Blog
Eggs-citing April
April 4, 2017
Easter is upon us, as is the end of the Lenten season. This year, Jared and I decided to give up french fries and give away a big black trash bag of clothes or other household items each week. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into a Runza crinkle cut fry:)
Aside from Easter celebrations, April is going to be a big month at our house. My family has our annual cattle sale on the 8th. We’ve been preparing for this for almost two months. We will be selling several top-end heifers, pairs and bulls from our herd. It’s an exciting time seeing old friends from across the state.
Besides planting corn, this year I will be celebrating my 23rd birthday on the 21st with new baby chicks for our farm. When I was growing up my family had 600 layer hens. Each afternoon my older sister and I would spend an hour lugging baskets of eggs from the barn to the house basement where my mom would wash, weigh and carton the eggs for our loyal egg customers each week. In addition to gathering the farm-fresh eggs, my entire family would spend summer mornings dressing chickens for ourselves and other chicken farmers in the area. We dressed 10,000 chickens each summer for three years. Dressing a chicken is how you prepare the bird for human consumption. Butchering, removing the innards and packaging it for delivery to the customer. This is where I learned the bulk of what it takes to own and operate a business. It was a lot of work to provide a raw product to customers. The state health inspector would come to our farm to ensure we were following the strict guidelines. It was a big part of my childhood, and I miss the fresh eggs and simplicity of raising chickens.
I won’t be going to those extremes again and will only be raising 15 chickens that are more ornamental and for eggs rather than for meat production. They will arrive April 28 and will live in the garage under a heat lamp until they are old enough and it is warm enough for them to move to the coop outside. I can’t wait to have fresh eggs each morning!
What is Easter without deviled eggs?
- 12 large eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
- 6 pieces bacon, cooked, crisp and crumbled
- Paprika, for garnish
- Slice the hard boiled eggs in half, lengthwise
- Remove the yolks and put them in a mixing bowl
- Mash the egg yolks with a fork
- Add the mayonnaise, rice vinegar, ground mustard, and sugar to the mashed egg yolks and stir until well combined
- Mix in the jalapenos and bacon
- Put the mixture in a Ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the corner of the bag
- Fill each egg hole with the mixture
- Sprinkle with paprika
- Chill until ready to serve
