Eggs and Pesto – Perfect Recession Protein

Eggs are great. They are cheap!! You can scramble, fry, poach and bake eggs or cook them in their shells. You can use eggs to make pancakes, waffles, French toast and omelets, too. Eggs are also the main ingredient in some dishes that came to the U.S. from other countries, such as a frittata, egg foo yung, quiche or souffle.

 

Eggs do many jobs in recipes and often help form the structure of cakes, cookies and other baked goods. Eggs also help make creamy custards and keep ice and sugar crystals from forming in foods like ice cream and candies. Eggs are important, too, in making some dressings and sauces, including mayonnaise. All I know is they are an incredibly nutritious food that is a wonderful source of protein.

 

But, in addition to all the ways you can cook or bake them, you can play with eggs. You might decorate them for a holiday or use them for an egg toss or other game.

 

For now I want to share with you one of my favorite and most nutritious egg recipes and the kids just love it.

 

10 oz fresh broccoli steamed for 10 mins and cut into small florets
4 large mushrooms chopped and lightly fried
4oz grated yarlsberg/emantal/edam
6 eggs
1/2cup milk
3 tblsp plain flour
In lightly greased 1 1/2-quart casserole, gently toss together broccoli, mushrooms, and cheese. Beat together eggs, milk, dressing, and flour until thoroughly blended. Pour over vegetables and cheese. Bake in preheated 350ºF oven until knife inserted near center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

 

I also like to add pesto to eggs because my kids love it. I mix up some eggs in a frying pan and then ad cubed bacon, fried until crispy and finely chopped mushrooms. To that I add finely chopped shallots and crème fraiche to bind it all together.

 

This homemade pesto sauce is good on pizza or pasta dishes.

 

INGREDIENTS:
• 2 cups fresh basil leaves (packed)
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (fresh grated, preferably)

 

PREPARATION:
Blend all ingredients in blender or food processor. This amazing concoction will keep for month in fridge if covered with a small amount of olive oil. You can just add it to an omelette whenever you like. Note that this also makes an excellent sauce for pizza instead of something tomato-based.

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Fun Food Garnishes Kids Love

To make a tomato rose simply pick a tomato of any size. Make sure it is a gel variety like a Roma tomato. Take a very sharp knife and start peeling it like you would an apple. Keep peeling until you have the longest length possible and then coil the peel into a rose shape. Using pink, red and orange tomatoes can create a lovely bouquet for a centerpiece.

 

To make carrot curls simply use a vegetable peeler to cut a long strip off of the carrot. Spear each curl with a toothpick and then chill them in hot water until they are ready to use.

 

Use your cookie cutters for something other than making cookies. Small cookies cutters can be used to press shapes (heart shaped for instance) out of carrots, cucumber coins, apple slices and any other vegetable that can be sliced thinly or flatly.

 

Cucumber balls are a nice surprise in a salad and make a delicious departure from the ordinary. In order to make cucumber balls simply slice a cucumber in half and then use a melon baler to scoop out the contents into ball shapes (exactly the same way you would a melon.

 

To make a vanilla or tapioca pudding more interesting consider drooling a spiral shape on the top of the pudding made out of some kind of fruit puree. Mango puree goes particularly well with tapioca pudding.

 

To make a strawberry fan, use a paring knife to slice thee strawberry from a point slightly below the top stem to the bottom. Continue making thin slits from one end of the strawberry to the other. Gently spread the segments of strawberry apart to create the strawberry fan.

 

To make a cherry tomato flower simply dissect a cherry tomato by cutting it into four slices from the top downwards. However don't slice through to the base of the tomato. This allows you to fan the 'petals' of the cherry tomato outward. These cherry tomato flowers look lovely on a salad or on top of a dip.

 

To add a special touch to a pasta dish take a star shaped cookie cutter and press it into the flesh of slices of red or green pepper. Then place the stars on the plate of pasta to add visual interest.

 

Can't get a kid to drink his milk? Try garnishing it with a red licorice stick and see what happens. Red licorice goes well with milk.

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