Ways to Use Hard Boiled Eggs & Ham

Happy Easter! If you are reading this today, Easter Sunday, then thank you loyal reader! If this is a day, week, month after the fact, don't worry. This post is created with you in mind. On Easter Sunday, the typical American family will enjoy a nice meal of ham and boiled eggs, with many other possible additions including Easter bread, bacon, quiche... This means there is likely to be some amount of ham and likely large amounts of eggs left over. 

Since one can only eat so many cold ham sandwiches and limited amounts of egg salad, I put together a reference of many kinds of recipes to re-purpose leftover foods into new and exciting dishes! Keep in mind, cooked ham keeps great in the freezer for up to 6 months, so that is always an option. Hard boiled eggs will keep in the freezer up to a week.

Recipes for Hard Boiled Eggs

 

Photo from "Spoonlighting" blog, I recommend reading it

Classic egg salad: chop up eggs and mix with mayonnaise. This can be jazzed up many ways- add Tabasco, dill, curry powder, celery, etc.

Tuna salad: take plain tuna fish salad to the next level by adding chopped boiled eggs to it. Adds a nice texture balance, and even more protein.

Potato salad: make a classic potato salad and toss in some eggs as well. Boil chopped potatoes until soft, drain and toss with mustard, mayonnaise, sour cream, spices, and a few chopped eggs.

Deviled: take the yolks from the eggs and mash separately. Add mustard and mayonnaise. You can get crazy and try crushed nuts, pesto, BBQ sauce, whatever your  imagination thinks up. Put into a plastic ziplock, cut a corner off, and pipe the filling back into the egg halves. Garnish with a dash of paprika or fresh dill.

This classic strawberry shortcake, from the LA Times, with a secret ingredient: boiled egg yolk in the batter.

Cobb salad: make a bed of lettuce, then cover with chopped tomato, bacon, avocado, and hard boiled egg. Really, boiled eggs can top any salad.

Soup garnish: serve a hearty chilled gazpacho or borscht the traditional way, topped with a halved hard boiled egg.

Pickled: using spices, vinegar, and some beet juice for that lovely ruby color, pickle your leftover eggs and they will keep much longer. Try this recipe from Allrecipes.

Noodle soup: add a cooked egg into anything from fancy glass noodle Pho to ramen to add a kick of proteins and vitamins.

For even more ideas, see Health's article "8 Excellent Recipes for Hard-Boiled Eggs"

Recipes for Leftover Ham

Photo from "Petit Jean Meats". They recommend heating their ham
in your dishwasher to save oven space. Go read it, I'm not lying.

Sandwiches: this one's a given. Who doesn't love a few thick slices of ham on a soft roll or bun, slathered in mayo and topped with tomato? But once you've had that three days in a row for lunch, it's time for something a little more exciting...

Breakfast: leftover ham is a rockstar in the breakfast department. Layer it with a cooked egg and cheese on a bagel, wrap it up in a breakfast burrito, or add it to any frittata, quiche, or strata.

Soups: ham and navy bean, ham and barley, ham and potato, the possibilities are endless here. Just search "ham soup" and watch how many pages Google finds. Don't forget, the bone add a nice layer of flavor so don't get rid of it. Add it to the stock while it simmers away and enjoy extra umami. 

Scalloped potatoes: another ham classic, just layer thinly sliced potatoes, coat with flour and butter, and ham, add a little milk, and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. You can add in extra veggies like peas, happiness like bacon, or get crazy and use sweet potatoes to up the oomph of health.

Casseroles: add ham into any type of casserole. Ham, broccoli and cheese. Ham, beans and rice. Ham... you get the idea. Adding new ingredients and baking it all together gives the leftover a fresh breath of life.

Pizza: use small chunks or thin slices and add ham to homemade pizza. Add pineapple for Hawaiian, sausage and pepperoni for meat lovers, BBQ sauce, or ranch.

A great idea for any types of leftovers that freeze well is to freeze them in smaller, recipe-sized or single-serving packages. That way, when you're rushed for dinner and just want to throw some ham into tonight's pasta primavera, you don't have to wait to defrost a big chunk, you can just grab one of the two-slice packages you froze.

