The perfect breakfast

[Snoop]

I have the same thing almost every day - scrambled eggs, American fried potatoes and whole wheat toast (with coffee). I also get a sausage link for the doggie.

A day without breakfast is like a day without sunshine. What's your favorite?

[mrs_innocent]

I rarely eat breakfast...there goes my sunshine.

When I do eat, though, it's usually a bowl of Special K, a plain bagel with cream cheese, a couple slices of toast, or fresh fruit and yogurt.

[FruitandNut]

If you don't count the calories, and you don't have a meat or kosher/halal hang-up; then for my money a well turned out 'Full English/Irish breakfast' is hard to beat. I don't mean the greasy and stodgey versions that may be produced at Dirty Joe's Transport Caff; but quality gear that is well cooked and presented.

the Full English

Free-range eggs - from local hens – fried, poached, scrambled or boiled.
Best back bacon, grilled.
Quality pork sausages (your choice of recipe - I like Cumberland), grilled.
(Locally home-made vegetable pickle – perfect with sausages)
Fresh tomato, grilled.
Fresh Mushrooms, fried.
Hash brown and/or fried bread.
Black pudding, fried.
Baked Beans.

If you really want to push the boat out, then add a juicy medium rare 8-10oz steak.

Boo hoo, my diet means I have to forgo such delight for some time!

[Arrogantly_inn]

Crispy bacon, Scrambled egg and toast. MMMM typing this made my stomach rumble

[Snoop]

I don't know about the rest of you but I have some old stuff in my fridge - including breakfast stuff. This article gives some good suggestions on what to keep and what to throw away:

You really gonna eat that?
Food experts weigh in when that mayo
in your fridge really should be thrown away

By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 3 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)
RedEye
Published August 21, 2006

Lindsey Pearlman comes off as a clean, orderly person—until you go poking around her kitchen.

In her freezer sit a couple of salmon fillets she bought two years ago.

In her refrigerator, a once-used bottle of ranch salad dressing sports a "best if used by" date of August 2004.

A mostly eaten container of hummus has been in the fridge for about a month, while the apples have been there almost two.

And then there is the frozen Banquet Fried Chicken Meal.

Pearlman, 27, remembers buying the chicken dinner in January 2004. She brought it—along with the salmon and the salad dressing—with her when she moved last year to her current Lakeview digs from her Roscoe Village apartment.

"I'm not a disgusting person, it's just that my freezer would not look the same without the Banquet chicken there," Pearlman explained as she padded around her cheerful, neat apartment. "It belongs here; it's part of the house."

Just because she refuses to part with the chicken, however, doesn't mean she'd give it a taste. "I bet it is absolutely repulsive," she said.

Like many young, single urbanites, Pearlman doesn't eat at home often, isn't sure how to store food properly and doesn't always know when to throw it out. In refrigerators across America, bread is staling, deli meat is spoiling and take-out containers are piling high.

Laziness and ignorance usually are the culprits of such domestic negligence, which affects both the quality and safety of what we eat.

Pearlman, who owns Sit and Stay pet sitting business, admits that she doesn't toss her old food in part because that would mean more trips to the Dumpster to take out the trash.

"I have no excuse," she conceded.

In the name of discriminating palettes and public health, RedEye raided Pearlman's kitchen and described each of her food items to two food experts: Kathy Knutson, who teaches food science at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences; and Michael Artlip, chair of the culinary school at Kendall College. The foodies weighed in on what items should stay and what should go. Some of the highlights:

» Buttermilk pancake mix, three years old, opened, kept in the cupboard
Expiration date: Best by October 2005
Artlip: "Get rid of it. Mixes can have serious issues. Some contain fat, and fat can get rancid."


» Maple syrup, three years old, opened, kept in the cupboard
Expiration date: None
Knutson: "It shouldn't be a problem. It's so sugary that it won't let bacteria grow. But make sure the outside of the jug is clean so you don't attract bugs."


» Olive oil, three years old, opened, kept in the cupboard
Expiration date: Best if used by January 2005
Knutson: "It's a quality issue, not a safety issue. At room temperature, oils start to go rancid. If you use it to cook something after the 'best by' date, it might not taste right."


