Today I’m taking a break from sharing a recipe to show you a peek into my world at home – specifically, my morning routine. For me, every day always looks a little different. Some days are spent shooting photos, other days are spent writing blog posts, planning recipes, laying out book pages, emailing, testing, the list goes on and on. Suffice it to say, many of my days are pretty chaotic, so one thing I’ve learned to value over time is having a morning routine. I feel like it’s a great way to ready myself for the rest of the day, so I thought it would be fun to share it with you (and have an excuse to share puppy pics)!
The first thing I do every morning is wake up and play with our dog Annie. Or rather, the dog wakes up and plays with me. Either way, as soon as my eyes open, a slobbery, bouncing puppy comes up to my pillow to greet me. It’s not a calm way to rise, but it’s a happy one. Her crazy joyful energy reminds me that every day is an exciting day to wake up. After I get up, Annie goes back to sleep because she’s the one in our household that’s truly living her best life.
Next, I go downstairs, make a cup of tea, and empty the dishwasher. As a food blogger, I go through a crazy amount of daily dishes, and they can get out of control quickly. I’m adamant about putting everything away first thing in the morning so that the kitchen is set and ready to go before the cooking / testing / photographing madness begins again. Because most of our dishes double as photography props, this process is always a bit of a Tetris game.
Then it’s breakfast time! I go to bed dreaming of food and wake up hungry, so I always make time to have a decent breakfast. Lately, I’ve been into these little breakfast sandwiches! Jack makes biscuits over the weekend that we keep in the freezer along with MorningStar Farms Sausage Patties. The patties are super delicious and convenient to assemble with whatever other fresh ingredients I have on hand. They have 9 grams of vegetarian protein per serving, so they’re a great warm, satisfying way to start the morning.
Here are a few of my favorite sandwich combos, each makes 3 to 4 sandwiches because I’m usually making breakfast for Jack as well:
Sandwich Variation #1 (the one pictured!)
– MorningStar Farms® Original Sausage Patty
– egg with spinach
– tomato and/or sliced avocado
– a dollop of chipotle sauce, for a little bit of kick!
Sandwich Variation #2
– MorningStar Farms® Hot & Spicy Sausage Patty
– scrambled eggs
– chopped roasted red peppers
– sliced serrano peppers (I like a spicy breakfast, if you haven’t noticed)
Sandwich Variation #3
– MorningStar Farms® Maple Flavored Sausage Patties
– roasted sweet potato (a great way to use leftovers!)
– a dollop of pesto, especially if I have it on hand in the fridge
They’re so yummy and cute!
After breakfast, I settle into work and spend the rest of the morning doing desk tasks before the rest of the day takes over.
