The summer of eggs

Thank goodness we have chickens and our own milk and meat. Those are the lines that frequently went through my head while grocery shopping this summer.
Our go-to summer lunch in years’ past was ham and cheese sandwiches. Not this summer. After the price of our favorite sliced ham went up 50%, I told Glen and the kids we’d be having fried egg sandwiches instead.
All three kids learned how to fry their own eggs. As the aroma of butter sizzling in the pan started to waft through the house, the requests rolled in: “Can you please fry a couple eggs for me?” Whoever started frying their own eggs inevitably fried enough for everyone.
We also discovered a renewed love for egg bake. In May, I decided to try making a travel-friendly version of egg bake for Glen and Dan’s prairie dog hunting trip. I baked my regular egg bake recipe in brownie pans – basically a square muffin tin. The result is amazing. Each mini-egg bake is perfectly browned on the edges and perfectly portable. Plus, it seems like any leftover mini-egg bakes disappear from the fridge twice as fast as traditional egg bake.
I’ve been making the mini-egg bakes at least once a week ever since. Sometimes I make them with sausage; other times I make them with bacon pieces. (I buy pre-cooked bacon pieces in bulk, which is a total game changer for the days I don’t have time to brown sausage.)
As perfect as I think mini-egg bakes are, apparently there can be too much of a good thing. A couple weeks ago, as I starting mixing up a batch, Daphne exclaimed, “Egg bake again. Can you make something else?”
My immediate reply was, “Well, your chickens are laying so many eggs, we need to keep eating them.”
Indeed, Daphne’s chickens are giving us more eggs than we can handle. She decided she wanted to raise laying hens for a 4-H project and show them at the county fair. She picked a breed that’s known for laying lots of eggs, did an excellent job raising them, and since we still have our free-range flock, we now have double the eggs we usually do.
In response to Daphne’s request, I have tried using eggs in new ways. There are entire pages on websites dedicated to lists of recipes that use lots of eggs. Unfortunately, most people define lots as four or six eggs. I need to use a dozen at a time to keep the egg cartons from overrunning our refrigerator.
I tried the bulk hard-boiled eggs that went viral on TikTok. It worked perfectly for egg salad sandwiches. But nobody in our house likes next-day egg salad. If I make hard-cooked eggs like that again, I’ll make a smaller batch.
I also tried a baked egg custard. It was a fun recipe, but no one else liked it as much as I did, and I can’t eat that much custard. Again, I probably should have made a smaller batch.
I did find success with transforming my egg bake recipe into scrambled eggs, which Dan deemed next level. For whatever reason, the difference between scrambled and baked is enough to keep the kids from getting bored. Monika even asked if I could have a container of scrambled eggs in the fridge for school mornings.
In an attempt to turn the summer of eggs into the winter of eggs, I also started freezing extra eggs. Our hens’ egg production usually declines quite a bit in the winter, so I’m hoping that frozen eggs will allow us to keep enjoying egg bake and scrambled eggs at the same pace we have this summer.
I’m using the freezing method recommended by a friend: Crack a dozen eggs into a bowl. Break the yolks and mix the eggs just until yolks and whites are mixed together. Pour into a quart-sized freezer bag. Lay flat on a pan in the freezer until frozen. Use for egg bake, scrambled eggs, French toast or any other similar recipe.

Next-level scrambled eggs
18 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
2 tablespoons butter
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
1 pound browned breakfast sausage or 1 cup bacon pieces
2 cups shredded co-jack or cheddar cheese

Mix eggs and cottage cheese together until well blended. Melt butter in large skillet over medium-low heat. Once butter is bubbling and starting to brown, add eggs. Cook, stirring and scraping bottom of skillet, until eggs are fluffy and set. Add sausage or bacon. I use two spatulas and a tossing motion to mix the meat with the eggs since the skillet is super full at this point. Add cheese and use the same tossing motion to mix with eggs until cheese is melted. Serve with toast or biscuits. Also delicious in a tortilla with extra cheese, salsa and sour cream.
Sadie and her husband, Glen, milk 100 cows near Melrose, Minnesota. They have three children – Dan, 15, Monika, 12, and Daphne, 9. Sadie also writes a blog at www.dairygoodlife.com. She can be reached at [email protected]