Microwave Egg and Vegetable Breakfast Sandwich

January 10, 2013

It’s been 6 months since I quit my job and became a solopreneur. Taking ma’ bizness into my own hands and saying goodbye to an office full of officemates.

Since that time, I’ve often thought about the mornings I’d have to hustle about the house, trying to get it all together to make it to work in time. In time to drive to work, walk over to Whole Foods to get a coffee to go, head into the office, check e-mail, see what’s up on Twitter, check in with co-workers. You know, the mundane routine you do to ease into the work day.

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I never used to eat breakfast before I went to work. It wasn’t that it was a running-out-of-time-oh-hell-I’m-going-to-be-late thing, it was mostly that my stomach wasn’t tying itself into knots crying out in pain for food so I figured I could wait a little longer ’til it spoke up. Plus, making breakfast at work as a nice.little.diversion from work.

So after I’d finished my morning office round-about-routine I would make my eggs for breakfast. In the office. “Wow!” you must be thinking to yourself, “you had a full test kitchen at your office. Cool!” Um, no. So I came up with an alternative cooking method…

How I miss the stinky little mini fridge. And the sink. Oh wait, we didn’t have a sink, how quickly I forget I had to clean anything I used in the women’s restroom. And the stove! No, not the stove, silly, I meant the microwave and the cheap little Sunbeam toaster I bought for my mates. Those three little appliances were like the Little Train that could, the Energizer bunny that never stopped and a Timex watche that just kept ticking.

Once upon a time I was a young, naive cook who followed each and every cooking direction as if I was picking up clues to solve a murder on Law & Order. I didn’t deviate from the traditional Cooking Order. At that time I never would have thought to cook eggs anywhere other than on the stovetop. Especially not in the microwave. Ew.

I’m betting you’ve seen those weird egg cookers, the ones on “As Seen On T.V.” and at Bed Bath & Beyond, spouting the incredible powers of cooking the perfect egg in the microwave. To me there seemed to be something philosophically wrong with the concept of cooking my beloved protein package by way of electromagnetic radiation.

Until I made up my own way to do it.

Before I made up the office egg sandwich, most mornings I would make oatmeal with a banana in the microwave. But then I decided I needed more protein. So I started bringing hard boiled eggs to work. But then I would forget to boil the eggs the night before. I needed something I could cook at work. Aha! A carton of egg whites and a couple of recyclable Bamboo bowls. Which led me to the sandwich. The Microwave Egg Sandwich.

Within the time it takes to toast a slice of bread, bagel thin or english muffin, you’ll have hot eggs ready to load onto a veggie filled sandwich. The secret to cooking eggs in the microwave is cooking them for 1 minute 30 seconds. Egg whites puff up pretty high, above the lip of the bowl, but as soon as the time is over, they deflate right away. Your micro might cook hotter, or not, so do a test run first and keep an eye on them to be sure they don’t overflow. Soon enough you’ll know exactly the right measurement for your size bowl.

The sandwiches can really include any favorite ingredient you want to add and whatever you have on hand. I prefer to use egg whites but you could also use whole eggs, they just won’t have as much lift. Sometimes I toss in grated parmesan to the eggs, other times I spread a bit of goat cheese or a wedge of Laughing Cow spreadable cheese on a toasted bagel thin to give it a quick melt. I usually add in fresh spinach but some days I have tomatoes or mushrooms on hand so they jump into the pool too. And there’s always a dose of hot sauce or Cholula to top it all off.

I no longer have an office to make my a.m. sandwich in, which makes my sandwich all the tastier. And while there will always be things I’ll miss about my old work, and hopefully some things they miss about me, I’m pretty sure one thing they DON’T miss is the smell of eggs wafting through the office’s mid-morning air. At my new office my dogs and I don’t mind at all.

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