Some Yummy Ideas

Baba Ganoush!  An Arab dish made from baked eggplant with various seasonings.  Eggplant has a smokey flavor.  I added lemon juice, tahini (sesame seed butter), garlic, olive oil, parsley, and salt.  You can spread it on pita bread, or as I did, toasted tortillas. 

 Fresh garlic corn tortillas with hard boiled eggs, cheddar cheese and spinach.  Toast the tortillas in olive oil.  Flip them and use a garlic press to add 1 clove of garlic to tortilla.  Melt cheese over the top and add baby spinach.  Serve with quartered hard boiled eggs.  The fresh garlic will give the tortillas a spicy taste. 

Velvet Scrambled Eggs with Sheep Feta on Sprouted Bread

OK, so I eat way too many eggs.  We have 20+ hens and a lot of eggs.  We sell some eggs, feed our dogs some, give some away, sell some, and eat lots.  Some of my favorite things to do with our fresh eggs are: soft boiled, scrambled, and in quiche.  What I want to share with you today is my *favorite* scramble recipe.  It is easy to do,  but it requires that you stir the eggs constantly for about 5 minutes.  You have most likely never had eggs this delicious.  I grew up eating dry tasting scrambled eggs and hard fried eggs.  I can't stand over cooked eggs now.  Yuck!  So here is a recipe for moist scrambled eggs.  Yum!

Velvet Scrambled Eggs with Sheep Feta Served on Sprouted Bread
 serves 2 adults and two kids

6 eggs, mix thoroughly
feta to taste
olive oil
cast iron pan, preferably (heats more uniformly and retains heat well)

Preheat a cast iron pan to (on my oven it's between medium and medium-low) just below medium.  Pour 1-2 TBS of olive oil in pan, enough to cover the surface.  Once you have thoroughly scrambled the eggs in a dish add them to the preheated pan.  Make sure to have your wooden spoon in hand to stir the eggs.  Once you have added the mixed eggs to pan, stir them constantly, making sure to get to every part of the pan.  When I make these scrambled eggs I stir without stopping until they are done, that way no part of the scrambled eggs gets overcooked.

The idea is to cook the eggs slowly but consistently so that they do not harden into larger size balls.   If you do it right you will have no egg "balls" just a soft, but thoroughly cooked mush.   Remember to stir until the eggs have lost all their water or moisture.  They will still be soft and mushy, just not "watery".  In other words they will taste cooked, but not rubbery or hard in any way.

Add crumbled feta to cooked eggs, as much or as little as you desire.  The eggs will be good served on top of bread (we love using sprouted Sesame "Ezekiel" bread, but you can use any bread.  Here is another picture so you can see the consistency of the eggs.  It may take a few tries to get them just right.

Soft Eggs, pictured with sheep feta on buttered Ezekiel Sesame bread. 

Chickens with teeth and little bit about Omelets: Basil-Feta and Cherry Tomato Omelet with Fresh Spinach

I found out this interesting bit of information about chickens from Wikipedia:

In 2006, scientists researching the ancestry of birds "turned on" a chicken recessive gene, talpid2, and found that the embryo jaws initiated formation of teeth, like those found in ancient bird fossils. John Fallon, the overseer of the project, stated that chickens have "...retained the ability to make teeth, under certain conditions..."

Whoa! Now that is cool! Dinosaur chicken anyone? Checkout the entire article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken
Also a picture of of toothy chicken at: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060220/chicken_ani_zoom0.html
And more: http://www.livescience.com/animals/060222_chicken_teeth.html
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mutant-chicken-grows-alli

Now for the piece on omelets:
Chickens are laying lots of eggs this time of the year. As the days get longer chickens lay more eggs. I imagine it has something to do with this being a good time to raise chicks. So now is the time to enjoy farm fresh eggs in omelets, quiches, souffles, and more! Checkout this cool website for information about eggs and lots of yummy recipes:
http://www.incredibleegg.org/recipes-and-more

I recently made myself a yummy Basil-Feta and Cherry Tomato Omelet with Fresh Spinach (see pic). Whidbey Island is a great place to find farm fresh eggs: in coolers for sale on the roadsides (I know of at least one on Saratoga Road and Amble Road, Langley), at the farmer's markets, and at produce stands (checkout Bur Oak Acres).

Broccoli Scramble

Ahh, morning of April 14th. Tax day calls for a special scramble. An egg scramble with feta or sharp jack cheese grated on top. A little treat for a busy day.
For a family of 3:

6 eggs
1 head broccoli
1/4 cup grated sharp jack or crumbled sheep feta
salt and pepper to taste

Stir fry the broccoli (chopped small) until almost done to your liking then add scrambled eggs, cover and stir in a couple of minutes. I like my eggs soft and moist so I stir often. When done cooking eggs, sprinkle cheese on top and serve. Oh, and get to work on those tax forms!