Two really great resources for inspiration come from AllRecipes. They have a collection of Leftover Ham Recipes as well as a special Easter Ham section. You should also check out PremeditatedLeftovers article on 10 uses for leftover ham plus 5 things to do with a ham bone.


What's your favorite way to use leftovers?

Baked ham & greens frittata

Frittatas are an awesome brunch staple, because they are easy to make and infinitely customizable. This would be a great Easter brunch option! They are the perfect answer to a vegetarian source of protein. Add in tofu, beans, and whatever veggies you want, but the eggs do the heavy lifting in the protein department. One typical large egg contains 6 g of protein, which is 12% of the recommended daily allowance for an adult (source: USDA). It also has keratin for your eyes, vitamin D, A and B, with only 70-80 calories. There aren't many other protein sources with as complete nutrition for such a low per calorie count.

What's a Frittata anyway?

Frittatas are most similar to a crust-less quiche. So if you love quiche but want to cut down on carbohydrates, calories, and saturated fat without sacrificing taste and versatility, a frittata is perfect for you. There is some confusion as to the difference between a frittata and an omelet. The main difference is that  omelets traditionally have the egg mixture cooked and folded around a filling which is added on top at the last minute, whereas a frittata is all mixed and cooked together, not folded over. A frittata is also traditionally baked in the oven for all or part of its cooking time. Your best choices for a perfect frittata are cast iron or a non-stick oven-safe frying pan. 

Now, if you have never tried a frittata, it may be intimidating. Or perhaps you have tried before with little luck. They turn out too dry, tough, overly browned, stuck to the pan, or too bland. That's ok. There are a few tricks to the perfect frittata every time. Whatever pan you use, make sure to spray with cooking oil or spread some olive oil around so the eggs don't stick. You need more for stainless steel than for non-stick or cast iron. Then make sure to cook any meat thoroughly first, then the veggies, then add the eggs. The rest of the tips are below.



Ingredients:
6 large eggs
1/2 cup spinach
1 cup cooked asparagus
4 slices deli turkey
Cheddar cheese
Spices (Mrs. Dash & garlic salt) 

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400. Cook any meat you're using first (bacon, sausage, chorizo), remove it, and drain any fat. Then cook your veggies until slightly softened. You want them to still have a little crunch, as they will be cooked further.

Step 2: Add the meat or tofu and heat until warm. Season liberally here, as you will lose some flavor. I used a Mrs. Dash seasoning mix and generous amounts of garlic salt.

Step 3: Spread the contents of the pan into an even layer. You can sprinkle on a little cheese to let it melt here. Then beat the eggs in a separate bowl until fluffy and pour over the veggies and/or meat. Tilt the pan around so the eggs spread all the way to all edges. Let it cook just until it begins to set and is hard around the edges.

Step 4: Put the whole pan into the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. When you cut a hole in the center and no raw egg is left, pull it from the oven. Let cool 5-10 minutes, then cut into wedges like a pie and serve.

It turns out only gently browned but cooked through. The eggs are springy and light, and it is super filling without feeling heavy.

Frittatas have so many uses! If you've had a late day and are starving but don't want too complicated of a dinner that you can make fast, just throw whatever veggies into it, have a nice glass of wine with it, and there's a 20 minute dinner. If you're having friends or family over for brunch or lunch, add a light salad. If you want to make a nice weekend breakfast for yourself or your family, just make some toast. Frittatas are so versatile. 

Enjoy, and Happy Easter!

(Easter Sunday is the 20th, in case you didn't know. I had to look it up too, don't worry.)

How to Perfectly Hard-Boil an Egg; & 6 Ways to Dye Hard Boiled Eggs

Happy Easter!!!

I'm guessing not many people will be reading this blog the day of, since Easter is kinda a major holiday. That's why this is published a little early. There are many great things about Eater. Egg hunts, baskets of presents and candy, Cadbury eggs, chocolate bunnies, Easter Sunday brunch. If you're religious, that church part. Since a major part of Easter is coloring hard boiled eggs (or at least it always has been for me), it's important to know how to properly hard boil an egg. It's gross when you peel an egg to eat it only to find a grimy green ring around the yolk, or the yolk is still runny.

