I am going to post the food and nutrition articles on Ichabod and also on Walmart's Little Chef. Therefore, the new blog will just have the food and practical tips on it. On a large blog, one category can get swamped, as I have learned from searching for my own articles and graphics.
ChurchMouse, one of my favorite bloggers, has noted that the Seventh Day Adventists (example, GOP candidate Dr. Ben Carson) replaced the protein breakfast with grains. Kellogg and Post developed all kinds of breakfast cereals that really have no nutritional value, apart from the milk poured over them. My kin were Adventists, but when they moved to Iowa to start hog farming, their sect did not approve and they became Evangelicals. Two of my relatives were bishops in the Adventist sect, a bizarre group, to say the least.
At Walmart the associates laughed at the money spent on enormous boxes of puffed up grains, loaded with sugar, garnished with the most outrageous graphics and lures. That amounted to feeding sugar and grain carbohydrates to children, marketed as cinnamon toast, donuts, and frosted this or that.
Shelving cereal was easy because each brand had distinctive art that grabbed one's attention, I could find anything in a long row, but canned beans were sorted by red, black, dark red, low salt, ranch style, and other variations, dizzying for beginners.
Those who spend the day using their muscles know that sugary snacks will not offer long-term energy. One study showed, in fact, that an egg breakfast will help someone lose weight while providing an impressive amount of protein and minerals with better carbos and less dessert-style eating. For someone raised in a bakery, with total access to donuts, danish, cookies, and fresh candy (fudge and peanut brittle), a sugar-free breakfast is a challenge.
Our physician suggesting reducing bread to lose weight, and this is one way to start - no bread, rolls, donuts, or cereal for breakfast. Bread? I love bread.
Our egg breakfast began with leaving the frying pan "dirty" with bacon grease or the remains of beef or pork heated up for dinner. I loathe the smell of bacon cooked in the kitchen, when it lingers like cigar smoke, so we do not cook bacon indoors anymore. We grill it with the meat - more of that later.
Once I began making eggs each day, Mrs. Ichabod wanted some too. When I worked in groceries, the variety of spices, condiments, and vegetables gave me all kinds of ideas I wanted to try.
This is how I make breakfast each day now, in order of appearance.
- Melt coconut oil in the pan. Coconut oil is the best for cooking and very healthy. Oddly enough, it is also an ideal skin cream, melting into the skin without being greasy. We use LouAnna from Walmart.
- Thaw some mixed vegetables, from the frozen section at Walmart. We like peppers and onions, but there are many other mixes and possibilities.
- Add one can of Great Value mushrooms. Cost $1.25. We love mushrooms and they have almost no calories or carbos.
- Slice one or two Johnsonville brats, very thinly, so they warm up with the mix and toast a little. This is when Sassy enters the kitchen and waits for her tithe.
- Add various enhancements early, before eggs are added - a little butter, wasabi, mustard, ginger, garlic, freshly ground pepper. Too much of one will lead to the WASABI reaction, which is not good. A subtle blend is great fun to vary from day to day.
- I add six eggs once everything is heated up. They go on the open side of the large pan and get blended in once they start cooking. They need some salt, so I add chipolte sea salt (Walmart) ground into them.
The cost is about $3 for the entire pan, a hearty combination of vegetables, mushrooms, meat, and eggs. Sometimes we leave out meat, but mushrooms are always added. The vegetables, condiments, and spices vary each day. When Team Jackson has had a grilling day. cooked grilled bacon from the freezer is scissored into the mix instead of brat slices.
