Shirtless Chef – An actual great way to start the day!

Local fitness enthusiast Jason Murphy remakes favorite meals of his youth into healthy dishes. See the full list of his recipes at www.mysaline.com/shirtless.

I’ve been seeing more and more commercials for breakfast sandwiches from the big three fast food joints. They all claim it’s a great way to start the day, and that even though you might have the ingredients at home to make one yourself, it never tastes as good as their version. Of course, that’s just not true. Never let a burger place do something for you that you can do yourself, and a breakfast sandwich is about the easiest thing you can make at home. Wendy’s has a Baconator sandwich they advertise to power your morning. That particular monstrosity has 920 calories, 60 grams of fat with 23 of those the saturated variety, 1540 mg of sodium, and 38 grams of carbs. By power your day, they must mean an 8 hour session at the cardiologist office. That thing should come with a complimentary set of electric paddles to shock your heart back to life. And looking at the stats on McDonald’s egg mcmuffin, they have to be under-reporting their numbers. They claim it only has 310 calories, 30 carbs, and 13 grams of fat. The muffin alone should be that much. Add in the egg, processed american cheese slice, salted butter, and clarified butter used in the ingredients, and those numbers should be much, much bigger. I ain’t buying it…the numbers or the sandwich. I’m not loving it. Gee, what a surprise that a major corporation might not be completely truthful in their research and reporting.

Not only should you be making your own breakfast sandwich, you should also be making your own muffin. English muffins are super quick and easy to make, and that way you control not only the quality and nutrition in your sandwich, but also the taste. Of course, not having a surly teenager mad to be up that early touching your food with questionable hand washing discipline is reason enough to make your own at home.

These ingredients come together fast and can be made in a coffee mug or bowl in the microwave. Just remember that the width of the bowl/cup determines how thick your muffin will be, and thicker is easier to cut.There’s a reason the saying “The best thing since sliced bread” has been around since..well…sliced bread. I’ve made the mistake of making one in a bowl too wide, and it makes it hard to slice evenly by hand. If that happens, just pivot and have an open faced sandwich or break it all up in one big happy breakfast bowl. Other than that, this is a quick and easy process, and your heart will thank you for the reprieve

Low carb English Muffins:

1 pasture raised chicken egg

1/8 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tbsp grass fed butter

3 tbsp almond flour

1/2 tbsp coconut flour

1 tsp water

Instructions:

Heat the butter in the microwave until just melted:

Whisk the dry ingredients in a different bowl:

Beat the egg in yet another bowl with 1 tsp of water. Add the dry mix to the butter and stir until well mixed:

Add the whisked egg and stir until smooth. You can do this in a bowl or a large coffee cup, depending on the diameter you want the muffin:

Let the mix sit for one minute, then microwave on high for 75 seconds. Check to see if the center is set:

Run a butter knife around the outside edge and turn the muffin out on a plate:

Slice in half and place in the toaster to desired crispness. Top with your favorite healthy breakfast combo foods as I have here with all natural bacon, slice of ham, pasture raised egg, and grass fed cheddar: