A healthy 'full English'...

Alan_Cross

TensandUnits wrote: »

We make our own 'pretend' baked beans, using tinned beans (can be haricot, cannellini or any other smallish bean), chopped tomatoes, onions, carrot, tomato puree and a little bit of sugar.

For vegetarian sausages I would recommend Cauldron. If you have a health shop near you you may find there are some better quality sausages in there which you can't get in the supermarkets.

Yes but sadly, like the other recommendations here for 'quality' pork sausages, no amount of 'quality' can get around the fact that they are full of processed red meat. My post is about a healthier version of the traditional 'full English' and to me, as a recovering heart patient, that points inexorably to doing away with animal fats to the absolute maximum.

I do thank the poster who mentioned grilling earlier and have tweaked things accordingly to ramp up the healthy side of this meal still further. This very day, in fact, my Saturday treat! It was delicious.

fuddle

Hi Alan, sounds like your breakfast has done good for your heart and your mood.

I was wondering if you might consider a low fat, low salt homemade turkey flat sausage?

2 lbs lean ground turkey
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon mace
1/8 teaspoon allspice

I haven't tried it myself yet but it's on my radar as a way of having 'sausage' or meat balls with my family.

Pollycat

Alan_Cross wrote: »

Yes but sadly, like the other recommendations here for 'quality' pork sausages, no amount of 'quality' can get around the fact that they are full of processed red meat. My post is about a healthier version of the traditional 'full English' and to me, as a recovering heart patient, that points inexorably to doing away with animal fats to the absolute maximum.

I do thank the poster who mentioned grilling earlier and have tweaked things accordingly to ramp up the healthy side of this meal still further. This very day, in fact, my Saturday treat! It was delicious.

Do you have a 'full English breakfast' every day?

I don't so I'm sure a couple of grilled 90% meat sausages once every few weeks isn't going to do that much damage to me.

ETA:
FTR, both my parents have had heart valve replacements.
They continued to eat eat sausage - proper butcher's sausage - and bacon - proper butcher's bacon - after their operations, but just not as frequently.
My Mum - still going strong in her late 80s - probably eats bacon more regularly than I do.
That's where I was coming from.

fuddle

No, not to you pollycat but Alan has said he has heart issues and needs to reduce saturated fat. How about commending the fella for altering his lifestyle and taking control of his illness?

He shared, take it or leave it maybe? Not everything has to be picked up and argued to death!

Pollycat

fuddle wrote: »

No, not to you pollycat but Alan has said he has heart issues and needs to reduce saturated fat. How about commending the fella for altering his lifestyle and taking control of his illness?

He shared, take it or leave it maybe? Not everything has to be picked up and argued to death!

In that case, I'll leave it.
Especially the

Alan_Cross wrote: »

Sausage........ Linda Macartney veggie version (don't bother with any other type - they're all awful sawdust jobs)
Bacon........ no, Tesco bacon-style turkey rashers

Oh...and :T Alan.

Mojisola

Alan_Cross wrote: »

Yes but sadly, like the other recommendations here for 'quality' pork sausages, no amount of 'quality' can get around the fact that they are full of processed red meat.

The only 'processing' in a good quality sausage is mincing the meat - not the same as 'processed meat' which will have been cured in some way and may have a range of chemicals added to it to extend its life or make it retain water.

Alan_Cross

But it is animal fat... and lots of it...

I'll take the soya, especially when they can be made as tasty as this.

Believe me, I'm no veggie by choice but I can see the way the world is going. You may as well start getting used now to ditching your 'quality' meat or any other kind, for that matter. In twenty to thirty years, it will maybe be the Russian oligarchs who can afford to eat things which were once part of animals. The rest of us will be munching on different 'incarnations' of beans.

This is because the world simply won't face up to its number one problem. Sad but there you go.

Prinzessilein

I do enjoy a cooked breakfast as a 'couple-of-times-a-year' treat....and as it is a treat, I enjoy it all the more...and am prepared to go for the 'good' stuff...

Venison Sausages (naturally lower of fat...really meaty and tasty...and I cook them in my halo with no added fat)

Free Range Egg (poached or dry-fried...absolutely MUST have a soft yolk)

'Proper' Bacon...just a couple of rashers,...I like my bacon grilled, ... the Halo does the job nicely.

Tomatoes

Brown Sauce

White bread with real butter.

Mug of Tea (splash of full fat milk, no sugar)

buildersdaughter

The purpose, as far as I am concerned, is to share ideas. I thank Alan for raising the issue, I thank everyone who has contributed. For all of us, trying to eat more 'healthily'(whatever that means) trying to live more ethically, know that any choices are not straightforward, but I always learn something from these kind of threads.

Charlton_King

Fascinating reading, this thread. I think people's reactions will vary according, literally, to taste.

Yes, animal fats with high lipids really should be avoided if you're going to make any claim at all to having a healthy breakfast. Having said that, folk will go out of their way to "let themselves off" in their own mind if they're hooked, for example, on the taste of caramelised pork.

The claim that sausages are "quality meat" or "proper" is akin to pouring salt over your food but of course it's "all right because it's sea salt".

You get the same thing in many areas.

I'm with you, Alan, especially if it's as tasty and authentic as you say - and particularly interested by the fact that it does have a high veg content at the start of the day. I often find myself struggling to get the five when I realise in the middle of an evening what I've eaten during the day. This bears thinking about.