Making a case for eating quiche

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Wendi Hiebert

There seems to be an aura of mystique about quiche. It puzzles me a little because essentially quiche is just an egg custard cooked in a pie crust.

I think the hesitation some people have about making or eating quiche is probably due to one of the following reasons.

See if you agree!

* The fear that quiche is difficult to make. If you can dump a few ingredients into a pie plate or quiche dish, grate some cheese, and beat some eggs, you can make a quiche. It’s really that simple.

* The pastry crust. Quiches are typically made with a pie crust. For some, the thought of making pastry is unnerving, especially if it’s not something you’ve done before or do very often. It’s really not difficult, but I can understand the hesitation. So then, go ahead and buy a pre-made pastry shell. There’s no shame in that! Or maybe it’s the amount of fat and calories pastry typically contains. The solution? Go crustless! There’s no rule that says a quiche has to be made with a crust.

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Filed under: Breakfasts/Brunches, Egg Recipes, Lunches, Quiches | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

It’s Nutrition Month. Celebrate food…from field to table!

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Wendi Hiebert

It’s an annual tradition. Each year in March in Canada we celebrate Nutrition Month.

This year the theme is “Celebrate food…from field to table!” The campaign focuses on choosing locally produced food and foods grown in season.

The eggs found at grocery stores and farmers markets in Ontario certainly qualify as locally produced food. Although trade laws between Canada and the U.S.A require us to import a small percentage of eggs from our neighbours to the south (these eggs will be labeled as a product of the U.S.A.), the vast majority of the eggs in our grocery stores were laid by Ontario hens on Ontario egg farms owned and managed by Ontario farmers. There are about 350 egg farms in Ontario.

On cartons of eggs produced in Ontario (in fact, in Canada), you will see a maple leaf with Canada A inside it. This is your assurance of Grade A quality.

Click on the link to visit Dietitians of Canada’s website to learn more about Nutrition Month 2010.

Filed under: Egg Choices, Egg Trivia - Did You Know?, Ontario Eggs | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Fuel your workouts like an Olympic athlete

Posted on March 5, 2010 by Wendi Hiebert

Have you been inspired to become more active after sitting in front of the TV for the past couple weeks watching Olympic athletes perform intense, high-speed, energy-draining, and what often appears to be death-defying or at least potentially injury-incurring activities?

If you’re nodding your head enthusiastically at the thought of your body becoming a finely tuned machine (or even just a little stronger and perhaps a few pounds lighter than it currently is!), slow down that head bob before you hurt yourself. Being physically active is a very good thing, but you’ll want need to put a realistic spin on any expectations you might have for elite physical prowess, at least at the outset.

As much as you might want to try a 50 km cross country ski run or a 3000 m speed skate next week, if you’re beginning a workout regime after days, nay – months or years of sedentary living, you’ll probably stay motivated and be more successful with your new fitness regime  by setting simple but achievable goals. Gold medals and glory can come down the road. For now, just aim to get to the gym, or out to the ice rink or the ski slopes on a regular basis.

Of course, whatever form of activity you decide to engage in or perhaps you already participate in, you’ll need to be properly fueled before and after your workout.

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Filed under: Egg Cooking Techniques, Egg Nutrition, Hard-cooked eggs, Protein | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Can you freeze eggs?

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Wendi Hiebert

Have you ever had an egg freeze in your fridge? Maybe the carton got pushed to the back of the fridge – where the temperature tends to be coldest. Or perhaps you abesent-mindedly placed the carton of eggs in the freezer instead of the fridge. Duh!

It happens more than you’d think, at least based on the number of calls I get from consumers asking what to do with an egg that has frozen in its shell.

You can freeze a raw egg, but it shouldn’t be frozen in its shell. The contents of the shell will expand as the egg gets colder, likely causing the shell to crack.

Frozen eggs

Another change that occurs when an egg freezes is in the texture of the yolk. And once the texture has changed, you can’t change it back to its original state. Unless you “prepare” the yolk for the big chill, once it freezes completely, it will gel or solidify to such a state that you can cut it with a knife.

Once an egg yolk has frozen, then thawed, you can cut it with a knife.

The uncooked thawed yolk can be mashed, but not blended with the egg white.

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Filed under: Egg Handling, Frequently Asked Questions About Eggs, Storing Eggs | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Canadian women’s hockey team members Hayley Wickenheiser and Kim St-Pierre and eggs

Posted on February 27, 2010 by Wendi Hiebert

Gotta love this egg commercial from Egg Farmers of Canada featuring Canadian women’s hockey team members Hayley Wickenheiser and Kim St-Pierre!

Congrats to the Canadian women’s hockey team for winning Gold at the Olympics!

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What’s in your fridge at work?

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Wendi Hiebert

A few weeks ago, these two snack options greeted everyone who walked into our lunch room at work. They sat side-by-side on the table – the box with baked goodies from Tim Hortons, and the bag of carrots.

Carrots or donuts?

Snack choice! Donuts and muffins from Tim Hortons? Or carrots?

I’m not sure who brought the snacks – possibly one and the same person who wanted to bring in some special treats (higher calorie delights from Tim’s) and be sensitive to the dieters in our midst (the carrots) all at the same time – but I thought it very helpful that there were snacking options! Otherwise it’s pretty easy to grab whatever is available (not always the wisest choice) when the stomach starts to rumble mid-morning.

