Healthy Egg McMuffin

I don't eat much bread at all, but I like it occasionally.  In the UK, unless you buy bread rolls, bread comes in huge 800g (sometimes 400g) loaves.  This says a lot about how much bread is eaten as a staple in the British diet.  This is in contrast to Japan where bread is bought in packets of 3 or 6 impossibly thick slices (and only usually of white bread).  When I was living in Japan, after visits to the UK I occasionally brought back an 800g loaf of sliced wholemeal bread, and put in my freezer.

These days, I have a tiny under the counter fridge, with only an ice box to freeze things in.  Consequently, if I buy a loaf of bread, I'd probably eat a maximum of 4 slices before it went mouldy.

The other evening, I found myself googling microwave bread and came across a recipe from this website http://www.thelaundrymoms.com/trim-healthy-mama-bread/.  I came across other ones too, that I'll probably try sometime soon.  As I already had the ingredients for this one, I decided to try it.  The first time, I used a whole egg in the bread, instead of the powdered egg white and water, and ate it with ham, mustard and dairylea cheese.  Today, as I wanted to eat it with egg, I just used egg white in the bread.  This bread is very high in fibre, vitamin D and omega 3, 6 and 9, and also provides calcium, zinc and iron.  Although high in fat, along with the fibre this keeps you feeling full until lunchtime, and most of the fat comes from the omega fatty acids.  Taking only about 5 minutes to make, this is a very quick and easy breakfast, as well as being very low in carbohydrate and calories!

Ingredients
For the bread
1 x 5g sachet powdered egg white, made up with 7 teaspoons warm water.
4 level tablespoons (24g) milled flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 - 1 teaspoon (4g) softened butter (I use spreadable butter and don't keep it in my fridge)
Herbs to taste

For the egg and cheese filling
1/2 - 1 teaspoon (4g) softened butter
10g low fat grated cheddar cheese

Nutrition Info
For the bread
Calories:  149
Protein: 8.5g
Carbohydrate: 1.78g
Fat: 12g
Dietary Fibre: 6.8g

For the egg and cheese filling
Calories: 117
Protein: 8.4g
Carbohydrate: 0.2
Fat: 8.9g
Dietary Fibre: 0g

Method

• In a cereal bowl, mix the powdered egg white with 2 teaspoons warm water, then mix with an additional 5 teaspoons warm water.  
• Stir in the milled flaxseed, baking powder, herbs and butter.  Flatten in the bowl.
• Microwave in a 750w oven for 1 and a half minutes.
• Turn out onto a baking rack to let the steam escape.
• In another cereal bowl, beat the egg with the butter, don't worry about any large bits.
• Microwave in a 750w oven for about 1 minute until set.
• Slice the bread in half, put the set egg on one half and sprinkle with the grated cheese.
• Sandwich with the other half and enjoy!
  

Notes

• If you don't have powdered egg white, then use a whole egg without the water.
• I buy milled flaxseed from Lidl or Aldi - it is much cheaper there than from a health food shop.
• You could probably cut down on the fat and calories more by reducing the butter in the recipe.

Honey, Lime and Balsamic Dressed Breakfast Fruit Bowl

This is my favourite time of the year for fruit in Britain, when all the berry fruits come into season and are cheapest.  Of course, they are delicious just as they are, but the marinade releases some of the strawberry juice and gives a sweet balance to the tartness of the redcurrants.
  


Ingredients
1 nectarine
a handful of strawberries
a handful of blueberries
a sprig of redcurrants
juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tsp honey
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Method

• Make the fruit salad the night before.  Wash and dry the fruit. Chop the nectarine and strawberries into bite-sized pieces.  Put the strawberries, nectarine and blueberries in a large bowl.
• In a cup, make the dressing.  Melt the honey briefly in the microwave for a few seconds if it's the set kind.  Add the juice of 1 lime and 1 tsp balsamic vinegar.  Mix together and toss together with the fruit, so that all the fruit has been covered.
• Garnish with the sprig of redcurrants and the lime zest, cover with cling film and leave overnight.  If it's hot weather, leave it in the fridge...  If in England at the moment, you can leave it on the kitchen bench!  
• Bring to room temperature before serving.

Vanilla Balsamic Berries

Breakfast this morning!　Yesterday I found some real vanilla paste in the supermarket which is a slightly sweetened paste of vanilla extract with seeds, and cheaper than buying vanilla pods.

