120 Comments
User's avatar
Courtney Geisendorff's avatar

Butter, cinnamon and sugar

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Classic. Unimpeachable. Especially good with tea, right?!

Expand full comment
Linda Lefler's avatar

Ricotta and thinly sliced tomato with salt and pepper! Or anything.

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Oh, that sounds really good... like, room temperature, perfect summer tomatoes. Maybe with a little olive oil, too? Why not?

Expand full comment
Margaret Allbee's avatar

That sounds amazing. Touch of balsamic, too?

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Oooh, we're riffing now.

Expand full comment
Larissa Milne's avatar

I am definitely on Team Ricotta…combined with anything sweet or savory. It’s a WONDERFUL FOOD!

Expand full comment
Margaret Allbee's avatar

That's how I feel about goat cheese!

Expand full comment
Paula Richmond's avatar

Ricotta with a dash of Cavendar’s Greek seasoning. Yum!

Expand full comment
ZiaCon's avatar

Buckwheat toast with avocado, Trader Joe's "Everything but the bagel" seasoning and a soft boiled egg. Heaven!

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Buckwheat toast! I love a toast that kinda fights back. Good one.

Expand full comment
Ellen Yeomans's avatar

A “toast that kinda fights back”! 🤣

Expand full comment
Margaret Allbee's avatar

Peanut butter (crunchy or smooth). Oh, the meltiness!!! Also, melted butter and raspberry jam....mmmm....it's killer sometimes. For savory, I like to toast a bagel (plain, everything, onion, asiago...whatever), top each half with tuna salad and slices of Swiss cheese, then broil it until melted. Heaven!!!

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Yes to all of these details. Hot, melty butter+peanut butter is the most indulgent, delicious thing.

Expand full comment
Jen G's avatar

I like peanut butter too! & sometimes thinly-sliced banana on top of the pb

Expand full comment
Larissa Milne's avatar

Dust the PB & bananas with a sprinkling of cinnamon…

Expand full comment
Jen G's avatar

more recently I’ve come to enjoy toasted Ezekiel bread topped with warm peaches & cinnamon (usually done with frozen peaches, heated in the microwave, except for that one week of perfect summer peaches!)

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Oh, man! I LOVED Ezekiel bread. There is nothing like that texture when it's toasted! Peaches and cinnamon sounds so good!

Expand full comment
Kay's avatar
May 13Edited

For years, I've not been able to get any peaches that ripen properly! They'll soften on the outside, so lovely and fragrant--but when you cut them open, they're hard/underripe on the inside, so basically inedible! I'll have to get some frozen peaches and try this.

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

My dark secret is that I LOVE (love love love) canned peaches, especially when they're very cold, just out of the fridge.

Expand full comment
Margaret Allbee's avatar

100 percent!!! They are so good that way!!!

Expand full comment
Margaret Allbee's avatar

I ripen all stone fruits in a paper bag (the bagged lunch kind) for a few days on the kitchen counter. Works great! Just gotta check them once a day to see if they are ready.

Expand full comment
Betty Kirksey's avatar

Grapefruit marmalade

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Yum. Grapefruit is my favorite citrus.

Expand full comment
Eileen Sullivan's avatar

Bruschetta of any kind ... French bread slices with garlic infused olive oil, topped by any combination of fresh from the garden tomatoes, basil, cilantro, mozzarella (not melted) and plenty of salt and pepper.. My husband and I disagree on herb... I am team cilantro, he is team basil. Added bonus... Chop the tomatoes first, stir I some salt and pepper and herb, let sit for 15 minutes and drain the liquid into a glass and then put tomatoes onto toast... Huzzah, glass of tomato juice and toast stays crispy!

Expand full comment
Margaret Allbee's avatar

Oh wow...I need to up my bruschetta game.

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Brilliant hack.

Expand full comment
Tullia Ropp's avatar

Oh man, I love bread

Okay, so most mornings I have avocado toast with an over easy egg for breakfast. During the summer I'll top it with micro greens from my garden- usually a mix of pea shoots, broccoli and radish/beet/sunflower/whatever I got going at the time.

A while back NYT Cooking published a recipe for avocado toast with banana, honey, and Chile flakes and while I never would have thought to do that on my own, it was delicious.

I'm also a big fan of peanut butter and flaky salt on fresh sourdough.

