I would like to say that duck eggs are so much richer and creamier than chicken eggs, but that just hasn’t been my experience. They are larger and milder and it feels really cool to use them instead of your regular eggs, but that’s about it. I find the cracker cut cheeses that are showing up in some markets are perfect for omelets. They keep better than shredded cheese and offer that same convenience of one less step at breakfast. Breakfast is one of the easiest meals to settle for eating crap foods and I think it is worth a little planning to have whole food or at least not-as-bad-for-you options in place. Also, it may be time to address the elephant in the kitchen. Eggs and cheese are excellent vehicles for delivering protein, and that is paramount when you are doing radiation and chemo. We are all going to encounter cancer at some point, whether it is one of us or someone close to us. And one of the hardest and most important battles is eating enough to fuel the fight. Chemo and radiation can deeply effect your sense of taste, but also texture. I loved my morning omelets, and like my nutritionist at the time told me, a cheese omelet cooked in real butter and paired with fruit was almost a perfect meal as it hit the necessary triad of protein, fat, and fiber, but during my treatment of combined chemo and radiation, the omelets were just too dry. Luckily, I was fine with sunny up eggs and started to combine them with instant grits and cracker cut sharp cheddar and that was an okay, if temporary solution. Eventually I was down to smoothies only, but I think every real meal I was able to power down before that point was a win. And I am still here. I am very sorry for all of us who know someone who isn’t.
So it’s easy to see how even more protein can be added to these eggs. Fully cooked link and patty sausages are readily available now and are perfectly fine after a one minute nuke. This is also a place for both meal prep and leftovers. A pound of your favorite sliced mushrooms sauteed in butter and white pepper with bit of salt will keep for several days and can be added to omelets, grits, and the remainder can join an onion gravy for a lunch or dinner side later in the week. This is also a good place to incorporate any left over veggies or pico de gallo. Recently I’v been boosting instant oatmeal with fried eggs and green onions. And there is always the old stand by, the fried egg sandwich on white or wheat with ketchup. Back to the elephant in the kitchen: we haven’t addressed all the different ways to cook eggs, fried, scrambled, coddled, poached, hard and soft boiled, but it is very much worth your while to experiment with all of these. Just in case.