Fried Egg With Balela Bean Salad And Buttered Toast

Recipe submitted by: Jane Ong

I can't live without eggs.  I had been having at least one egg for every meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) for many years since I was weaned off my milk bottle. But my egg consumption has been drastically cut down since I graduated college.  It was not because I was worried about the cholesterol.  It was mainly because I have this horribly long commute in the morning to work that I don't have time to cook and eat breakfast.  But whenever I have the time to indulge in my morning breakfast at home, I always treat myself a fried egg over easy.  According to Harvard University, eggs contain nutrients including protein, vitamins B12 and D, riboflavin; and folate, and therefore may help lower the risk for heart disease when consumed in moderation. (i.e., One egg per day.) To make my fried egg breakfast healthier, I gave it a middle eastern twist by pairing the egg with Trader Joe's super delicious Balela Bean Salad. (If you are a talented cook, you can probably make your own Balela Bean Salad, but I opt for Trader Joe's all natural high quality ready-to-eat version because I absolutely don't know how to make this bean salad myself.)

Makes 1 Serving:

Ingredients:

• 2 oz of Trader Joe's Balela Bean Salad ($2.69 for 8 oz container)
• 1 large organic egg
• 1 piece of high quality white bread, toasted and buttered (I got my bread freshly made from my favorite Japanese Bakery)
• Dried parsley flakes 
• Moran's Grilling Seasoning 

Direction:

1. Fry an egg in any style you want (I prefer mine to be over easy with runny yolk inside).
2. Sprinkle dried parsley flakes and Moran's Grilling Seasoning on top of the egg, serve with buttered toast and Balela Bean Salad.

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Blue Corn Tortilla Chips Breakfast Under 5 Minutes

Recipe submitted by: Jane Ong

Even though I eat out most of the time, I still use my kitchen to cook, particularly after I returned from my vacation in Southeast Asia and blew all my savings just so I could live like a princess for a few weeks. In the last couple days, I have been eating this for breakfast and dinner at home because it's fast, easy and cheap....

Makes 1 Serving:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of Trader Joe's Organic Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
• 1 large organic egg
• 1/4 cup of Trader Joe's Mild Pico De Gallo Fresh Salsa
• Dried parsley flakes 
• Moran's Grilling Seasoning 

Direction:

1. Layer a plate with  blue corn tortilla chips.
2. Fry an egg in any style you want (I prefer mine to be over easy with runny yolk inside).
3. Put egg on top of the blue corn tortilla chips and spoon the fresh salsa around.
4. Sprinkle dried parsley flakes and Moran's Grilling Seasoning on top of the egg and serve.

The grill seasoning and the parsley flakes just made my egg taste really good.  The Trader Joe's salsa is one of the best fresh salsa I had tasted, and I think it's the best tasting store bought fresh salsa among all the store bought fresh salsas that I had tried in various American grocery stores.  I won't recommend jar salsa at all.  You can surely make your own salsa if you prefer, For me, I think I can't do a better job than Trader Joe's in terms of producing such a high quality salsa, or does it even make economic sense for me to make it myself.

Low-Fat BlueberryYogurt With Peanuts

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

Recently, I've been having too many heavy breakfasts with eggs and bacons at various restaurants and my hotel here in Toms River.  This morning, I decided to go light on my breakfast by adding a pinch of Planters Low Sodium Roasted Peanuts to a cup of Dannon Low-Fat Blueberry Yogurt. This is one travel-friendly breakfast which I can whip up in any hotel. I love peanuts and I add them to a lot of my meals.  I feel very grateful that I don't have nuts allergy.  I just can't imagine not being able to have peanuts.

Banana Nut Muffins

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

These muffins are the best Banana Nut Muffins I ever tasted even though I was very confused after watching Tyler Florence's demonstration on the video and reading the printed recipe. I was torn between using 1.5 cups of flour as told by the video and 2 cups of flour as written on the recipe.  Also, Tyler said in the video he was using 1.5 cups of brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extra, while the printed recipe instructs the use of 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extra.  After a lot of head scratching, I decided to follow the printed recipe exactly.  I'm glad I did because these muffins turned out to be very delicious with a great texture and a heavenly aroma.  They aren't overly sweet like the ones in the grocery stores.  To me, these muffins just have the right sweetness. The ingredients are just what I always have in my kitchen.  I found this recipe when I was desperately looking for ways to use up the very ripe and spotty bananas.   I love this recipe because unlike other banana muffin recipes, this one doesn't require a long list of special ingredients like special yogurt, flaxseed, banana pudding mix, bran, honey, and the list goes on and on .  This is a short and simple recipe that produced super delicious and wholesome banana nut muffins.  I made 12 this morning for breakfast and we only have 6 left.  Next time I'm going to try to follow the video and see if the muffins will taste any different. 

Buttery Apple Biscuits

Content contributed by Jane Ong

When I first met my mother-in-law before I married my husband, she offered me biscuits at a breakfast she made.  I remember how I was taken by surprise when I saw them.  All my life, I had  biscuits that looked very different and then I later found out Americans call the biscuits I had learnt in my English class back home  "cookies" or "crackers".   One bite into my MIL's American biscuit, I decided that I didn't like it.  It was too salty for me and then it had that  hint of bitterness that turned me off. I remember how I used to fight with my sister over the "biscuits" back home when I was little.  I was shocked to find out that there would actually be a kind of "biscuits" in the world that I dislike.  My mother-in-law later told me proudly that those biscuits were really easy to make and they were from her favorite Pillsbury's biscuits from the tube...

I had stayed away from all biscuits ever since, until I found  this recipe.  I was determined  to learn to bake something simple and easy.  After browsing through ton loads of recipes online, I finally found this recipe that is short, that doesn't seem to take too much time, that doesn't seem to need a mixer, a blender, a food processor, a mold, or other gadgets.  I was initially skeptical about it because it was a recipe for making biscuits and I thought I didn't like biscuits.  I decided to risk a second try at it though.

But no matter how short and simple a recipe is, a dumb cook in training like me can still encounter complications.  The recipe instructs me to cut in butter. But I absolutely have no idea what it really means.  Cut with what? How to cut?  My butter was already cut into pieces when I dumped them into the bowl... I just didn't get it.  Anyway, I just mixed everything together with my own two hands since I didn't know what to do next after I had the flour, sugar, salt and butter in the bowl...

Since I don't own a rolling pin, I used my hands to pat down the dough.  I also don't own any biscuits cutter so I used my glass to cut the biscuits.  Regardless of everything I lack of as a new cook, I'm very happy that I gave this biscuit recipe a try.  These biscuits are so delicious and buttery.  The apples and the molasses made the biscuits super tasty.  It's amazing how my perception about food can change if only I keep an open mind and give it a second chance.

Anyway, my husband and I love these biscuits so much we ate them all already.  Thank god that the recipe only makes six so I'm not feeling as guilty.  (Click here for the recipe.)