We rarely go out for breakfast, much to the disappointment I think of my husband, Devin. I just prefer the coziness of ambling out of bed on the weekend, making a great cup of Nespresso and seeing what I can throw together from what is in the fridge. Plus, breakfast out can be a huge calorie bomb and not usually the way I want to start the day. Also, I know I’m hard pressed to resist Eggs Benedict whenever I see it on the menu although, apparently I should given a recent post from Shape Magazine titled 12 Brunch Orders Worse than a Steak Dinner. What was the first thing listed? I bet you can guess. So I set out to find a version that I could enjoy without breaking the calorie bank and turned to one of my new favorite blogs, The Sprouted Kitchen. After doing the Bon Appétit Food Lover’s Cleanse in January, I was looking for inspiration to keep the clean eating trend going and this site came recommended. The photography is so gorgeous that I was immediately hooked and the recipes sealed the deal. I made a couple changes to their recipe for Veggie Eggs Benedict to suit my tastes, including adding a slice of Canadian bacon (although that was really much more for Devin’s tastes than mine) which, of course, is optional if you want to keep it a vegetarian dish. It was perfect – a restaurant-like dish but healthier, all made while in pajamas. Now THAT is the way to start the day! 
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
- 12 spears of asparagus
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- Fresh ground pepper
- 1 Tbsp vinegar
- 4 large eggs
- 5 cups fresh spinach leaves
- Zest of one lemon
- 4 slices Canadian bacon, optional
- 2 whole grain English Muffins
- ¼ cup milk
- 3-4 oz goat cheese
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup capers, drained
- Splash of hot sauce
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 500°F.
- For the sauce – warm the milk slightly over medium heat. In a blender or food processor, combine the warm milk, goat cheese, mustard, lemon juice, drained capers and hot sauce. Blend until smooth. Season to taste. Cover and set aside.
- Toss the asparagus with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, garlic salt and some fresh ground pepper. Put in the upper third of the oven for 8 minutes (this all depends on the thickness of your asparagus, alter your timing to get tender but not soggy spears). Cut spears in half and set aside.
- Bring one quart water and vinegar to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. This is your egg poaching liquid. There are good directions on how to poach eggs here. If you are doing them one at a time, you can keep them in a bowl with some of the warm poaching liquid until ready to use.
- Warm the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in the pan, add the fresh spinach and lemon zest and sauté just until wilted.
- In a dry skillet, warm the slices of Canadian bacon, if using.
- Toast the English muffins and get ready to go. To assemble start with the toasted muffin, then spoonful of sauce, Canadian bacon slice if using, sautéed spinach, asparagus spears, poached egg and finish with another spoonful of sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Who knew Eggs Benedict didn’t have to be completely guilt-inducing and high cal? Looks delish! 🙂
Nice to know huh? I LOVE Eggs Benedict and I can see using this as a base recipe and then making tweaks like adding fresh tomato in the summer. Yum! Thanks for the comment and have an awesome day!
WOW! I wasn’t hungry till I saw this. Looks and sounds great
Thanks Chef David. It really is quite tasty if I do say so myself.