What to Do with Your 10M Eggs
Egg overdose is not just for Easter. It’s a very real thing on a homestead. Many homesteaders–even poser homesteaders fall victim to “chicken math” whereby you think chickens are cute and you get too many even though you only planned to get a couple.
Then, you realize how easy they are so you add a few more here and there, rescue some from a friend who decided they didn’t want theirs, and add to the flock until you’re overrun with eggs.
Egg Season
There is a very real egg season. Chickens lay eggs according to the amount of light outside, meaning they lay fewer eggs in the winter or stop laying altogether. You can trick the chickens into laying by using lamps, but that just shortens their laying years–they only have a certain amount of eggs in their destiny. The good news is, once you learn to predict the winter slowdown, you can stockpile a couple months of eggs for the long haul. Eggs last pretty long in their natural state–unwashed then eventually refrigerated. Wash them before you use them.
There are videos online about preserving eggs in lime, but I can’t find a food scientist who confirms that’s safe. So, I don’t do it. I simply stockpile for the winter and freeze up a bunch of frittatas for the off season.
But, during the Season of Generosity–starting in about March through October or November, I’ve got eggs coming out of my ears.
Here are a few ways to avoid egg overdose. Check back–I’ll add to this post as I feel inspired. I may even make an egg booklet for you to download in time.
Boiled Eggs
Egg salad’s the go-to when using up eggs. Peel and chop up at least a dozen of these, keeping a container in the fridge all week. The basic egg salad has some combination of mayonnaise or sour cream and seasonings. When it comes to egg salad, I simply throw stuff in a bowl, chop, and stir. If you’re new to egg salad, here are the basic directions:
Basic No-Brainer Egg Salad
- Chop 12 hard-boiled eggs
- Add 1/2 c. mayo
- Chop and add 2 tablespoons each of onion or green onion and celery
- Add 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Mix then eat
Here are several combinations that’ll make it seem like a gourmet meal every time:
The sky’s the limit, really.
- chopped green onions, garlic, and dill
- lemon, capers, and dill
- cumin, cilantro, avocado, and tomato
- parsley, chives, paprika, and apple cider vinegar
- curry powder, cilantro, chopped onion
- hot pepper, bleu cheese, celery
What do I do with this stuff?
- Make a lettuce wrap with egg salad and romaine
- Eat it out of a bowl
- Feed it to unsuspecting company
- Make a sandwich–or twenty
- Slice veggies like cucumbers, zucchini, and radishes, and top with a spoon of egg salad
- Garnish and gift to others so you can stop eating it before June
Salads
You can make a ton of salads topped with your collection of peeled Easter Eggs.
Classic Cobb Salad features all the things you love, like bacon, chopped chicken, and yes, a whole bunch of boiled eggs. Here’s a the original recipe, developed in 1937 in Los Angeles. You can always trust Californians for good salads.
Chef’s salad are brilliant salads for using leftovers–they usually consist of cubed meats, boiled eggs, olives, cheeses, and whatever’s left over with your very favorite dressing in the world.
Spinach salad I can’t discuss eggs and salads without a hat tip to one of my favorite celeb chefs, Alton Brown and his spinach-egg-bacon salad.
Deviled Eggs
Deviled eggs are another sky’s the limit food.
Basic Deviled Eggs:
- Cut a million eggs in half. Take out the yolks, keeping the whites in tact.
- Make the filling. For a dozen eggs, mix in the following: 1/4 cup mayo, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard, a tablespoon chopped or green onions, a dash of vinegar.
- Mix the filling till smooth
- Stuff the filling into the eggs. Top with something like dill, smoked paprika or anything you love.
Try out some variations–use the egg salad mixers above as a guide.
Soup Toppers
This lovely recipe is for a spring spinach soup topped with a boiled egg. You can make a simple borscht topped with a boiled egg. This delightful asparagus soup is just in time for spring. It’s topped off with a couple boiled eggs, making your “yum” factor increase while putting a dent in your pile of eggs.
Other Egg Styles
Frittatas and Quiches:
- Here are some recipes for frittatas from another website I had with some overlap. Quiches are just frittatas with a pie crust, so have at it–the sky’s the limit for either of these.
- Pro Tip: Cut these in wedges (or squares) and freeze them in meal-sized pre-cut slices. Then you can pop what you need out for a meal and defrost.
Custards:
- I make rice puddings and vanilla egg custards. Here’s the rice pudding recipe from the Broke Teacher site. I learned rice pudding from my former boss while working at a Greek Diner. It’s one of my prized recipes–pennies to make and delicious. During the height of egg season, I round up the eggs. It doesn’t hurt anything–it’s a bit more protein.
Scrambles and omelets:
- Again, omelets and scrambles are canvasses for greatness. Don’t stick with the mushroom and cheese–do a sky’s the limit on this one.
Breakfast sandwiches and wraps
- You can freeze breakfast burritos and wraps ahead of time. Or, do a quick fried egg with a toasted English muffin and run out the door.
Guacamole Eggs
- This is one of my favorites. I fry up two or three eggs, and top with either chopped avocado, tomato, and cilantro, or go all out and toss those in a bit of garlic, lime, and cilantro for a real guac feel. Top the eggs, and enjoy.
Eggs Benedict
- A real eggs Benedict needs bacon, which I don’t eat, and is served on an English muffin, which I don’t usually want under my eggs. I make a nice Hollandaise sauce and drizzle over poached eggs. If I have spinach, I fry that in some garlic and include that on the dish, too. A swimming pool of Hollandaise makes this delicious.
Egg drop soup
- Scramble eggs and drizzle them in a soup broth. The end. You can go for a high-end bone broth or some mushroom bouillon. It’s a quick simple meal. Add some rice noodles if you’d like.
Stir fried rice
- Fry up some onions, garlic, and diced veggies. Add in some rice and soy sauce and garlic. Then, take some scrambled eggs and stir fry into the mix. You can use previously cooked eggs or raw. If you cook the egg in ribbons of oil first, the rice will have a looser feel. If you just add the egg in, it’ll be sticker and hold together more.
It’s impossible to get sick of eggs!
Sure, you can get sick of one type, but eggs can be dinner, dessert, snack–and they take on any flavor you impose upon them.