A Killer Egg Dish for All Seasons

Every recipe box needs to a "go-to" egg dish. A strata, frittata or bake to get you through the holidays. We hosted Easter brunch for many this year and I was looking for something easy. Something that didn't require last minute work, but would be served hot and wouldn't be bad cold. I wanted something different so I scratched frittata off the list. It also couldn't include too much starch so a strata didn't fit the bill either.

A fast search brought me to this lovely dish. It was the perfect way to highlight the eggs from the yellow hen house and the chives from my garden. It saved the day - or at least a bit of my sanity.

 

The custard came together quickly in the Vitamix and I made it about an hour in advance. Once popped into a hot oven, it was on the table in about forty minutes. Gotta love an egg dish like that.

Special thanks to Doug for having the forethought to ask if I would be photographing before the masses hit the table. Gotta love a guy like that. 

Baked Egg Custard with Gruyère and Chives 

I've added a few of my own notes but it's modified in verbiage only
from Epicurious.com
 

6 oz. Gruyère, grated (1 1/2 c.) 1/2 c. chives, chopped 10 large eggs, pastured if possible 1 1/2 c. whole milk 4 oz. cream cheese, softened 1/4 t. grated nutmeg 1/2 t. salt 1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper Preheat oven to 350°F with the rack in middle. Butter a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Sprinkle Gruyère and chives evenly in the dish. Blend eggs, milk, cream cheese, and nutmeg in a blender with 1/2 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon salt until smooth. Pour egg mixture over Gruyère and chives in the dish. Bake until puffed, set, and golden, 35 to 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Break's Over

Who knew the butterfly bath would be pressed into service as a water cooler?

Quit your clucking ladies and get back to work....

Everyone Eats Their Veggies

A week or two ago, I decided I was done with the over-grown broccoli plants in the garden. The two modest heads and small bits made about a meal and a few crudite bites. I pulled the plants and piled the fat, woody stalks covered with squeaky leaves into the chicken run. They immediately fell upon them and did a bang up job of stripping off the leave. A day later, I pulled out the fat, woody and now leafless stalks and tossed them aside to deal with later.

June took it upon herself to deal with at least one of them for me. She carried it around and shook it. Threw it in the air and chewed on.

She loves her veggies.

What a good dog.

A Food Circle

The girls in the Yellow Hen House keep our fridge full of these....


So we always have lots and lots of these....


I save them until I have a bagful and bake them until they get really dry and brittle. (Doug has instructed me to tell you they stink while they bake.) Then I run them through the food processor until they are
nicely ground.


Then I can dump them right into the garden. It takes a lot of time for them to decompose whole in the compost pile. When you grind them up they are easy to incorporate, decompose a bit faster and dry, sharp edges are great to keep the cutworms at bay. I mix some in with the girls' flax seed snack, too.

How's that for a food circle?

Sophisticated Mama

Isn't it funny how as we age our tastes change? The fabric on the arm chair in the living room (I think I've mentioned it here before) that I loved when I had it made, now makes me twitch. Those shoes I thought were so cute that now live on the top shelf in the closet. Let's just let that one alone. Similarly, for years, softly cooked eggs made me shudder. Now, at the most random moments I crave them. The thought of Eggs Benedict makes me salivate. What's that about?

It's easy to attribute my adoration of the lovely runny egg to the virtues of my ladies and the gems they leave me everyday. But, I so vividly remember the first time I ate Eggs Benedict and distinctly remember feeling very sophisticated. Though it's many years, and a backyard flock later, I am convinced it's purely my heightened level of sophistication.

Okay, maybe not.

Anyway.....after the running of my third Shamrock Shuffle we were able to score a primo bar table at one of my favorite places on Michigan Avenue, The Gage.


A brunch and lunch menu - at one time. Good thing I had a bloody mary to help me through it. There were many, many delicious choices, including some of my old favorites, fries with curry dip, Scotch eggs and fried chicken livers. Doug chose a simple prime burger with bleu cheese sauce. It was fabulous. I ate....some...of it.


With all the lovely choices, my desire was clear immediately. Six words. Grits, Goat Cheese, Kale and Eggs.


At this point, I am at an utter failure for words. I know, hard to believe. Absolutely one of the most wonderful dishes I've ever eaten. Absolutely something I could make at home. Absolutely simple. Absolutely perfect. Absolutely worth every penny of $11.

Absolutely the choice of a romantic lady? Dunno.

Absolutely indicative of a sophisticated mama? For sure.

Kool and the Gang fan? Not so much.

