‘Pecking Order’ by Jan Curtis – www.jcurtisart.com
It’s British Egg Week and therefore seems appropriate for me as an egg lover and chicken keeper to pay homage to my Chooks and blog about the delicious eggs they lay.
Eggs are nutritious fast food, containing a wealth of vitamins and minerals and are so easy to cook in a variety of ways yet recent research from YouGov revealed 35% of 18 to 24 year olds have never poached and egg, 1 in 5 (21%) have never made an omelette, 1 in 6 (17%) have never scrambled or fried and egg and 16% have never boiled and egg.
A box of eggs can contribute to a great breakfast or meal and as the mother of an 18 year and 24 year old I’m afraid to say that they are amongst the 35% who have never poached an egg! Of course that will now change and I will task their dad who I refer to as the ‘King of poached eggs’ to teach them his secrets of cooking the perfect eggs.
Having 6 chickens means that eggs feature a lot in our diet and being such a versatile food they are one of the best healthy ‘fast foods’ available. In recent years health advice about restricting the numberof eggs in the weekly diet has changed and there is no longer a recommended limit on how many eggs people can eat. The Food Standards Agency describe eggs as a good choice when part of a healthy balanced diet and British Heart Foundation advice suggests that the cholesterol found in food such as eggs does not usually make a great contribution to the level of cholesterol in your blood, concluding that it is much more important to eat foods that are low in saturated fat.
I’m always hearing that people can’t cook or are to busy to cook but it’s important to realise that cooking a healthy meal doesn’t need to be time consuming or complicated and eggs are an ideal food for this.
In our house, eggs tend to be used to make great wholesome breakfasts, quick lunchtime omelettes or a large tortilla for dinner, served along with salad and bread, but they are included as part of so many other recipes including, baking, a binding ingredient in meatloaf, meatball or fishcakes. An egg really is little powerhouse of nutrition and a rich source of good protein and with less than 70 calories in a medium egg why not think about including them for quick and easy meals.
Scrambled Eggs with Spinach and Grilled Tomatoes
If you’re looking for new ideas on how to cook with eggs the ‘Take a Box of Eggs’ is a new cookbook by Lucy Knox, launched for British Egg Week. It is the latest in the ‘Dairy Cookbook Series and with more than 100 tasty recipes you’ll never be short of ideas for a quick meal. There are seven sections, covering basic recipes, toasts and snacks, vegetarian, fish, meat, bakes and deserts.
Each recipe has its own QR code which can be scanned with a smartphone for an instant ingredients shopping list.
What kind of eggs? ……..There’s a variety of eggs available now and what you chose to buy is a matter of personal preference and very often cost as many families are now on tight budgets. A dozen large eggs will make a great meal for a family of 4. A check at my local supermarket revealed a range of prices e.g. £3 for a box of 30 mixed weight eggs, £3 for 10 organic eggs or £2.70 for 12 free range. If I have the need to buy eggs then a local egg producer is usually my choice as I prefer to buy local food wherever possible and I find the quality much better than some supermarket eggs.
I haven’t included any recipes as there are so many great recipes available from the following:-
www.BritishEggInfoService.co.uk
www.dairydiary.co.uk (Take a Box of Eggs and other titles in series available from this site)
Boiled Eggs with Oatcakes