Consider that the typical American breakfast consists of toast, bagels, waffles, pancakes, biscuits, muffins, “breakfast cereal,” and the like. Ask yourself this: “How come the typical American breakfast is practically all white flour and sugar?” And then you will understand why I am not the typical American breakfast eater.

This week I thought I’d run through the past week’s breakfast selections to give you an idea of some of your alternatives. Generally, I find myself inspired by what I find in the refrigerator, what we ate for dinner, what my great-great-grandparents ate, and what I feel like eating at the moment, irrespective of the time of day. So here’s a rundown of the past week.

Sunday morning I made myself homemade müesli with a banana, a heaping tablespoon each of raisins, almonds, and (unsweetened) shredded coconut, with unsweetened soy milk poured over top. I would have added some rolled oats, but there were none in the cabinet. I looked in the refrigerator for some leftover rice or quinoa, but there was none of those either. That’s okay. It was still really good.

Monday morning I scrambled a couple of eggs for breakfast, and ate them with cucumber salad left over from the weekend.

Tuesday morning I had leftover tuna fish with a few Mary’s Gone Crackers®, plus a cup of leftover gazpacho.

Wednesday morning I had to be at work really, really early, so I got into my car with a big spoonful of peanut butter and a banana, and ate them on the way to work. When I got hungry again around 10 am, I ate a handful of almonds.

Wednesday evening (after dinner), I put up some oatmeal to soak all night (one-half cup steel cut oats, 1 cup water, one-quarter teaspoon vinegar, plus some raisins), so that…Thursday morning I could have steel cut oats that required only 45 seconds of warming in the microwave.

On Friday morning I diced and fried one beautiful tomato in a little bit of olive oil until it had started to soften, at which point I slid the tomato onto a plate and scraped away the bits from the frying pan. Then I made myself one perfect fried egg.

On Saturday morning I had leftover fruit salad with coconut-milk yogurt, sprinkled with sunflower seeds and cinnamon.

And today I ate leftover chicken and brown rice stew, the better to fortify me for the day’s work ahead cleaning out the coop and weeding alongside the driveway and elsewhere. Feeling quite fortified at the moment.

Other breakfast options have frequently included leftover guacamole, leftover greens of any kind, leftover salmon, leftover turkey meatballs, leftover sushi, leftover cabbage soup, leftover roasted eggplant. In other words, leftovers. The best breakfast ever.

There you have it — a week of the way I choose to eat breakfast.