There are many theories on how to perfectly boil eggs. First rule though: DO NOT TRY TO MICROWAVE IT. Seriously. Even thought BuzzFeed claims there are 12 ways to do it right. (Most of those ways don't involve in-the-shell eggs, so that's cheating). If you just put a raw egg into water and stick it in the microwave, the steam will build up quickly. You will spend the next 2 minutes oblivious to the imminent explosion, then the next 10 minutes after that cleaning dripping raw egg and shell shards from your entire microwave. Not that I know from experience or anything...

How to perfectly boil eggs

1. Place 6-12 eggs in a pan which has a lid. Cover the eggs with cold water, add a little salt, and maybe a tsp of vinegar.
2. Bring the eggs to a boil on the stove. As soon as they start a rolling boil, remove them from the heat and cover.
3. Let them sit in the hot water for 10-15 minutes. Then drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.
4. To peel, bang the egg on a hard surface, or roll it in your hands to break the shell. Start at the larger end and pull off shell pieces, running under cold water if you need extra help to get the shell off.

This version from MarthaStewart is actually closest to how we do it at my house. (Should I be upset about that?). This article from SimplyRecipes is also a good detailed explanation. The green ring is caused by boiling water, so the best way is to have the eggs at a rolling boil as short a time as possible.

Fresh eggs are usually harder to peel, so if you have eggs you bought last week rather than this morning, use those. Adding a teaspoon of vinegar to the cooking water may make peeling easier too. This is also a good idea to add if you're boiling the eggs to dye them. 

Ways to Dye Easter Eggs

First of all, you will want to cover the surface where you are dying eggs with newspaper or cloth to prevent staining your family heirloom table. This can get messy. Then make sure you have plenty of eggs for each person dying, because this is fun and it's easy to get carried away! Just one more pretty egg, please....
 
1. Food coloring or Kool-Aid
You can use plain food coloring to dye cooked, cooled eggs, no need for expensive store-bought kits. Just add 20 drops or so to 1/2 cup water and 1 tbsp vinegar, then leave them in the water until they are the color you want. Or add one whole packet of KoolAid (NO SUGAR) to 1 tbsp vinegar and 1/2 cup water. Adding more vinegar or leaving it in the color longer will give more and more vibrant colors.
2. Decorations
There are a lot of ways to decorate your egg, just be sure you do so before you put them in the dye. You can add stickers, draw on them with a crayon (anywhere the wax is, there will be no color and it will stay white) or wrap with rubber bands to create stripes. Then place in bought dye kits or food coloring.
3. Layering
Starting with the lightest color, dye the egg. For example, yellow. Then, use wire, a spoon, or string to dip the egg into the next color only part of the way, leaving part of the egg unsubmerged. For example, blue. This will make the overlapping areas green. If you don't dip it all the way in the yellow, you can have a yellow-green-blue egg. You can do this multiple times to create many layers of color.
4. Sponge painting
If you intend to eat these eggs, make sure you are using food grade dye and paint. If these are just for show, go crazy with whatever. Using a small piece of sponge (kitchen or makeup kind) dip into paint, and dab across the dyed or non-dyed egg surface. You can use multiple colors to create works of art.
5. Swirled/Marbelized
Once you are SURE you don't need a dye color alone, add a tbsp vegetable oil. Where the oil sticks to the egg will dye lighter or not dye at all as compared to the color you add it to. But be sure, because once you add the oil you cannot remove it! This creates beautiful swirled eggs.
6. Cracked Dye
After you cool cooked eggs, break the shells just a bit on purpose by banging them on a hard surface once or twice. Then dye as usual. When peeled, the egg will have spidery dye patterns of color! Use food grade dye if you intend to eat them.

Once you're finished with the fun of dying eggs, put on a baking rack or back into the carton to dry and set.

Have fun decorating, hiding, and/or eating your eggs this Easter!

What's your favorite part of Easter?