As another option to satiate hunger, we always have hard-cooked eggs in our fridge at work. After all, this is the Egg Farmers of Ontario’s office I’m talking about! But seriously, hard-cooked eggs would be an easy and nutritious food choice to have on hand in any work place. Any place where there’s a fridge, in fact.

We’ve set up a schedule so that everyone in the office takes a turn for a month cooking the eggs and being responsible to keep a supply of them as snack options in the fridge. It’s saved me a few times when the hunger pangs set up.

Now, there’s also the communal candy drawer in the desk of one of my colleagues, but we won’t go into that……!

Filed under: Hard-cooked eggs, Snacks | Leave a Comment »

Egging on Canada’s men’s hockey team

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Wendi Hiebert

Did you watch THE hockey game last night? Canada vs US?

Ouch! That was painful. A test in endurance. Canada’s men’s team lost 5 to 3 in case you live under a rock. (It’s even painful to write that!)

Oh well. It’s not over yet. But now we’ll have to endure an additional game in order to qualify for the quarter-finals. More stress. Sigh.

In addition to all that stress, hockey is a high energy activity. For the fans, I mean.

It’s exhausting watching the players race up and down the ice, careen into the boards (and often their fellow players!), make quick stops and starts, switch direction mid-skate, and sometimes cartwheel over top of each other – all the while trying to put the puck in the net.

I wonder if eggs are on the menu for most athletes. If they aren’t, they should be. For the armchair athletes too.

Eggs provide energy. Sustaining energy. Energy to be active, in whatever form that takes.

It’s the protein in eggs that gives this lasting energy. Protein takes longer to digest in the body, so it keeps you fueled longer. That’s why if you eat a couple eggs for breakfast (two eggs is a serving of Meat and Alternates according to Canada’s Food Guide), you won’t find yourself reaching for whatever food is nearby mid-morning just so you can make it through til lunch.

Eat eggs. For the athlete in you. Or the athlete-wanna-be. Or the observer-of-athletes-in-action. Or just to get you through your day, whatever that entails.

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Toad-in-a-Hole Pizza

Posted on February 20, 2010 by Wendi Hiebert

Toad-a-Hole Pizza makes a great breakfast, brunch, lunch, supper or snack! Cut it into four wedges so each serving has an egg.

Filed under: Breakfasts, Breakfasts/Brunches, Egg Recipes, Entrees, For Kids, Lunches, Snacks | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Making egg pizzas on Daytime TV show

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Wendi Hiebert

Me with Rogers TV London Daytime hosts, Stephanie Vivier and Darrin Laidman after making Pizza Omelettes and Toad-in-a-Hole Pizzas.

I did two cooking segments on the Daytime show in London yesterday. Stephanie Vivier and Darrin Laidman, the hosts of the show, love eggs. And, they’re both very aware of the nutritional benefits of eating eggs.

In the first segment, we  made an oh-so-simple Pizza Omelette. You start by making a basic 2-egg omelette, but instead of filling it and folding it over, the omelette is left flat so it becomes the ”crust” for the pizza. Tomato sauce or pizza sauce is spread over top, followed by the pizza toppings of your choice. The frying pan is covered until the cheese melts, and that’s it! Pizza Omelette in no time!

During the second segment, we made a Toad-in-a-Hole Pizza. If you’re familiar with Toad-in-a-Hole, you can probably imagine what this recipe looks like. I forgot to take a picture of it after the segment, and it probably wouldn’t have mattered much if I had remembered as the crew had it eaten pretty quickly! The recipe is in yesterday’s post, but here’s a quick description.

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Cooking eggs on Rogers Daytime show in London today

Posted on February 17, 2010 by Wendi Hiebert

I’ll be demonstrating the following recipes on the Rogers Daytime show in London today. The show airs live on Rogers London at 11 a.m., then repeats again at 3 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Pizza Omelette

Toad-in-a-Hole Pizza
(Makes 4 servings)

Vegetable spray
1 (227 g) prebaked thin pizza shell or flatbread
4 eggs
4 slices bacon or bacon-style turkey, chopped and cooked
½ cup (125 mL) chopped red and/or green sweet pepper
1 cup (250 mL) shredded Mozzarella or pizza-blend cheese

Spray a 12-inch (30 cm) pizza pan or baking sheet with vegetable spray. Place pizza shell on pizza pan. Using a 2-1/2-inch (7 cm) cookie cutter, cut out four circles from the pizza shell, evenly spaced and about 1-inch (2.5 cm) from edge. Remove circles and save for another use.

Crack one egg into each hole.

Spread pizza sauce or tomato sauce over crust. Sprinkle bacon and peppers over crust. Sprinkle cheese over eggs and crust.

Bake in a preheated 425°F (220°C) oven until eggs are set and cheese is melted, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Tips:
* Choose a solid pizza pan, not one with holes!
* If you don’t have a cookie cutter, use an empty can or a glass of the same diameter to cut out circles from the pizza shell.
* If desired, vegetables can be pre-cooked.
* Instead of pizza sauce, brush olive oil or a flavoured olive oil (e.g. sun-dried tomato) over the crust.
* Use any toppings you wish, e.g. broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, feta cheese.

Filed under: Egg Recipes, Entrees, For Kids, Snacks | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

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