Making Breakfast?  

  Let's Hear it for the Hens     

 

It's spring, a time when our thoughts turn to many things. If you're a cook, it may be eggs, which traditionally have figured into the rites of spring in many Mediterranean cultures.  

 

Eggs are easy to find, affordable, and versatile. They provide thirteen essential vitamins and minerals, and a large egg delivers about 6 grams of protein, 70 calories, and 5 grams of fat. Egg yolks are one of the few foods that are a naturally good source of Vitamin D.

 

The Egg Nutrition Center offers some intriguing trivia about the creators of this wonder food:

   

� White shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and white ear lobes. Brown shelled eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and red ear lobes. There is no difference in taste or nutrition between white and brown eggs.

 

� An average hen lays 300 to 325 eggs a year, starting at 19 weeks of age. A lot goes into an egg. The hen must eat 4 pounds of feed to make a dozen eggs. And, she needs 24-26 hours to produce one egg, and to do so, she requires 5 ounces of food and 10 ounces of water. Thirty minutes later she starts all over again.

 

� A mother hen turns over her egg about fifty times per day, so the yolk won't stick to the sides of the shell.

 

� Occasionally, a hen will produce double-yolked eggs throughout her egg-laying career. It is rare, but not unusual, for a young hen to produce an egg with no yolk at all.

 

� Yolk color depends on the diet of the hen. Feed containing yellow corn or alfalfa produces medium yellow yolks while feed containing wheat or barely produces lighter color yolks. Natural yellow-orange substances such as marigold petals may be added to light colored feeds to enhance the yolk color.

 

� As a hen grows older she produces larger eggs.

 

Next time you crack an egg, think about the mother hen who laid it. And remember that if you have an egg, you have a meal.  Here are a few quick and easy breakfast recipes to try.

 

 

Mini Breakfast Pizzas  

Serves 4  

 

Shake up the cereal habit with this highly portable, kid friendly breakfast.  It's the perfect grab and go meal for a morning when you're dashing from the gym to the office, too. This recipe is an excellent source of protein, choline, and a good source of vitamin A, vitamin D, folate, calcium, and iron.

 

Ingredients 

2 English muffins, split

4 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup pizza sauce

� cup shredded Italian cheese

Dried oregano  

 

Preparation

Arrange the muffin halves on a baking sheet and toast for about 3 minutes under the oven broiler or in a toaster oven. Remove and set aside.  Heat the oven or toaster oven to 450�F.  Coat a large skillet lightly with olive oil and place over medium heat. Pour in the beaten eggs.  As they begin to set, gently pull them across the pan with an inverted turner, forming large soft curds.  Continue cooking -- pulling, lifting and folding eggs - until thickened and no visible liquid egg remains.  Do not stir constantly.  Remove from the heat.

 

Spread the pizza sauce evenly on the toasted muffin halves. Top with the eggs and cheese, dividing evenly.  Bake in the hot oven for about 5 minutes or in the toaster oven for 1 to 2 minutes, until the cheese is melted.  Sprinkle with oregano and serve.

 

Nutrition Analysis: 

Calories: 198, Fat: 9g, Sodium 353mg, Carbohydrate: 16g, Protein: 13g 

 

Recipe from Dave Ellis, American Egg Board, courtesy of the Egg Nutrition Center.