I was never a breakfast person until, twenty-five years ago, I was diagnosed as a Type I diabetic. Until that point, I often would eat my first meal of the day at lunchtime; after that point, I was told, bluntly, that I had no choice but to eat breakfast.

Not being a foodie, (my criteria being if it smells good, it probably tastes good, and the hell with how it looks on the plate; food, to me, sustains life. It is not an art form--CALM DOWN, Moon--I like LOOKING at the pictures, I just don't serve things that way), I seldom actually cook breakfast either. Two slices of cheese on a slice of bread, toasted in the oven, or a couple of slices of turkey and a slice of cheese on bread with mayo, generally are as fancy as I get. The easier (or, perhaps, lazier), the better.

This morning, though, I made an omelet. Nothing fancy: two eggs seasoned with Mrs. Dash and onion, green pepper, shredded mild cheddar and some sort of mystery meat from the fridge chopped and tossed in. The actual highlight of today's breakfast was my applesauce-raisin bread, made from a recipe a friend found for me a year or so after my diagnosis and a favorite ever since.

2 cups water
2 cups raisins
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
3/4 cup cooking oil
2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla flavoring (the real thing, not the ersatz)

Here's where my laziness comes through: the directions say to cook the raisins in water until the water disappears. Since the only point of this exercise seems to me, after years of observation, to be to plump the raisins up, I take a shortcut: I soak the raisins in hot water for a couple of hours, then drain the water off.

After that point, the preparation becomes more orthodox.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To the raisins, add the applesauce, eggs and oil, and combine thoroughly. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients, and add to the raisin mixture. Add the vanilla and mix well. Pour into a greased (I use Pam spray) loaf pan and bake at 350 for one hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. (I usually bake it for 50 minutes, then check.)

This is NOT my bread, but it gives you a good idea of what it looks like:



It's best served warm. I wrap it in aluminum foil after it cools, store it in the fridge, cut slices, and warm them for 25-30 seconds before serving.

Mom and I like this bread. We think it's quite sweet enough, but for others' tastes, it might need a bit more sweetening. The original recipe gave an amount of artificial sweetener to put into the batter; since I never used that, I no longer recall how much it called for. If you prefer it sweeter, you might want to do a little experimentation.

And until next time, having revealed why Fair has no future as a food writer, fair thee well.