Egg-free breakfast: a loaded sweet potato to start the day

The egg-free breakfast is one of the real puzzles of the elimination phase. Eggs are gone, and most quick breakfasts go with them, which leaves a lot of people skipping the meal or eating the same thing every day. This is a way out of that corner: half a baked sweet potato, loaded the way you might once have loaded toast, with coconut butter, applesauce, cinnamon, and crisp bacon. It riffs on an old Belgian breakfast of bacon and apples on buttered bread, with the sweet potato standing in for the bread.

What you are making genuinely feeds a body doing hard work. Sweet potato is a source of beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A, one of the nutrients involved in immune and mucosal health, and a steady complex carbohydrate to start the morning on. The applesauce adds fiber and a little natural sweetness, and the bacon brings savory fat and protein. Whole, simple food, assembled in a couple of minutes.

If you bake the sweet potato ahead, this comes together in the time it takes to reheat. Source the bacon from an animal raised well, and let yourself feel the small gratitude in using it with care. Dust the cinnamon over the top, set it on a plate you like, and take a breath before the first bite. Starting the day with a little reverence is not a small thing.

Ingredients

• half a small pre-baked sweet potato
• 2 teaspoons coconut butter
• 1/3 cup applesauce, unsweetened, chunky preferred
• 2 tablespoons cooked bacon bits, clean-label and AIP-compliant
• cinnamon, to dust

Method

Start from a pre-baked sweet potato half. To bake ahead, roast a whole sweet potato at 400 F for about 40 minutes, or microwave a small one wrapped in a damp paper towel for 4 to 5 minutes, then halve it.

Spread the coconut butter over the cut surface, then spoon the applesauce on top.

Dust with cinnamon and scatter the bacon bits over everything.

Rewarm briefly, about a minute in the microwave, and eat warm.

A note on the bacon: check the label for added sugar, nightshade-derived seasonings, and any non-compliant additives, since plenty of bacon is not AIP-friendly. Use unsweetened applesauce if you want this to stay free of added sugar. Winter squash works as a lower-starch swap for the sweet potato.

Air fryer variation

To bake the sweet potato ahead in an air fryer, pierce a whole small sweet potato a few times, rub it lightly with fat, and air fry at 380 F for about 30 to 35 minutes, until a knife slides through easily. Time varies with size, so test and add a few minutes if needed. Then halve, load, and warm as above.

Instant Pot variation

To cook the sweet potato ahead in the Instant Pot, add 1 cup of water and set the trivet, place a whole sweet potato on top, and pressure cook on high for about 15 minutes for a medium one, with a natural release. Larger potatoes need a few minutes more. Then halve, load, and warm. The loading and assembly stay the same.

*Adapted from asquirrelinthekitchen.com*

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*Provenance: method rebuilt in ARM's own words from the our-words-summary of asquirrelinthekitchen.com's apples and bacon loaded sweet potato. Source file: /Users/Christopher/Documents/Claude/01-Projects/ARM/aip-source-archives/a-squirrel-in-the-kitchen/aip-apples-and-bacon-loaded-sweet-potato-egg-free-breakfast-alternative.md. Ingredient list used as factual reference. No excluded ingredients in the source; all ingredients are AIP Core provided the bacon is clean-label and AIP-compliant, which is flagged for the reader. Air fryer and Instant Pot times for the sweet potato are sensible ranges flagged for kitchen testing. Health framing written fresh; the beta-carotene claim is hedged.*