Author: ashley.richardson

The holiday season means one thing for shoppers: crowded stores and malls. Waking up early to beat the crowds is essential to avoiding the busy chaos this time of year, but sometimes that means skipping breakfast.

Microwave eggs in a cup are not only easy to make, but they’re also filled with protein and make for an even easier cleanup to get you out the door in time. Check out these wake-and-make coffee cup scramble recipes:

• Microwave Eggs in a Cup: Coffee Cup Scramble
• Microwave Mushroom & Swiss Coffee Cup Scramble

Want to satisfy all your taste buds before checking off your holiday shopping list? Here’s a hearty list of egg-filled breakfast recipes that can be prepared on the fly and in the microwave:

• Microwave 3- Minute Breakfast Hash
• Microwave Egg, Bacon & Cheddar Bagel
• Microwave Egg & Cheese Breakfast Burrito

So fuel up on eggs before you head out the door to have a happy – not hangry – holiday season!

Diets.  It seems like every couple of months a new trend sprouts up. How can you figure out which diet is good, and which diet is a flash in the pan? More importantly, how can you figure out what diet works for you?

While food fads come and go, eating more fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes and grains is always in style.  Additionally, it’s been shown pairing raw veggies with eggs can improve the nutritive value of a salad, in more than one way (details here). Yeah, just like your mom, we’re telling you to eat your vegetables.

Luckily we know how to jazz up the foods you weren’t fond of as a kid.  Take spinach; add tomatoes and a hard-boiled egg.  You’ll enjoy it so much, people will think you’re Popeye! Topping a salad with poached eggs is another great option because the yolk is like a built-in sauce. Here are some other delicious salads that #putaneggonit:

• Asparagus Salad Topped with Poached Eggs
• BLT Breakfast Salad with Soft Boiled Eggs and Avocado (Perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner)
• Quinoa with Edemame, Parm and Egg (Spoiler alert: there are avocados too!)
• Spring Salad of Asparagus, Ramps, Snap Peas, and Peas, with Poached Egg and Lemon Zest Vinaigrette (Literally a mouthful)

There are thousands of ways to cook an egg. Did you know a chef’s hat (officially called a toque) is said to have a pleat for each way eggs can be cooked? We love to find out how people are cooking eggs these days. That’s why we’re kicking off our Incredible Egg Test Kitchen, where we plan to explore the latest trends in egg cookery and beyond. Some we might “egg-cel” at. Others might be a fail. What counts is that we have fun and maybe divulge some egg knowledge in the process.

In our inaugural edition, we’re trying to steam eggs in place of a good hard-boil. This technique was shared on several popular food sites. There’s nothing wrong with hard boiling – in fact, we love it – but steamed eggs are supposed to be fail-proof when it comes to peeling. That should be music to anyone’s ears! We also hear steamed eggs are supposed to deliver on tender whites and creamy yolks. We had to take a crack at it.

Here’s what you need to test this recipe:

• A pot, steamer and eggs. We put an inch of water in the pot, then placed the steamer inside.
• Next, we brought the water to a boil. A great thing about this method is it is quick: it doesn’t take long to get the water to a boil.
• We gently placed six eggs into the steamer and covered the pot.
• After 12 minutes, we removed the eggs from the pot and put them straight into a bowl of ice water (this makes the egg stop cooking).
• Then we peeled each egg under running water.  As promised, it was incredibly easy to peel the shell.

Our verdict? Eggcellent! We couldn’t get enough of those tender egg whites, creamy yolks and the fact that they looked flawless after peeling ‘em.

We’re curious – what’s your foolproof method for hard-boiling eggs? Have you ever tried steaming them? Let us know in the comments and while you’re at it, take a look at all the delicious ways you can use up those hard-boiled eggs, like egg salad, deviled eggs and beyond.

The recipes and/or methods tested within this blog post have been created/tested by American Egg Board staff members and are provided for informational purposes only. The recipes/methods are intended for residential use by persons having appropriate technical skill, with proper and sanitary kitchen equipment and conditions. Use of these recipes and/or methods are at your own discretion and risk. We assume no obligation or liability, and make no warranties, with respect to these recipes and/or methods.

You may have noticed that the price of eggs is going up. The primary reason is that Avian Influenza (AI), also known as bird flu, hit the U.S. In fact, more than 12 percent of the egg laying flock has been affected, making the supply of eggs tighter. We’re here to clear up a few things and most importantly, we want you to know:

• The shell egg industry remains largely intact and wholesale egg prices have already started to moderate and come down.
• There is also no evidence that there will be a shortage of eggs at your local supermarket.
• AI cannot be transmitted through properly cooked eggs, so cook basic egg recipes until the yolk and white are firm and cook or bake any dishes containing eggs until they reach 160º F.
• Lastly, according to the Center for Disease Control, the strains of this disease have a low risk of being transmitted to humans and no human infections with these viruses have been detected.

While prices may be higher than usual for some, eggs are still a great value (only 17 cents apiece), and provide one of the most economical sources of high-quality protein.

For more information about AI, you can visit the Egg Safety Center as well as our Avian Influenza page. We’re also here to help answer your questions and try to clear up any misconceptions. Feel free to reach out to us via email or in the comments section.

Eggs are small, but mighty.  They are a nutritional powerhouse, a great value and extremely versatile. When it comes to getting key nutrients in one place, it’s hard to top the egg.

The six grams of high-quality protein in eggs is hard to beat. It helps keep you fuller longer, so the person you’re sitting next to isn’t hearing your stomach growling an hour or two after breakfast.

And what’s better than cutting into a delicious poached or fried egg to see a creamy golden yolk? So tasty! Did you know yolks are also a nutrient goldmine? The yolk is the source for 100 percent of the Iron, Choline (an essential nutrient for brain development), Vitamin D, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Vitamin E, Vitamin B12, and Zinc found in the egg. Other incredible nutrients in the yolk are folate, selenium, and phosphorus. Did we mention eggs contain no carbs or sugar unlike yogurt or cereal?

Eggs pack a punch with nutrition, but won’t pinch your wallet. Compared to other popular breakfast options, eggs cost approximately 17 cents per serving.  Are you ready to heat up a skillet and take a crack at the Incredible Egg? Don’t be shy, tell us why you eat eggs in the comments – we want to know!

Welcome to Sunny Side Up – the Incredible Egg Blog! From the bottom of our yolk, thanks for visiting us. We are thrilled to be your all-around resource for eggs and will be shelling out recipes, tips, fun egg facts and doing our best to answer any eggcellent questions you come up with!

The possibilities are endless when it comes to the Incredible Egg. They’re not just for the weekend anymore! Stick with us and we’ll show you fast and easy ways to wake up to eggs every morning. We’re also inviting you to help us stay on top of cool cooking trends by telling us what you’ve seen. We’ll test them out –to the best of our egg ability and share results! We hope it inspires you to try eggs in a new way.

Speaking of trends, there’s lots going on in the nutrition world and sometimes it can be confusing.  We’re here to help. We’ll work to share informative nutrition information and then try to show you how to make it happen in your everyday life with useful recipes and tips.

Besides sharing delicious recipes and interesting facts, we do some other work here that you may find rather…incredible. Check in to see what other programs we do with eggs and the egg industry – from teacher lesson plans to taking a closer look at egg farms and farmers across the country.

Expect to wake up to eggs and learn something new. Expect to get a little hungry. Lastly, expect some egg puns. Get eggcited, you know we are.