How to Make Your Own Healthy Egg “McGriddle”

Have you ever had a McGriddle breakfast sandwich from McDonald’s? The soft maple-flavored pancake “buns” sandwiching crispy bacon or sausage, egg and cheese creates a sweet and savory fast food breakfast. Mmm, I really enjoyed these sandwiches back in my “ignorant to how food is made” days. Now...not so much.


Glad to be free of food ignorance now, I see through the "M" branded griddle cakes stuffed with fluffy egg and crispy bacon.  I only see low-quality, non-nutritional ingredients like enriched flour, artificial flavors designed in a science lab, and cheese that is anything but. Starting from the top, lets break down the ingredients in one of these sandwiches from McD’s. This info is straight from their site here.

Who brands their buns anyway?

One Bacon, Egg, and Cheese McGriddle (source) packs a whopping 420 calorie handheld heart attack served neatly in colored paper wrap. You get a substantial (not in a good way) 18g of fat, 240mg of cholesterol, 1110mg of sodium, 2g fiber, and 15g of sugar. Still sound good? Lets keep going….

The top-level ingredients for a Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddles® are:

Griddle Cakes, Folded Egg, Pasteurized Process American Cheese, Bacon, Liquid Margarine


Seems somewhat safe, but dig deeper and we find the Griddle Cakes have a little more than you or I would use to make pancakes:

Water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), sugar, dextrose, palm oil, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate), brown sugar, salt, soybean oil, rice flour, whey powder, modified tapioca starch, buttermilk powder, caramel color, natural (dairy and botanical source) and artificial flavors, soy lecithin, corn oil (processing aid).


Surely there’s nothing in the Folded Egg besides "egg"….right?....wrong:

Pasteurized whole eggs, food starch-modified, soybean oil, natural flavors (botanical source), sodium acid pyrophosphate, carrageenan, flavor enhancer [salt, maltodextrin, natural flavor (plant source), spices, herb, turmeric (color)], monosodium phosphate, citric acid, soy lecithin (release agent).

And the topping on (and in) the “cake” is Liquid Margarine:

Liquid soybean oil and hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils, water, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, soy lecithin, mono-and diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color).

This is an example of why I cook at home. You can find many places that provide fresh, healthy ingredients, but the fact that I just don’t have control of what I'm eating bothers me. Plus, I don’t want to pay a premium because someone else prepared my meal when I can do the same from the comfort of home; and I’ll tip myself, thank you.

My version is actually what you would expect an egg sandwich with pancake buns to be; two pancakes with a cooked egg in the middle. Wow, shocker!! I cooked a batch of pumpkin pancakes using less liquid in my crepe recipe on this post, but you can use your favorite pancake recipe if you choose.

The fluffy white one was my weapon egg of choice for the pics.

For the egg, I had this bright idea to microwave it in a small, circular glass dish to make the perfect round egg patty. As you can see, I did this 4 times and the egg just expanded into a miniature Leaning Tower of Pisa. Fail. I made do with the best rounded one of the bunch and just saved the other eggs to put on salad. Since my pancakes were too big, I trimmed around them a little; not necessary, but I wanted to make it look good!

Topped with a drizzle of honey, sprinkle of cayenne, and dash of pepper, this was a delectably sweet and spicy sandwich I devoured right after the last picture. I was so excited when the idea to make this sandwich came to mind, and I’m glad I did. I no longer crave a McGriddle after seeing the extensive list of crap for ingredients, but my non-McGriddles are a delightful (and healthy) way to start or end the day.

I think it's smiling at me...

Egg sandwiches are just awesome, and I recall having many homemade scrambled egg and ketchup sandwiches on white bread as a kid. Not all that healthy, but better than McD’s. I'll just have these instead from now on.


Q: Have you ever made your own fast food version into something healthier?


Q2: Do you like egg sandwiches with ketchup?

What I Ate Wednesday #5: Easy and Healthy Green Foods

 

Today’s WIAW will be the last for Green Foods month; it's sad, but I can’t wait to see next month’s theme! This doesn’t mean I’ll start slacking on my green food intake though; I’m a salad fanatic and love Brussels sprouts too much to cut down on this color!

It’s been an exciting March, and I’m happy with the green-themed fun I had and viewed on WIAW posts from other foodie bloggers The onions I mentioned in last week’s post are still going strong, but I feel like it’s time to use them soon. I really enjoy being a part of the What I Ate Wednesday crew and don’t plan on stopping any time soon!

Still growing Green as of last Saturday....