» Mushroom pasta sauce, unclear when purchased, unopened jar, kept in the refrigerator
Expiration date: November 2003
Artlip: "I would call the company. If the seal is not broken, it should be OK, but the date is pushing it. It's unusual for pasta sauces to go bad, as long as the top of the jar doesn't get anything black on the inside. But once you open it, I wouldn't store anything in the fridge more than a week or so."


» Eggs, two months old, kept in the refrigerator
Expiration date: Sell by July 18, 2006
Knutson: "It's good that they're in their original crate, and that they're not stored in the door of the refrigerator, which is the warmest part of the refrigerator. The FDA says you can keep eggs refrigerated for four to five weeks, so add four weeks to the sell-by date, and the eggs should be fine until then."


» Parmesan cheese, unclear when purchased, opened, kept in the refrigerator
Expiration date: August 2002
Knutson: "Throw it out. It's a protein, which can breed bacteria."


» Mayonnaise, several months old, opened, kept in the refrigerator
Expiration date: Best when used by August 2006
Artlip: "Mayo can go bad, but it's unusual because it has so much acid in it. If it tastes OK, it's probably OK. The fat in it would go rancid and start tasting bad before it would hurt you."


» Apples, two months old, kept in the refrigerator
Expiration date: None
Knutson: "Any bruises or opening in the apples should be cut off. As long as the fruit's not visually spoiled, though, it's fine to eat."


» Hummus, one month old, opened, kept in the refrigerator
Expiration date: Sept. 7, 2006
Artlip: "Once you open it, the expiration date means nothing. Hummus is really high in protein. I'd get rid of that stuff."


» Banquet fried chicken frozen dinner, two years old, unopened, kept in the freezer
Expiration date: Best if used by Nov. 22, 2005
Artlip: "It more than likely isn't bad, but it might not taste good. You might have a vegetable in there, and it might have freezer burn."


» Salmon filets, two years old, unopened, kept in the freezer
Expiration date: None
Artlip: "I'd throw it away because I'd be worried about quality. I doubt it's bad, but it probably doesn't taste very good. Some of the cellular structure of the meat may have broken down over that time."


» Salsa, one year old, opened, kept in the refrigerator
Expiration date: Illegible
Knutson: "When in doubt, throw it out. Especially with dips like salsa. Remember that in dipping, you might inadvertently introduce something that could breed bacteria."


» Kashi cereal, eight months old, opened, kept in a plastic jar on a shelf
Expiration date: None
Artlip: "You have a high fat situation, lots of fat and sugar. A lot of those things will get to the point where they'll taste bad. If she has it in a nice container, she's got a better chance. One of the biggest problems is air getting to it, because that will make it stale."


» Yellow mustard, a year old, opened, kept in the refrigerator
Expiration date: Illegible
Artlip: "That's pretty resilient stuff, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's such a high-acid environment."


» Ranch dressing, two years old, opened, kept in the refrigerator
Expiration date: Aug. 22, 2004
Artlip: (whistling "Taps"). "Bye. That's too long. Any of the stuff might be fine, but these are not best practices."


» Butter, a year old, opened, kept in the refrigerator
Expiration date: March 29, 2006
Knutson: "Because butter is so high in fat, it will absorb odors from the other things in the refrigerator. And, like cheese, butter may grow mold. The expiration date is for quality, not safety, but I'd throw it out."


In the end, Pearlman—her face in a grimace from having sniffed ancient Parmesan and scrutinized a mysterious growth on a month-old chocolate chip bagel—was left with a trash bag full of rotten salad dressing, expired salsa jars and off-putting cheese.

So she'll have to take that extra trip to the Dumpster, after all.

The Banquet chicken, meanwhile, remains in her freezer.

"It's like a horribly knitted Christmas sweater that you can't throw away," she said.

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[FruitandNut]

A lot of us play Russian Roulette, only it is not with a revolver, but the food we eat!

[Bombshell]

The perfect breakfast - sex and a little more sex over easy.

[sylouette]

The perfect breakfast - sex and a little more sex over easy.

For once we can agree on something....

can't forget the condoments, i mean condiments....though. ;)

[FruitandNut]

The perfect breakfast - sex and a little more sex over easy.

BEST SERVED ON A DAY WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO THEN IMMEDIATELY RUSH OFF TO WORK. Driving while still dressing and thinking on your recent 'magic moments' ain't conducive to road safety. ;)