Ingredients
Any berries you like (I used blueberries, raspberries and blackberries)
1tsp vanilla paste (or the seeds of one pod and a little sugar)
2tsp balsamic vinegar

Method

• Mix the vanilla paste with the balsamic vinegar and melt in the microwave for one minute.
• Pour over a bowl of mixed berries and stir to coat.

Kimchi buttter and blue brie croissant

Aaaggghhhh, I hear you cry!  That is just not going to work!  My initial reaction was the same when I read  in the Flavour Thesaurus about Momofuku Restaurant in New York selling a kimchi butter and sweet gorgonzola croissant.  Still, I was intrigued, and the more I thought about it the more I could imagine that the flavours could probably temper each other quite well.  So I attempted it and it was delicious!

Of course, there was the snag of obtaining sweet gorgonzola, otherwise known as dolcelatte.  You can relatively easily buy danish blue, gorgonzola and other strong blue cheese in Japan, I couldn't get dolcelatte.

I processed kimchi with some butter in my blender, and was astonished at the change in taste.  I love kimchi and will quite happily eat it from the jar, but blending it with butter amazingly transformed the tart spiciness into sweet tangy creaminess.  Hmmm, this could work, I thought!

With misgivings, I tried using regular gorgonzola, unsurprisingly it didn't work.  What I settled on in the end was Gerard Fromage Bleu which is like a blue brie, and available from Yamaya.  Delicious! If anyone tries this with dolcelatte, please let me know!


Ingredients
1 quantity butter
2 quantities kimchi
slices of blue brie
croissants

Method

•  Blend the kimchi and butter in a blender, putting it into the microwave for intervals of 10-20 seconds if the butter is too hard.
• Split the croissant with a sharp knife.  Spread both sides with the kimchi butter.
• Top with thin slices of blue brie and sandwich the two halves together.
• Enjoy! 

Gooey Scrambled Egg and Spam on Brown Rice

Hmmm.  This is my semi-healthy answer to McDonald's absolutely delicious Sausage and Egg McMuffin breakfast set!  On Saturdays I have an early start, and got into a habit of treating myself to a sausage & egg muffin and hash brown from McDonald's.  Delicious, but 600 calories, 36g fat, 45g carbohydrate, 22g protein and 4g dietary fibre for the lot (was surprised it was so high in fibre actually!)

I needed a healthier alternative.  But most importantly, it had to be quick to make.  With this recipe, the rice is set to be ready in the rice cooker just before I go out.  Boil the kettle to heat up the thermos.  Make the egg mixture, spoon in the rice and top with the egg mixture.  Ready to go!

Nutrition Data
Calories 318
Carbohydrate 23g
Protein 17g
Fat 17g
Dietary Fibre 3g 

Still very high in fat, but a better treat! I make double the quantities for my thermos, and eat the rest at lunchtime with a green salad.


Ingredients (serves 1)
85g cooked brown rice (1/4 cup dried rice) 
1 medium egg
14g grated cheese
3g butter
35g spam lite
56g kimchi

Method

• Chop the spam into 1cm cubes.
• If cooking to take to work, pour boiling water into the thermos, and put the lid on.
• About 10 minutes before the rice is cooked, melt the butter in a saucepan, beat in the egg, and stir in the spam, cheese and kimchi.  Keep stirring until thickened but still very glossy and of a pourable consistency.  Take off the heat.
• Pour the water out of the thermos, pile in the rice and top with the egg mixture.  Close the thermos immediately!
• I find that, even after taking half out for breakfast, it is still pretty warm 5 hours later.  Absolutely delicious!

Scrambled Eggs on an English Muffin

I used to make scrambled eggs sometimes, using cream, as a special treat.  Using milk or cream, and cooking slowly was the method I used for a long time.  Then I discovered the Australian chef Bill Granger's recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1720/perfect-scrambled-eggs.

Indeed delicious, and very quick too!  Incidentally I first went to Bill's in Sydney for dinner about 5 years ago and was very impressed.  A couple of years back I went for breakfast at Bill Granger's relatively newly-opened restaurant in Shichirigahama, the Shonan Beach area of Kanagawa.  This was the following day after visiting Enoshima.  By that stage it had been open for 10 months, I got there just before the opening time at 8am and had to queue for about an hour for a table...  Make a reservation!  That day I had sweetcorn fritters which I found a bit too rich for breakfast...  Apparently, he's now opened his 2nd restaurant in Japan in the Red Brick Warehouse in Yokohama.  http://www.bills-jp.net/bills_english/index.html.

However...  This morning I discovered a new and phenomenally quick method of making scrambled eggs, and I think I actually prefer them.  This is adapted from the British chef Nigel Slater.

