Food of the week: Eggs

Eggs have always been one of my favorite foods around. They are eaten in so many tasty ways, how could you not love them? Now that I've done some research about eggs, I'm even more convinced of their necessity in our lives. The nutritional benefits heavily outweigh the few drawbacks (for most people) and eggs are used for so many things. Plus they're just so gosh-darn tasty!

Benefits:

• One egg contains about 6 grams of protein.
• Eggs are a good source of Choline, which is important for brain function and health and may help reduce inflammation; Lutein and Zeaxanthin, which may protect against vision loss; and vitamin B-12, which is good for your heart.
• They help prevent blod clots and protect against Macular Degeneration and Cataracts.

Drawbacks:

• Very high in cholesterol (but saturated and trans fats have much bigger effects on blood cholesterol levels than cholesterol in food.) The cholesterol is in the yolk of the egg. To cut out cholesterol, just use the whites.
• If not properly stored and cooked, could lead to salmonella poisoning.
  

Ways to eat eggs:

• Scrambled, poached, or fried with sides of potatoes and bacon (fakin’ bacon if you choose).
• Omelets filled with whatever your heart desires! This heart desires green peppers, onions and cheddar cheese.
• Eggs are the ingredient in baked goods that make it “risky” to eat the dough.
• Soak some sliced pieces of a baguette in a mixture of eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Griddle and Viola! French Toast!
• Hard boiled eggs are good in a variety of ways; cut up in a salad, egg salad sandwiches, deviled eggs, and plain with a few sprinkles of salt.
• Quiche!
• Eggs Benedict is favorite brunch entrée of mine.
• Souffles and Meringues are made by beating egg whites vigorously, which increases their volume 6-8 times.

Little known facts:

• If you do not store eggs in a container, they will absorb the odors around them.
• The color of the egg (white or brown) depends on the breed of the hen.

Final Note:
As with much of the meat-packing industry, the egg industry draws into question the treatment of egg producing hens. We see a lot of “Cage-Free” eggs around now, which you would think would be more humane for the chickens. However, many stories have come out in recent years about the truth behind cage-fee chickens. As always, my recommendation is to buy eggs from your local farmers. That is, unless your local farmer is a mass-meat/egg producer that lines it’s animals up in small cages and feeds them things that make their stomachs explode.