Bruschetta

Legitimately any kind of cheese, but especially soft funky ones and jam or a super aged cheddar mixed into cream cheese and mayo with peak summer tomatoes

Of course, just a really good butter and some salt

And not exactly toast, but hunks of fresh baguette dipped in dark chocolate ganache

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

"And not exactly toast, but hunks of fresh baguette dipped in dark chocolate ganache"

New life goal. I've had baguette with Nutella but never ganache, and now I'm, like, WHY NOT?!

Love this list. Thank you for playing along.

Expand full comment
Tullia Ropp's avatar

A friend of mine introduced me to the concept and fully changed my whole life

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

That is a good friend.

Expand full comment
Tullia Ropp's avatar

The best!

Expand full comment
Jen G's avatar

Yes to chili flakes (& a few drops

of lemon juice) on avocado toast! but now I’ll have to try adding the banana & honey

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Right? I'm curious about that. I NEVER buy avocadoes because their nearly impossible to get at optimal ripeness here in Prague, but I'm SO curious about avocado+banana now.

Expand full comment
Kalee's avatar

I also like white Pullman loaf bread toasted, spread with butter and a little anchovy paste, then topped with mushrooms sautéed in butter with fresh herbs. I cut the toasts in halves on the diagonal.

When served as a starter for fancy dinners, I remove the crusts. I leave them on if it’s lunch or a snack and melt a piece of havarti cheese on top.

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

The specifity of this is a beautiful thing. Also, YES to anchovy paste.

Expand full comment
Dana Earley's avatar

Peanut butter, cut up banana pieces and a sprinkle of honey on top of toasted cinnamon raisin bread!

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

OMG, cinnamon bread.

Expand full comment
S Wright's avatar

Lol. I eat toast nearly every day, as it is FAST.

Hot toast, lots of butter, enchilada sauce.

Butter, honey, lemon

Butter, smashed white beans, curry powder and sea salt.

> this is a modified soup base I used to make at a cafe in Bellingham, WA. 1 lb dry roasted peanuts, a knob of fresh ginger, as big as you want, garlic to taste, a pint-ish size can of fire roasted tomatoes, chili flakes, salt to taste. Whiz in a blender/processor until spreadable. I like mine on the chunky side.

It never makes it into a finished soup as I eat it as a spread on top of toast with cream cheese.

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

I'm in love with all of these ideas. Enchilada sauce really caught my attention.

Expand full comment
Kathy's avatar

I love pumpkin cookie butter from Trader Joe’s and also just cream cheese and strawberry jam

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

We miss out on all the Trader Joe's stuff, and it's kinda heartbreaking. That sounds so good!

Expand full comment
Kathy's avatar

It’s addicting! And I’m sure that will be out of the rotation soon. They always do that with the good stuff. They offer it for a few years and then stop. They did that with the cranberry pear dressing for salads. That was so good too.

Expand full comment
Kristin's avatar

Toast adjacent comment ; ) First I am a cinnamon sugar gal. Second, someone recommended that when I am having trouble falling asleep, I should read a cookbook. Thought it was a brilliant idea since I read cookbooks like fiction anyway. (the toast part is coming). I found a cookbook by Tara Wigley titled How to Butter Toast. It's basic lessons on cooking all written in rhyme!

It's absolutely delightful and here is just the intro to the three pages on toast. Enjoy!

"Melted butter on hot toast, and served up on a plate. It seems like nothing could be more clearer or more straight. But though in terms of things required the number is just two, there's a lot of wiggle room for what there is to do."

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

How delightful is that?! Going to get my hands on the book immediately. Thank you!

Expand full comment
Jen G's avatar

also if there hasn’t been a shout out yet for Kate DiCamillo’s character, Mercy Watson (in a fun series for young readers), let me share Mercy’s favorite - “hot toast with a great deal of butter.”

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

'a great deal of butter'

poetry.

Expand full comment
Karen Skelly's avatar

Kerrygold butter spread generously and a thin, thin veil of marmite!

Expand full comment
Louise Gobron's avatar

Marmite and Vegemite I will never, ever understand. Not trying to yuck anyone’s yums, but just stating there must be a maximum age for acquisition of acceptance, and I never got there.

Expand full comment
Melissa Joulwan's avatar

I've never tried marmite. Can we still be friends?

Expand full comment
Karen Skelly's avatar

Oh the places you'll go Melissa :)

Expand full comment
jeanne smith's avatar

Nutella

Expand full comment