EGGS!!

I'm drowning in eggs over here. It's that time of year. More eggs than buyers! (Please come by eggs!) So I have to find lots of creative ways to use them. I'll share some ideas with you here, so if you are suffering from the same problem, you might find a few ideas here.

What to do with eggs!

Of course, the easiest is to cook them up for breakfast. Sunny-side up, over easy, poached, scrambled. I especially like scrambled when the garden starts producing - as I can add some fun veggies into the scramble: Green onions, zucchini, peppers, you name it, you can add it into am omelet or scramble. There are also frittatas and quiches which are good for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Speaking of breakfast, brunch, or really any meal, you can try Shakshuka. I've had this at restaurants and it's lovely. I have some Harissa paste at home, so I really should give this a try!!

Another breakfast favorite that uses eggs - FRENCH TOAST! I love to add a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg to my milk/egg mixture. I also may toss in some vanilla extract. Or even almond extract!

I also seek baking recipes that use a lot of eggs - and one of my favorites is Almond Pound Cake.

Without a doubt, I LOVE this recipe. It uses 6 eggs, so that's a bonus. I often use duck eggs, as they fluff up so well, and make this pound cake so lovely! I don't make it in a Bundt pan, as I have never mastered the joy of removing a cake from that pan. I use 2 loaf pans - and this leaves me with an extra loaf that I can freeze for another occasion. I just made one yesterday! We often eat it for breakfast, but I have also used this cubed with chocolate fondue, or with ice cream as a dessert.

Some other obvious uses for eggs - hard boil them! I take a whole dozen and hard boil them and stick them in the fridge. There are folks in this house that eat a lot of ramen. You know, the cheap packets you ate in college? Yeah, they buy those by the case. But they also buy green onions to chop up and add to the ramen. Keeping some hard boiled eggs on hand are another thing they can add to a bowl of ramen for some protein and extra nutrition. I sometimes just eat a hard boiled egg, or I might add them to a salad (again, for extra protein). Or, having them on hand, I can easily make a little egg salad to eat for lunch, or add between bread for an egg salad sandwich. They last a while in the fridge with the shell still on, so I can just keep them on hand for a quick bite or an addition to another meal.

Now, there are also preservation methods you can use to store them for later use.

You can water glass eggs for longer term storage. This will get you to that winter slow down, so you can still have eggs on the farm even when the girls aren't laying. I have not yet tried this...

You can also pickle eggs. I have some vague memories of my childhood and eating pickled things. I had a grandpa, an old farmer, who loved pickled pigs feet. I did NOT eat those. But he always had weird pickled things that I never ever saw anywhere else. Picked keilbasa (I LOVED that!) and pickled eggs. Since I kinda like vinegar, I think it's worth a shot to try pickling some eggs and seeing if I still like them.

Last year, I took my over abundance of duck eggs and froze them. I used a silicon muffin pan, and cracked an egg into each slot. I whisked them just a hair - froze them, and then popped them into a zip lock for storage. I REALLY needed to use more of them over the winter, as I still have some in the freezer. It did take advanced planning as I needed to defrost them overnight in the fridge for use. I was nervous to defrost them in the microwave and actually cook them. But I did use them for baking and for scrambled eggs and they were GREAT!

Now, just wanted to point out, you can't freeze eggs in their shell. As you know, water expands when it freezes, so the water content in the egg does the same. Then it cracks the shell. So most folks, when they freeze, they remove the eggs from the shell and you can use muffin tins or ice cube trays. I like the silicon muffin pan, because I KNOW I can get that egg out after it has frozen. It would likely be even BETTER if I had a vacuum sealer to seal them up before I store them in the freezer for long term. But I don't have one. And I should get one...

Some other items that use eggs - obviously desserts! Ice cream - if you make a custard base, will use a lot of egg yolks. So then you need to save the egg whites for an egg white scramble, or for batter for frying.

Lots of desserts use eggs - cakes, puddings, custards. You can even do mug cakes - which is baking a little cake inside a mug - they often use up one egg. They are fast to cook, as they generally are made in the microwave. Here is just one example of a mug cake, use the power of a web search to find all sorts of varieties and flavors!

Alright folks, looks like I need to get busy in the kitchen today! If this has inspired you, pop by for some eggs ANYTIME! I have plenty to go around -- for now!!