I‘m guessing I was not all that different from most kids in this regard, but the first words from my mouth when I bounded into the house after school were usually, “What’s for dinner?”
On the very odd occasion, my heart was filled with dread because my mom’s quiet answer to my question was simply, “Meat.” See, I knew that if we were having chicken, she’d say chicken. If she’d made a roast, she’d tell me we were having roast beef. But if she said “meat” – oh, the horror! – I knew the feature at dinner that night would be my worst nightmare: liver.
I don’t believe she served liver all that often (though in my mind, even once is far too much), but when she did my sister and I were obligated to eat just one tiny square of it, no exceptions and no excuses. My mom is an amazing and talented cook, but no one – not even Mom – could make anything appealing about that horrible piece of vile-tasting “meat” sitting on my plate waiting to be choked down. During those meals the faces of my family around the table blurred through my angry, frustrated tears as I held my nose and forced down that nasty morsel (doused in ketchup to hide a taste that simply couldn’t be hidden) with as little chewing as possible.
To this day, even ketchup on a hamburger has the potential to trigger an involuntary gag reflex.
But sometimes… sometimes I’d come home to the most intoxicating smell of all – bacon frying! – and realize with a thrill that one of my most favourite and beloved meals was in the process of being prepared for our consumption:
Breakfast for dinner!

I think in part I loved breakfast for dinner so much because it broke all the rules. There was something so delightfully naughty, somehow, about sitting down to a sanctioned plateful of “morning food” in the evening. Eating breakfast for dinner brought us together as co-conspirators, thumbing our noses at convention and propriety.
And it was good! Bacon and eggs, sometimes sausages, fried tomatoes, occasionally blueberry pancakes or homemade biscuits. And the biscuits! Back in the 1970s I don’t remember anyone knowing much or caring about heart disease, so Mom’s biscuits were rich and often delightfully flavoured with bacon grease and served hot, dripping with butter and melting in our mouths. Those biscuits tasted like small pieces of heaven… delicious, delicious heaven.
Mom was a full-time homemaker who often stayed up through the night in the summer, when it finally cooled down, to preserve bottle after bottle of fresh fruit brought back from the Okanagan to feed us throughout the winter months. It’s no surprise – and in fact was tradition – that “dessert” after breakfast for dinner was always a big bowl of fruit salad, the perfect ending to the perfect meal.
The memories of the hated “meat” are strong, but my memories of breakfast for dinner are stronger and sweeter.
Are you a fan of breakfast for dinner?
Please share!
(Originally posted in January, 2012.)

I remember the all night, marathon canning/jamming sessions at our house as forced labour. Then we all had to stagger, bleary-eyed to work and school in the morning. Somehow, my brother always managed to sleep through it all. Ah, the lazy, hazy days of summer.
Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
LOL, lucky brother!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 8
Twitter: Sophie_Bowns
June 23, 2014
There’s nothing wrong with that!
I love bacon!
🙂
Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
Bacon is my favourite. 🙂
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 8
Fried eggs, sausage and maybe fries is a typical spanish school day dinner for children. (Of course lunch is our main meal and dinner is not a two-courses-and-dessert affair).
Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
That sounds about perfect to me!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 8
Twitter: hjcameron
June 23, 2014
I love breakfast for dinner. I’m more into an omelette filled with veggies and cheese.
By the way, I can so relate to your liver story. My mom once tried to trick us and made liver meat loaf! Definitely didn’t work, liver taste is liver taste!
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Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
You are so right – liver is awfully hard to hide! But the omelette sounds delicious.
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 8
I love breakfast for dinner. A good biscuit must be made with butter. I love a good biscuit. Now I am hungry!
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Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
I could definitely eat some biscuits right about now!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 8
Oh I am a fan of skipping dinner 😀
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Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
Breakfast is better! 😉
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 8
Twitter: joantruesuccess
June 23, 2014
Loved this post Laurel! Breakfast for dinner sounds good to me 🙂 Thanks for the awesome idea!!!
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Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
You’re most welcome! 🙂
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 8
I love breakfast any time. I wish there were more restaurants that served, say, omelets for dinner. They make a great meal. And I agree with you about liver being vile. My mother never made us eat it, but she used to cook it for our first dog, and the smell was enough to make me gag!
Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
Yes, liver does have a truly vile smell! Awful stuff!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 8
I was never big on liver either. Yuck! Like your mom, my mom made us try it. Nasty! But breakfast for dinner…with bacon or sausages!! YES indeedy! YUMMY!
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Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
How about bacon AND sausages?! Love it!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 8
Twitter: rm29303
June 23, 2014
I am finding we have alot in common Laurel. First old typewriters and now this! We were allowed to have 2 foods we didn’t have to eat my #1was liver (#2sauerkraut). But like you when we realized we were getting breakfast at dinner time it just seemed so extra special! Now years later I was cooking because mom no longer remembers how, there were 7 of us for dinner and believe it or not while I was doing other things mom slipped in behind me and started making gravy. I realized the whole kitchen had gotten quiet I turned around and she was actually doing it…and doing it right! I looked around and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. It was the best gravy I have ever eaten. Maybe she remembers them as being special too!
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Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
That’s such a lovely story, Rena. Thank you so much for sharing!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 8
I could not agree with your view on liver. I shudder at the thought. Now for my confession I have never had breakfast for dinner. My mom never made it and I have not either. I guess I now have something to try.
Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
It’s definitely a nice change once in awhile!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 8
Twitter: mnutralicious
June 24, 2014
Breakfast foods are my favorite, and breakfast foods at dinnertime always sound like a good idea to me. I love french toast topped with fresh fruit, and a side of scrambled eggs. Yummy! Oh, and homemade biscuits are wonderful, especially with honey. I know what I’m having for dinner tonight! 🙂 Thanks!
Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
That all sounds delicious!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 8
Twitter: SusanF_mt
June 24, 2014
My mother used to make liver, and tell us how good it was for us. It wasn’t until I was an adult – and after we found out how much cholesterol organ meats contain, that she admitted she detested liver, and could barely stomach cooking or eating it – but did so because she thought it was good for us! What a mom!
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Twitter: alphabetsalad
June 24, 2014
Oh, too funny! Love it. 🙂
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