For this week’s green food, I added Watercress to my menu as a mix-in for my nightly salad. Watercress has a hint of spice and touts many health benefits including its use as a digestive aid. This proved helpful to me since I tend to eat most of my food at night and it keeps my stomach from going crazy.

Rinsed and ready for the spinner!

I didn’t do anything fancy, just mixed it in with my nightly salad and that’s all I needed. Sometimes I just grab a handful of greens and eat them from my hand; there’s just something refreshing about crisp greens with nothing else. Do you ever eat salad greens by the handful or am I alone on this?

Now, on to today’s green eats……..

Breakfast – French press coffee with cinnamon and vanilla extract; small cup of leftover red quinoa with veggies, fresh jicama slices, and leftover Pumpkin Protein Crepes from this weekend

Ever get to a point where you don't want to spoon the last of the batter out of the bowl?
I did; this is what happens.  I didn't make Kelley eat this one....

Snack – Mug of unsweetened green and red tea and a few pieces of dried okra

Crispy, crunchy, and green!

Lunch – green split pea with mixed veggie puree (I had this last week and wanted it again) and I used Corn Thins for dipping; dehydrated Brussels and okra, celery sticks, an apple, and sliced jicama provided a means to my mindless eating attack afterward

After Lunch – more green tea mixed with decaf chai tea and stevia; late night at work, so my usual outdoor activity is shortened and I’ll only get to have a few rounds with the punching bag.

Dinner – Started with a big salad topped with mixed veggies, papaya seeds, and salsa; pureed zucchini, frozen berries, and spinach with vanilla protein; large helping of plain, non-fat Chobani Greek yogurt (Enter to win some here) mixed with Chocolate-Covered Katie’s Brownie Batter Dip (that stuff is awesome!); finished with a side of several Peanut Butter Overnight Oat Crisps

I will definitely make this dip again.......then probably another time after that!

Crunchy peanut butter goodness = happy me!

I have been planning to go to a yoga session with Kelley on Wednesday, my rest day from my current workout routine, but something seems to happen at work every time! Guess I’ll just keep hoping for a chance because I could use the flexibility.

Have you done anything special for National Nutrition Month? I think it’s kinda ridiculous since we should focus on nutrition every day. Do you agree or disagree?

To add to this; I read an article discussing a new study that found that frequent fast-food chain customers are less happy with their health than the average American. Go figure; I didn’t need a study for that!

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

Flashback and Future Friday

Don’t we all just seem happier on Friday? I know I get this “so happy it’s Friday” feeling, then I get upset for being so excited about a day. Really, everyday should be enjoyed; work day or not, it’s life! I will start to work on that and hopefully have good results.

Today I want to take a look back at the food from this past week, as well as what I want to prepare for the week to come. I will only have Sunday to really cook everything I want, but it will be a good test for my multi-tasking abilities! Plus, I can make it fun and pretend to be on Iron Chef with only an hour to cook a full course meal. Does anyone else ever do this? Maybe I’m just crazy…. 

*Vanilla Protein Crepes; the folded ones have peanut butter. I want more now!!

Chocolate Overnight Oats about to be pureed to make Overnight Oatmeal Baked Donuts 

Zevia Protein Donuts sprinkled with fresh ground nutmeg 

No Sugar *Pumpkin Protein Pancakes with Plain Greek yogurt mixed with vanilla extract and cinnamon

Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie before going under the broiler

My assortment of baked pumpkin and Zevia protein goodies! The cake on the right is just Zevia Protein Donut batter in a cake pan.

Espresso Balsamic Baked Chicken Tenders with generous seasoning 

Leftover Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie mix that I put in my donut tin 

 The end result of my Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie (donut?) after removing from the donut tin. Next time, I'll use another egg or two egg whites....

*Sugar-Free Chocolate Pumpkin Protein Bread "CPPB" 

CPPB slices with peanut butter and homemade *strawberry chia seed jam

*Recipes to come in future posts

Aside from the standard staple meals I cook for our lunch at work, there are a few more things I'd like to make.  Some of these things involve using NuNaturals Stevia products (keep checking as I will post a review and host a giveaway soon!) and others are just recipes to try.

I have been craving a pumpkin protein banana bread and will test my own recipe using NuNaturals.

I am going to try making Popped quinoa; I made it before, but want to try it with the red quinoa I have.  This stuff is great as cereal or as a crunchy salad topping.

Not sure if I'll get around to it this weekend, but I've been craving some type of meatloaf; we'll see what happens....

I have more plans for baked goods using NuNaturals Stevia, but you'll have to keep watch for future posts.  It won't be long!

Do you have any cooking plans for the weekend?  If not, do you have any other fun plans?  I'm open to any and all comments, so let me know what's on your mind.