Spring Cleaning

I've begun working toward getting the yard back in shape. After a few years of not giving it the attention it needed and a having a patio poured last year, it's really suffered. I really enjoy working in the yard and spending time getting my vegetable garden together.

The other bonus of this favorite pass time is getting to spending a bit more time with my girls. Nothing makes me happier than watching them in the yard. They each have special personalities and habits making for fabulous entertainment.

While checking out what needed to be done, I stumbled across this.


No, she's not dead. She's bathing.


While it's could be construed as voyeuristic I watched them and took a million pictures. It's hysterical to watch them flop around, shimmy-ing in the sand to get it up under their feathers. You'd never believe all dirt would come out but amazingly it does. Before too long they are pristine and refined ladies once again.

I wish I could figure out a way to get the dirt bath thing to work for Henry. Now there's a bonus.

Sunny Day Salad

Spring has been teasing us in the Chicago land area lately. The birds are chirping, the tulips are awakening from their winter slumber and the sun is shining. Sometimes the sun even shines enough to counter balance the frigid outdoor air.

The warmish days of spring bring to mind fresh greens. We patiently watch the little spinach and mesclun seeds I sowed in our cold frame a few weeks ago. I just bought some arugula seeds and I think I'll sprinkle a row or two with hopes they'll take off just as we've polished off the spinach.

Every girls loves a crisp peppery arugula salad, particularly when paired with a bit of sweet fruit.


Especially perfect on a sunny spring day.

Today Everyone Is Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Bottoms up!

Our Movie Star

Doesn't every girl want to be a movie star? A dressing room, make up artist and hair stylist of her own.


Jake says she looks fierce.


"Alright Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up."

Shall we call her Norma or Sasha?

Chicken and Egg

I just finished reading my new favorite cookbook, Chicken and Egg. It's really so much more than a cookbook though. Full of amazing recipes, it's a lovely memoir, too. Documented in a year of seasons, the author, Janice Cole shares the fun and foibles of a fledgling chicken mother while imparting spot on information for the would be chicken wrangler.


Her stories are charming and call to mind experiences of the last year. A completely uninterested, but later (very) proud husband. Discovering chickens have personalities. Learning chicken chasing is a most humiliating experience. A mother worries about her brood, feathered or not.

Why keep chickens? Beyond the fabulous eggs?

Read Chicken and Egg and you'll know.

Meant To Be A Farmer

Yesterday, in the way only a puppy can, Junie B. was tormenting Milly. She never really hurts her but sufficite it to say, when I rescued the poor thing she was pie-eyed and soggy. Since it was so cold, I thought I should dry her off and warm her up a bit before returning her to the yellow hen house. Isn't that what a real farmer would do?


She was exhausted by her ordeal. So I wrapped her in an old towel and held her like a baby. I really miss holding babies.


Once she started to warm up she perked up a bit.


We enjoyed a little light reading. It wasn't The Little Red Hen, but still of that sustainable genre. She began to feel better but her fluffy feathers were still a bit matt-y. Max, my right hand chicken wrangler, and I gave her a bit of a blow out with a cool hair drier on low.

Isn't that what a real farmer would do?

Okay, in my defense I was wearing a flannel shirt.

It had a cute, trendy cut in a funky plaid with pearl snaps. Does that still count?

News From The Yellow Hen House

Over break when Brenden, the kid we like to call our 4th son, was here hanging out, I sent him out to the coop to check for eggs.

When Doug asked if he found any, his response was, "Yeah, but is this one supposed to be green?"

FINALLY, my late blooming Milly, the Aracauna, has laid an egg.


And yes, Brenden, it's supposed to be green!

Egg Cookery

Since early August, our little flock has been providing us with 4 eggs a day. Needless to say, we've been eating a lot of eggs. Henry has especially embraced the addition of this ~ impossible to get closer to the source ~protein to his diet.


He has begun fixing his own breakfast everyday. Of course, egg cookery has been his focus and usually there is ham involved. He takes it very seriously and concentration is high. I have many, many pictures of the egg dishes he has created. For some reason the children feel compelled to photograph everything they cook. Hmmmm.

They say the true testament of a great chef is the ability to cook eggs beautifully. There are so many methods and so many ways for the cooking of them to go horribly wrong.

I think these are beautiful.

But the service is the best.

Time For Bed

A twist on through the screen door....

The girls have become very good at putting themselves to bed - with the exception of Little Lily.
She perches on the family room picture window to tell us it's time.


She likes to be tucked in.

A No Brainer

Which egg would you want to eat?


These lovely specimens laid by spoiled chickens served organic feed, local produce, hand fed organic oats and flax, all while wondering the idyllic yard of the yellow house?