Ingredients for one muffin
One English muffin, split and toasted
a small knob of butter
one egg
about 25g grated cheese

Method

• Over  a medium heat, melt the butter.
• Turn off the heat and beat in one egg.
• Stir in the cheese, turn on the heat again if necessary to finish melting the cheese and setting the egg, but remember that the saucepan is probably hot enough to continue cooking the egg.
• Spoon over the unbuttered muffin and eat whilst hot.

Egg and Potato Saute with Baked Beans

This isn't my idea, but is adapted from the BBC Good Food website's recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5588/healthy-egg-and-chips.  I found I had to change a lot of the timings.  It is closer to sauteed potato than chips.




Nutrition Data
Calories 484
Protein 22g
Carbohydrate 83g
Fat 12g
Dietary Fibre 16g

Ingredients (serves 1)
150g new potatoes diced with skin (this is 2 new potatoes)
1/2 onion (about 100g), sliced and broken into semi-rings
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 egg
210g (1/2 tin) of baked beans

 Method

•  Pre-heat the oven to 200C.
• Put the diced potato and onion rings into a baking tin.
• Sprinkle over the olive oil and mix thoroughly.  Sprinkle over the oregano.
• Bake for 35 minutes until the potatoes are cooked and brown.
• Make a gap in the vegetables and break in an egg.  Return to the oven and cook for 8-9 minutes until the egg is set.
• Meanwhile reheat the baked beans in a saucepan.
• Serve immediately.

Orange Caramelized Onion & Potato Frittata

Nutrition Data (for the whole frittata, serves 4 with a salad)
Calories 800
Protein 42g
Carbohydrate 98g
Fat 25g
Dietary Fibre 14g


Ingredients
3 large onions, chopped
100ml orange juice
1 tablespoon marmalade
about 250g potatoes
5 medium eggs, beaten with a teaspoon of dill and a good grating of pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil for greasing the pan

Method

• Wash and scrub the potatoes and boil them whole in a pan of water until tender. Chop roughly into cubes.
• Meanwhile, boil the chopped onion in the orange juice and marmalade until brown. Right at the end of cooking time, as the orange juice has evaporated, stir well to get all the dark brown caramel to coat the onions.
  
• Beat the eggs.
• In a frying pan, heat the olive oil and coat the pan, making sure that the sides of the pan are oiled. Add the potatoes and onions and pour over the beaten egg.
  
• Leave on a medium heat for about 10 - 15 minutes without disturbing, until the egg is set.

Cod and Poached Egg on Wholemeal Toast

Now that was a delicious breakfast! I steamed some cod in the microwave for a couple of minutes, mashed it with some fresh dill, and piled it on one small slice of wholemeal bread. I put a poached egg on the other piece of wholemeal bread.

Tofu and Wakame Miso Soup

It was about time that I put a recipe for my miso soup on here. Recently, a friend of mine gave me some homemade niboshi dashi which is a dried stock mixture of grated dried anchovies and grated kombu. It's best to use a fish stock for this recipe if you substitute, although I've used chicken gravy granules before successfully enough...

Servings for this recipe vary... I had it all for myself for breakfast, but depending on when you're eating it and what you're eating it with, it could probably serve up to 3 people!

Nutrition Data
The thing I would note most with this is that whilst miso soup is very healthy, and much healthier than many other food choices available, it is worth choosing low salt varieties of stock and miso. This nutrition data is only for the tofu and the miso, and with the assumption that you eat it all!
Calories: 146
Protein: 10.5
Fat: 7.2g
Carbohydrate: 10g
Dietary Fibre: 2g

Ingredients
400 ml of dashi stock (use the instructions according to your recipe)
6 pieces of wakame seaweed
150g silken tofu
1 heaped teaspoon of miso

Method

• I made the dashi by putting 2 rounded teaspoons of the homemade dashi in a saucepan with 400ml of water, and heating it to simmering point.
• Whilst it is heating, cube the tofu and add this, together with 6 pieces of wakame.
• Take out a tablespoon of dashi and mix the miso in this, then quickly stir it in just as the dashi is simmering.
• Serve immediately.

Note
If I was doing this properly or for other people, I would have strained the dashi before adding the other ingredients, but I don't usually bother when I'm being quick.

