eggs into the holes. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, until eggs are cooked.
Allow egg nests to cool, then cut into 12 pieces.
Place egg nest on top of one toasted waffle, top with avocado slices, then with another toasted waffle. Repeat with as many sandwiches you're enjoying.
