Time from start to finish: 5 minutes
Difficulty level: easy peasy
If I had to name my favorite things right now, the list would include:
- sunny days
- my dog-nephew Laszlo
- iced coffee in my Ball jar sippy cup
- weekend bagel spreads
If you follow me on instagram (@majacooks), you might have seen the spread my boyfriend and I prepared for my sister and her boyfriend this weekend:
It was delicious! We had wonderful lox from Aleksey’s (the Russian and Eastern European Market on Thompson Lane), bagels and schmears from Proper Bagel, and a good mix of veggie toppings: tomatoes, red onions, arugula, alfalfa sprouts, capers, cucumbers, and lemon wedges to squeeze over everything. We had a strawberry-mint salad to serve on the side.
No, paleo police, bagels are not paleo — and really, I wouldn’t eat them just because. If I’m going to have a bagel, I’m going to do it right — fresh, legit bagel with delicious, real cream cheese, piled high with lox and veggies. As Ina would say, “How bad could that be?”
Luckily, we had some leftovers from this beautiful spread, which made for a wonderful breakfast this morning. I subbed sprouted grain toast for the bagel to make this a lighter meal and ate it with a banana and iced coffee (it’s sunny and 70 degrees outside!).
Laszlo is staying with us for two weeks while my sister is on vacation, so for those of you at home keeping score — that’s all my favorite things in one day 🙂

INGREDIENTS
- 2 pieces of lox (smoked salmon)
- 1 tbsp. cream cheese
- 1 piece of sprouted grain bread
- small handful of alfalfa sprouts (arugula would also be yummy)
- 1 lemon wedge
INSTRUCTIONS
- Toast bread.
- Spread cream cheese all over that bad boy.
- Top with lox, then sprouts, then squeeze lemon wedge all over. Enjoy.