Easter eggs 2.0

You’ve colored a couple of dozen eggs, hidden them around the house or outside, and then sent the kids out with their little baskets to find them.

Now what?

Sure, you might eat some for breakfast or as a snack after your Easter ham, but what about the rest of them?

“Definitely red beet eggs!” said Times News reader Jennifer Borger.

“We use our homemade red beets! Add sugar and vinegar to your tasting.”

Borger said her father used to get fancy when he made them, adding oil and onions.

“Sadly, he knew that stuff by heart. I’ve tried it but it won’t ever taste the same.”

We reached out to readers like Borger on social media and asked what they do with all those hard-boiled eggs.

One of the most popular responses was to make pickled eggs or red beet eggs.

“Red beet eggs!” said Courtney Weaver Tenisci. “Just your basic with sugar, vinegar and sliced red beets, but I double the vinegar.”

Kathy Knappenberger and Shane Strohl agree: Red beet eggs.

Although the ingredients are usually similar — beets, sliced onion, sugar and vinegar — red beet eggs usually have more sugar and less vinegar, while pickled eggs have less sugar and lots of vinegar.

Karin Smith tried something a little different last year.

“We pickled them. Dill and garlic, though, NOT the red Amish kind of refrigerator eggs. And they were delicious!”

Randy Bollinger also has a twist on a “pickled” egg.

“Slice them up, pour apple cider vinegar on them, salt and pepper ... good eats!”

Bollinger says just a coating of vinegar is enough. He also drinks the leftover “juice.”

“I guess it’s a PA Dutch thing. That’s the way we ate them from little on up and that’s the way I serve them to my kids.”

He says his mother and grandmother also make a ham spread.

“You take leftover Easter ham, hard-boiled eggs and pickles and put the ingredients through one of those old hand grinders that attach to the counter top. Then mix in mayo and mustard. It’s actually very good.”

Dian Grealis Stein says she also adds her eggs to the leftover ham and make a deviled ham spread.

Dale Klotz makes another version of a pickled egg: Mustard Eggs. The recipe was given to him years ago, and he’s been making them ever since.

“Egg hunts weren’t a big thing when I was growing up,” said Judi Rae Kesner. “We always got a few colored eggs in our basket and then my mom would pickle them with beets for herself because we didn’t like hard-boiled eggs.”

Like your eggs on the spicy side?

“While at this year’s PA Farm Show, a PA egg producer was giving free samples of hard-boiled eggs that were marinated in Frank’s Hot Sauce,” says Caroline McMahon.

Egg salad can be simple or decadent

Mary Ellen Hawk is a fan of pickled eggs, but also enjoys egg salad, as did plenty of others who responded.

Lucinda Anthony has a decadent recipe for egg salad that includes bacon and cream cheese.

Vona Shaffer chops up some eggs and stirs in a little mayonnaise, mustard, dill relish, and if she’s in the mood, some chopped onion.

Devil is in the details

Deviled eggs are also very popular.

Tyra Hattersley makes hers with some dry mustard, salt and pepper, while Shaffer uses the same ingredients she uses in her egg salad.

Mandie Martin makes hers with mayonnaise, mustard and sweet relish, then she dusts them with a sprinkle of paprika.

“Deviled eggs for sure!” said Brian Walters. “My favorite!”

“We make deviled eggs,” said Sarah Streby. “Our family gobbles them up!”

Sarah Streby approaches her deviled eggs very differently. For starters, she calls them “Heavenly Goodness Eggs.” She even makes her own mayonnaise.

“It seriously only takes a few minutes (less than 5) to make and it keeps for at least 10 days,” she says.

Streby also bakes her eggs rather than boiling them. She puts each egg in the well of a cupcake tin, then bakes them for 30 minutes in a 325 F oven. Afterward, she puts them in ice water to cool.

“I can make a lot more that way.”

International favorites

Elizabeth Snyder-Graziano, Cyndee Martin and Soraya Gimenez like to make Scotch eggs.

“They’re not difficult to make,” said Gimenez, “except with ground turkey.It’s too soft to keep its shape even when using egg as binder.”

Scotch eggs are simply a hard-boiled egg encased in ground meat and deep fried.

Martin also makes an Italian roulade, also called “bracciole,” which is a rolled-up flank steak which often includes hard-boiled eggs and a mixture of seasonings in the center.

Other suggestions included adding hard-boiled eggs to salads.

“Great on salads!” said Elizabeth Finger.

Jamie Mathews Heustess adds eggs to tuna salad.

“When I was a kid, we didn’t have an egg hunt, but the ‘Easter bunny’ left the eggs we colored in our baskets, which were hidden in the house,” said Lorina Cruikshank Fauber. “We had hard-boiled eggs for breakfast for a week. Sometimes my folks would slice them and add them to tuna salad, too.”

“My kids just eat them as hard-boiled,” said Kristen Humphry Johnson. “They take them in lunches, they eat them for snacks.”

“My son loves hard-boiled eggs. He’ll happily eat five a day, but throws away the yolks,” said Deirdre Popp.

Mike Kulp said he just peels them and eats them with some salt and pepper.

“Or slice them and make sandwiches with mayo and American cheese,” he said.

“My mom has weird issues with eggs so we only got hard-boiled eggs one day a year — Easter,” said Sara Skokan. “My dad would smash the egg with a fork in a bowl and mix in butter, salt and pepper. It was such a treat, I think only dad and I ate it. I don’t remember my brother trying it.”

Desiree Palazzo Kelly said she doesn’t have to worry about leftover Easter eggs.

“We’re a 21 Day Fix house, they don’t last long.”

And for Rhonnie Brinsdon, all those eggs don’t pose a problem at all.

“We only have chocolate eggs so no recipe required,” said Brinsdon.

Recipes

Lucinda Anthony’s Egg Salad

8 hard-boiled eggs, chopped fine

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 tablespoons mayonnaise (but usually more)

3 tablespoons relish

Salt and pepper to taste

Onion flakes, if desired, to taste

2 packets of Splenda, or 1 teaspoon of sugar (or to taste)

6 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

Combine ingredients well. Add more mayonnaise if needed. (Using Splenda makes the recipe low-carb.)

Sarah Streby’s Heavenly Goodness Eggs

Paleo Mayonnaise Recipe

1 egg

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon stone ground mustard

1 cup grapeseed oil (you can use olive oil, or any other kind of oil you are comfortable with)

Put first five ingredients into a food processor or blender and mix for 30 seconds. Slowly add in the oil.

Deviled Eggs

12 hard-boiled eggs

Mayonnaise

1 tablespoon stone ground mustard

1 tablespoon for white vinegar

Salt

Pepper

Paprika

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Cut eggs in half (long way) and use a spoon to remove yolk, set into a medium bowl.

Mix, using a fork, egg yolks with vinegar, mustard, bacon, salt and pepper to taste, and enough mayonnaise until consistency is correct. It should be smooth but not too stiff or too runny.

Once smooth, spoon into egg halves. If you want, you can put mixture into a baggie and snip the corner and push the mixture into the eggs.

Sprinkle with paprika.

Dale Klotz’s Mustard Eggs

2 cups white vinegar

2 tablespoons mild mustard

½ cup water

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon each of salt, celery seed, mustard seed

6 whole cloves

2 sweet onions, sliced

Slowly blend vinegar into mustard. Add water, sugar, 1 salt, celery seed, mustard seed and cloves.

Simmer 10 minutes. Cool and pour over 12 shelled hard-cooked eggs. Add onions.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.