Quail Eggs

Quail eggs are small and bite sized when hard boiled making them our favorite travel snack.

They have a similar nutritional profile to chicken eggs in a smaller package. By weight, they have higher protein, fat, iron, riboflavin and B12 than chicken eggs. The taste is very similar to our fresh chicken eggs.

To hard boil: my best solution is to bake them. I bake them on a pyrex dish whenever I’m already heating the oven for something else. Usually 350F for 20min. This seems to make the eggs shrink slightly making the eggshell peeling much easier. Start by cracking them on the round end of the shell (the air pocket) and that gives a great starting point to peel the rest of the egg.

Egg peeling demonstration

The other option is to boil them for 4 to 4.5 (four and a half) minutes with a splash of vinegar in the water to soften the shell. Submerge them in an ice bath immediately and this can help make shelling them easier.

As a hard boiled egg they are fun:

  • as is (with a little salt and pepper)
  • pickled: can be as easy as leaving them to marinate in your left over pickle juice
  • marinated: multiple asian inspired marinate recipes (usually soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, sesame seeds & chili crisp)

Quick snack: Cherry Tomatoes, Pickled Persian Cucumbers, Pickled Quail Eggs, salt / pepper & Balsamic drizzle.

We have also tried them as Turkish or Shakshuka eggs, which are super cute and a delightful surprise when served.

Another option would be trying a Scotch Egg, but I haven’t been brave enough to try that one yet.

Eggs in General

Eggs in general are high in choline and in so are fabulous for brain health1. Interestingly one study went so far to say that children’s IQ improved with a daily protein breakfast (eggs)2. Choline is also important in liver and heart health.

Many of us have been taught to limit our egg use based on the reasoning that it will increase our cholesterol levels. I’ve never had an issue with it and then this guy came across on my social media: Nick Norwitz. He is a medical student who experimented and ate 720 eggs in 30 days and his LDL cholesterol actually went down. Looking into it, Harvard agrees: eggs do not increase your cholesterol or compromise your heart health; they actually do the opposite3.

References

  1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002231662400289X?via%3Dihub ↩︎
  2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8234310/pdf/nutrients-13-02080.pdf ↩︎
  3. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/are-eggs-risky-for-heart-health ↩︎

Honey Crunch Slaw

Fresh, sweet, savory and filling: Tropical citrus with filling avocado. Just enough sweet and pinch of salt to stand on its own or pair with almost any main dish.

Ingredients:

  • Cabbage – 2 cups, diced
  • Cucumber (Persian preferred) – 1.5-2 cups, diced
  • Green Onions – 2 bunches, cut finely (user preference)
  • DocMayberry Honey – 2-3 Tbs (user preference)
  • Mango – 1 large, diced
  • Avocado – 1-2 large, diced
  • Salt & Pepper – to taste
  • Apple Cider Vinegar – 2 Tbsp
  • Olive Oil – 3 Tbsp
  • Juice from one Lime (or 1/2 Lemon)
  • Balsamic Glaze – as desired to top after serving

Combine in a bowl & Enjoy!

Stores well, helps flavors marinate and combine well.

Super Fast Breakfast worth Waking up for

Mornings are chaotic in our household. One thing I can rely on is that this breakfast will get the most resistant child out of bed, it’s fast and stays with you without causing a sugar crash.

Ingredients:

  • Costco Croissant
  • DocMayberry Raw & Pure Wildflower Honey

Instructions:

  • Place one Croissant on a paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds (depending on your microwave)
  • Cut in half and spoon honey into the open, warm Croissant to drip down (~1 Tbsp, to taste)
  • OR cut long ways and spoon a layer down the croissant
  • Enjoy!

There have been several studies on Honey vs Table Sugar or other sweeteners and how they are processed in your body. Raw Honey not only has a world of additional micronutrients & enzymes but it has been shown to not cause the glucose spikes and be gentler on human digestion than other sweeteners.

It is important to remember that Raw Honey from your local Apiary is what we are talking about. Industrialized factory honey has had these health benefits removed through pasteurization, irradiation, etc.

I will include that full post with references soon!

In the mean time, check out these interesting articles:

TIP:

Initially our Croissants would go bad before we could eat them all.

Now I take gallon zip lock bags, put 5-6 Croissants in each one: Freeze one and put the other in the Fridge. I have not tried microwaving a frozen Croissant, only the ones out of the Fridge.

When the we run out of Croissants in the Fridge, I throw the bag from the Freezer to de-thaw in the Fridge over the next 20+/- hours.

Works great for us! Great, fast breakfast in a pinch.

Egg Recipes: Savory Spin on our favorite Toad in the Hole

Ingredients:

  • DocMayberry Fresh Happiest Eggs
  • Rosemary bread (Costco bakery)
  • EVOO or oil/butter of choice

Directions:

  • Heat skillet with oil/butter
  • Slice bread and cut ~1-2″ hole in middle of bread (to fit egg yolk)
  • Place bread in skillet, crack egg over hole in bread so yolk touches the pan surrounded by bread.
  • (or in this example we didn’t have time for the holes, so we did a sort of scramble, flipped the eggs, then added the bread)
  • Cook egg to desired wellness.

  • Sliced apple or orange

The Dozen Frittata

Optional:

Ingredients:

  • 12 eggs (Fresh Happy DocMayberry Eggs preferred)
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 0.5 cups heavy cream
  • 0.5 cups parmesan cheese (my family wouldn’t let me use the real Italian cheese, we had to use Kraft)
  • 2 Tbsp oregano
  • 0.25 tsp (kosher) salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 12 patties of Goolsby’s premium country sausage (Costco)

Optional:

  • 2 Tbsp EVOO
  • 2 Bell Peppers, diced
  • 2 Tbsp Boursin cheese
  • 2 handfulls chopped green onion (to taste: if you like green onion use up to 2 cups)

Directions:

  1. in a 9″ x 13″ x 2″ pyrex dish combine (and prepare to stir if you want less dishes) everything except the sausage and bell peppers: EVOO, Milk, Cream, Eggs, Parmesan, Boursin, salt & pepper, Oregano, Green onion. Stir till combined well.
  2. In a pan cook the sausage patties and cut them up. Cook the chopped bell peppers in the same pan.
  3. Add cooked sausage and bell peppers to the pyrex dish with other ingredients.
  4. Cook at 350F for 40-50m or until no longer wobbly when shaken.

Pairs well with:

  • Toast
  • Ciabatta bread
  • Tea with DocMayberry Honey
  • By itself