You may have heard the saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I agree with it very much. If you go without it, it will impact your day. When I was growing up here in the United States, there had even been public service announcements reminding us to eat breakfast! I must say they were pretty effective, because I still remember a hungry student in one of the commercials imagining her teacher as a frosted donut.

While most like to have cold cereal for breakfast and others a bowl of oatmeal, some may need a bit of protein, and that’s where soft boiled eggs come in. When these are made, some like to eat them with toast and dip the toast pieces in the yolk, otherwise known as eggs and soldiers. Now, why are they called eggs and soldiers, even though the soldiers are just toast? The strips of toast are supposed to represent soldiers, marching on in formation, like in a parade. The eggs are usually placed in special egg cups and are opened by tapping the tops lightly.

If you want to soft boil some eggs for yourself, it actually does not take very long! What you need are:

2 eggs

1 saucepan

Water

Egg cups (optional but are great to have!)

Fill the saucepan with enough water to cover the eggs. Turn on the burner of your stove to a medium-high setting and let it get to a boil. Once boiling, place the eggs into the water and let them cook for 2 minutes if they are room temperature or 3 minutes if cold from the refrigerator. When time is up, cover the pan and let sit for 2 minutes.

Make your toast however you like it, either lightly toasted or dark. Cut them into strips and put them on a plate. If you have egg cups,  Place the eggs on the egg cups and tap the top of the eggs lightly until the top comes off. Dip toasty soldiers into the runny yolks and enjoy with your favorite breakfast sides and a cup of tea!

Another egg and toast breakfast I really loved when I was growing up was the egg-in-the-basket. It was only a few years ago that I found out about it being popular in the UK. This is very easy to make if you’re not up for boiling eggs and you’re more in the mood for something a bit more fried. Simply cut out a hole in a piece of bread, add butter to a frying pan, place bread onto the hot pan, and crack the egg into the hole of the bread. Let the egg cook and solidify before turning it over, and then give it a nice flip! In no time you will have your egg and toast nice and toasty.

Whether you have tried these methods of egg cooking, they have been popular for for years. Try them for a new spin on breakfast.