Or this anemic one from a nationally well-known company with a fairly steep price tag?

Yeah......me, too.

A Yellow Hen House Update

The girls are growing and enjoying many hours in the yard.


Spoiled chickens eat lots of watermelon and overgrown pickles.


Charlie, Queen of Mischief and Ruler of the Roost...


...after a late night in the run...


...laid her first egg!

Thank you, Charlie!

A Boy and His Chicken

Henry likes to swing Martha.

I'm not sure how Martha feels about it.

The Making of a Hen House

When the chickens begin to roost on the garage door runners, it's time to finish their house

Ten years ago we bought the yellow house and were lucky to acquire this cute little play house, too. Built by a neighbor over 20 years ago now, we painted it yellow, hung window boxes and much fun was had by many little people. At some point, it was sadly abandon, I believe, due to the spiders that had moved in. For years, it has sat under a big maple waiting for its' next batch of kids. And then I got to thinking....


The playhouse was integral in our chickens acquisition since I knew it would be a perfect hen house. The first step was to create a foundation from some patio blocks no longer in use. This also gave us the opportunity to level it. It is very important to Doug that the house be level - perfectly level.


The next task was to insulate the walls and roof. Luckily, we had some insulation in garbage bags in the the rafters of the garage. I am not sure why Doug insisted we keep it but I was really that glad after many years of storage to find a use for it. One less chicken related expense. Bonus.



I am tremendously grateful that the playhouse building neighbor was willing to build a chicken run, too. Painting the run was a family activity on Mother's Day.


"I Have the Most Awesome Husband - Part II". Doug covered the run with hardware cloth - not an easy project and one that inflicted many injuries. This is just another part of the work Doug has done to support my endeavor. All this from a man who hates birds. Did I say he's the most awesome husband ever?


The inside was finished with plywood and everything was painted bright white. The windows lined with hardware cloth allow for great a breeze, a left over 2x4 became a removable roost and an old boot tray works perfectly to catch much of the mess and allow for easy upkeep.


We still have a few things to finish. A wall mounted self-feeder needs to be installed and a hole cut to allow access to the run directly from the house, the door and window "shutters" replaced, a few geraniums and new window boxes will finish it off......


Moving day was very exciting, perhaps more so for us than the girls. I am so relieved to have them in a proper house. Doug is just really happy to have them out of the garage.


Welcome home to the Yellow Hen House, Charlie, Rita, Lily, Milly and Martha!

Chickens in the Yard

It's been busy around the yellow house lately. Gardening, landscaping projects, coop building and my first bee swarm. As we try to finalize the yellow house hennery for the girls we've begun letting them roam the backyard with us.


The exercise and snacking are good for them. I can't wait until they have more freedom all the time. These pictures were taken on their first adventure into the great outdoors. They were a bit tentative, as were we. True Mother Hens.


It's so nice to have them out with us. It is peaceful to watch them and just knowing they are enjoying the yard makes me happy. They tend to stay together and near the fence line. This makes them easier to keep track of and I worry less about someone swooping in for a snack.


Apparently, there is lots of good stuff for snacking on the stone path. The most fun was feeding them worms we dug up from underneath the hostas. Once they figured out how tasty they were the chase was on to grab them from one another.


Charlie - Champion Worm Snagger, Bossy Flossy, Ruler of the Roost. Isn't she pretty?

See How They Grow....

We all lament how quickly our children grow. Where does the time go? Wasn't it just yesterday? Didn't I just buy those jeans? Let me just say, I am grateful my children don't grow like our chickens. I took these pictures a few days ago and already our chicks look completely different. The are looking more like chickens - big chickens - everyday.


Martha is a bit skittish and thoroughly loved by her little boy. I hope he doesn't try to feed her vegetable soup to make her talk. We found it didn't work for Murray.



Rita Red. It's been fascinating to watch the pecking order work out. While they are still at it I think she'll rule the roost.


My Milly. A bit bossy but continuing to be worried about her sisters and very willing to roost on an arm and settle in to oversee.


Little Lilly, always bringing up the rear. Definitely our little runt and in truly un-farmer-like fashion, we are so glad she is with us so we can coddle and care for her.



Charlie continues to be constantly looking for the action. She and Rita move toward a friendly hand in their brood box. She is a big one for sitting on the waterer and flying up to the edge of the box. Troublemaker or fun girl?

Things at the yellow house have been busy so blogging has been slow. Hopefully, we are on an upward swing full of lots of fun projects. We'll share the building of The Yellow House Hennery, planting our garden and making THE BEST pancakes in the world.

I can't wait to share!