Chipotle Spiced Baked Beans, Rice and Egg

On the trend of Mexican spiced breakfast dishes, but missing my regular brown rice breakfast, I made this for lunch... Very filling! You could add whatever chilli spice you like. The chipotle spice was a present, it has a very smoky taste. I actually cooked double the quantity and then refrigerated the other portion for breakfast tomorrow. Because of my job, I tend to eat a substantial breakfast about 10am and then 3 or 4 much smaller snacks at 2-3 hour intervals! I eat a bit more on days off because I get up earlier...





Nutrition Data (for 1)
Calories 449
Protein 19.4g
Carbohydrate 77.9g
Fat 6.5g
Dietary Fibre 13.5g

Ingredients
1/2 x 420g can of baked beans, drained of most of the tomato sauce
25g frozen peas
1 eggs, beaten
Chipotle chile ground spice, according to taste
150g cooked brown rice
2 plums
1/2 tablespoon sweet jalapeno sauce

Method

• Roughly chop the plums and stir in the sweet jalapeno sauce. Put in a small serving bowl in the fridge.
• Put the drained baked beans and frozen peas in a saucepan and heat. Stir in the beaten egg and continue to heat, stirring until the egg is cooked throughout the mixture. Add chipotle chile spice according to taste.
  
• Stir in the cooked brown rice and heat until hot. Taste again, and add more chipotle spice if wanted.
  
• Serve in a bowl with the plum salsa side dish.
  

Mexican Style Sausage and Egg Tortilla Wrap with Plum Salsa

In future, to reduce the fat content in this otherwise healthy dish, I'll make it with lean ham instead. 40g of the sausage I used accounted for 33% of total calories, 40% of protein, 2% of carbohydrate and a whacking 69% of fat. By substituting 40g of lean ham, you would reduce the calories to 336, increase the protein to 16.6g, the carbohydrate would stay pretty even at 48.4g, but the fat content would halve to a healthier 8.5g. This is good as breakfast because the combination of protein and fibre really fills you up and keeps your energy levels up!

Nutrition Data
Calories 403
Protein 15.4g
Carbohydrate 48.6g
Fat 17.3g
Dietary Fibre 8.5g

Ingredients
1 corn tortilla
40g cooked sausage, chopped (I use 2 thin lime and herb sausages)
1 medium egg
15ml of sour cream
15ml chilli sauce (I use 'Very Hot Cajun Sauce', but you could use a sweet chilli sauce)
15ml of jalapeno sauce/salsa (I use 'Mexican Hot and Sweet Jalapeno Sauce')
3 plums
100g cabbage, shredded
1 medium carrot, shredded (I use a potato peeler to do this)

Method

• On a large plate, arrange the shredded cabbage and carrot.
• Chop the plums and mix with the jalapeno sauce/salsa in a bowl.
• Brush the tortilla with hot chilli sauce.
• Beat the eggs with the sour cream in a saucepan and stir in the chopped cooked sausage. Scramble very quickly, stirring continuously, over a high heat until just setting on the surface of the hot pan, but still wet (about 20-30 seconds). Remove from the heat immediately whilst stirring (it will continue to cook) and spoon onto the tortilla.
• Roll the tortilla, place on top of the shredded vegetables and spoon over the plum salsa.
• Serve immediately.

Breakfast!

This is my usual breakfast, it is absolutely delicious! It's very much just like a particularly simple risotto.

It's just very hot brown Japanese rice with grated cheese stirred in. I take the rice out of my rice cooker about 5-10 minutes early, so that the rice still has some moisture and is slightly al dente. I use Japanese rice, but I hear that Italian risotto rice works well as a substitute for Japanese rice as it is short grain. You want to use a mild to medium cheese for the best taste. Sometimes I add kimchi to this...

Egg Drop and Salmon Soup

All quantities are approximate - it's really not important to measure everything out. I used a 400ml bowl because this was breakfast! If this was a side dish, then this would easily serve 2.





Ingredients (serves 1-2, multiply quantities as necessary)
400ml of water made into a light stock (I used katsuodashi which is stock made from bonito flakes, but any stock would be ok)
a dash of soy sauce (about 1 teaspoon)
1 - 2 teaspoons of seaweed, perhaps wakame (I used nebarumekabu)
1/2 teaspoon of potato starch or cornflour, mixed with a little water)
1 teaspoon ginger paste or grated ginger with juice
2 slices cooked or smoked salmon
1 egg, beaten

Method

• Add the seaweed to the stock and heat until very hot but not boiling.
• Mix in the soy sauce and ginger, and stir in the potato starch mixture. It will not noticeably thicken, but will just stop the egg from sinking to the bottom.
• Add the salmon, and stir in the beaten egg, which will set immediately in strands.
• Serve immediately.