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Mark Bittman had one thought on breakfast: YAWNNN! So he decided to shake things up and started serving up breakfast items you would more closely associate with dinner. Things like black olives, miso, dried tomatoes, bok choy, and roasted carrots. Mark Bittman joins us with a stirring defense for serving wheat berries with soy sauce. Want a recipe? If you insist:

Wheat Berries With Sesame, Soy Sauce and Scallions

• 1 1/2 cups wheat berries
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce, or to taste
• 1/2 cup trimmed and chopped scallions.

1. In a 4- to 6-cup saucepan, combine wheat berries with a large pinch of salt and enough water to cover them by at least an inch. Bring to a boil and adjust heat so mixture bubbles gently.

2. Cook, stirring occasionally, until wheat berries are tender, about 35 to 45 minutes. Add boiling water as necessary to keep wheat berries covered and to keep them from drying out as they swell and become tender. Wheat berries are done when tender with a slight bite to them; ideally you will have cooked out all the water at about the same time they are tender, but if any remains, strain them. (At this point you can drain berries and refrigerate for up to a few days, then reheat when ready to serve.)

3. Fluff wheat berries with a fork and toss with sesame oil. To serve, drizzle with soy sauce and garnish with scallions.

Yield: 4 servings.

For more of Mark Bittman on breakfast, read his article, Your Morning Pizza in today's New York Times.

President-elect Barack Obama has taken care to draw parallels between himself and Abraham Lincoln. From appointing a “team of rivals” to choosing to share the same bible for his presidential swearing in and being tall and from Illinois. But did you know that come lunch time tomorrow the 16th and the new 44th president will have shared a meal? Well, not exactly, but the President-elect's first lunch as president is inspired by Lincoln's favorite foods. We are joined by New York Times food writer Melissa Clark who has whipped up some of the recipes from Barack Obama's first lunch as president.

Want to share a meal with Lincoln and Obama? Here are the recipes.

For many, New Years Day is the chance to wipe the slate clean, change bad behavior, start a diet and an exercise regime, and get the year started off on the right foot. In order to help those resolutions along, why not eat foods to bring you luck and good fortune and taste good to boot? From collard greens to hoppin’ John, here to explain about Southern New Years' traditions are Matt and Ted Lee, cookbook authors and proprietors of the Southern food shop boiledpeanuts.com.

Need a Hoppin' John recipe to ring in the New Year prosperously? Look no further.

Hoppin' John from "The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook"

For 6 people

TIME: 4 hours to soak peas, 1 1/2 hours to cook

1 cup dried black-eyed peas or field peas
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 smoked hog jowl (or 1/4 pound slab bacon or 4 slices thick-cut bacon)
1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
6 cups Rich Pork Broth
H teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
One 14-ounce can crushed Italian tomatoes
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice

• Wash the peas in a strainer, place them in a medium bowl, and soak for 4 hours in fresh water to cover.
• Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart pot over medium-high heat and brown the hog jowl on both sides, about 5 minutes. (If using bacon, omit the olive oil and simply render the fat in the pot for 5minutes.) Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the broth, black pepper, red pepper and salt and bring to a boil.
• Let the broth boil vigorously for 10 minutes, then add the drained peas. Boil gently over medium-high heat, uncovered, until the peas are tender but still have some bite, about 25 minutes for black-eyed peas, 30 minutes for field peas. Add the tomatoes and the rice to the pot, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer vigorously for 20 minutes, until most of the broth has been absorbed but the rice and peas are still very moist.
• Remove the pot from the heat and allow the hoppin’ John to steam, covered, until all the liquid has been absorbed, about 5 minutes. Remove the hog jowl and pull off any meat.
• Fluff the hoppin’ John with a fork. Transfer to a serving dish, sprinkle the shredded hog jowl over the top, and serve.

Traditionally Christmas is a time for family, food, and friends. But unlike Thanksgiving, Christmas doesn't have a set menu of turkey and all the fixings. Every family has its own unique rituals that span the globe and reflect family history, roots, and experience. Chef Rocco DiSpirito and his mother, Nicolina, joined The Takeaway to share their family's holiday traditions.

ROCCO'S RECIPE

Struffoli
My Aunt Margaret gave me her recipe, which we love to eat at the holidays.

Ingredients:

• 9 eggs
• Approximately 3/4 cup olive oil
• 5 1/2 cups of flour, or more
• Vegetable oil for frying

To decorate:

• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• Confetti sprinkles
• Sliced almonds

Instructions:

1. Beat together the eggs and oil.
2. Add flour into bowl, then knead for 20 minutes or longer, until soft. (it should be like a ball).
3. Break off a small piece of dough and covering the remaining dough. Roll the piece into a long narrow strip, and then cut the dough into pieces less than a half inch long. Repeat with remaining dough.
4. Using a heavy-bottomed frying pan, fill halfway up the sides with vegetable oil. Place dough pieces inside pan, without letting them touch. (Do not overcrowd, put in a only a handful in at a time; you may have to work in batches.) If oil starts to foam, the oil is too cool; raise the temperature. Cook until lightly golden brown.
5. To decorate, combine approximately 1/4 cup honey and 1 to 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a 12 inch frying pan. Cook on high heat until it boils. Add cooked pieces of strufoli, mixing until they are covered with the honey-sugar mixture.
6. Remove from frying pan and immediately mold strufoli into desired shape, traditionally a wreath. Keep cool water nearby for when hands become too warm.
7. Decorate with confetti sprinkles and almond slices.

View more recipes by Rocco DiSpirito »

Recipe: Anadama Bread (nytimes.com)

Recipe: Cranberry Parker House Rolls (nytimes.com)

Recipe: Salami and Scallion Biscuits (nytimes.com)

Recipe: Corn and Black Pepper Crackers (nytimes.com)