Recipes for dairy products including ostrich eggs, omelettes and a variety of cheeses. It’s hard to imagine a picnic, breakfast, or cake that doesn’t make use of at least one egg recipe, either as a simple ingredient or the main dish.

For a few years, egg recipes got a bad reputation due to it’s suspected relationship to cholesterol. But more recent studies have shown that there isn’t any reason to stay away from a delicious, healthy egg. Eggs have plenty of protein, iron, and zinc, and they can help you feel full and maintain a healthy weight. So go ahead and crack open an egg or two for breakfast or toss them into a salad.

Very fresh eggs are the best for frying because they will retain their shape and present the most pleasing appearance. To help keep them from spreading, open the eggs as close to the bottom of the pan as possible. Nonstick pans reduce the need for added butter, and fried eggs can also be blotted after cooking to help reduce the fat content. Adding a sprinkle of salt to the pan can also help keep them from sticking. For most people, a broken yolk in a fried egg is undesirable, making the selection and cooking methods all the more important for a pleasing result. While the degree of firmness is up to an individual’s taste, it’s often better to err on the side of overcooking because of the potential for salmonella in undercooked eggs. Properly prepared, however, fried eggs are both nutritious and delicious.

• Cooking with Cheese Tips

• Chilled cheeses will go through the grater easier than room temperature cheeses.

• To prevent cheeses like Swiss or Mozzarella from becoming stringy during the heating process, add a dash of wine or lemon juice.

• Store different flavours of cheese in individual bags to prevent their flavours from intermingling.

• If a cheese dip becomes too thick, add a dash of milk and stir to thin it down.

• Cheese will dry out at room temperature, so it’s better to make a couple of small trays to switch out as the supply decreases than it’s to let one big tray sit out for a long period of time.

• Heated cheese dishes will cook more quickly and smoothly if you grate, crumble, or cube the cheese before melting.