a new way to egg

When you're finally getting 3 or 4 eggs everyday, you start to wonder if there are other ways to prepare them than boiled, fried, saladed, etc. For dinner tonight I flipped through How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman and found a recipe for Shirred Eggs. When making shirred eggs, you bake the eggs either in a ramekin or on a bed (nest) of something like spinach, onions, mushrooms. This method makes for a luxuriously creamy texture something akin to having the entire egg over medium consistency. I prepared our shirred eggs on a bed of sautéed onion and spinach (a slight variation from the Bittman recipe, as I had spinach that needed to be eaten). These were a cinch to make, very hearty and can easily be made to feed 2 or 20.

Shirred Eggs with Onions and Cheese

Makes 4 to 8 servings

Time: about 1 hour

• 4 tablespoons of butter or olive oil (I used 2 tablespoons of an olive oil/butter mix)
  
• 4 cups sliced onions
  
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs (I used a little extra)
  
• 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
• 8 eggs (I used 9, because they fit nicely...I'll let you know how the leftovers are)
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Place the butter or oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Two minutes later, add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are very soft and tender but not browned, about 15 minutes. (I added the spinach for the last 5 minutes of cooking.) Spread the onions over the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking pan, or other similar-sized baking dish.
3. Top with half of the bread crumbs and half of the cheese. Use the back of a spoon to make 8 little nests in the mixture and crack 1 egg into each. Top with salt, pepper, and the remaining bread crumbs and cheese.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the eggs are just set and the whites solidified. Serve with toast.

Here we are right out of the oven

A generous meal of 2 eggs and a mess of onions smothering a piece of sprouted grain toast.

Things that happened last Sunday

Our friends, the Flynns, loaned me their egg basket! It's the perfect size to collect eggs from our chickens. Thanks Flynns!

Later we had dinner with our friends, the Ritters and Dornays. Yes, the men cooked in very fetching aprons.

very fetching aprons

unknown talents were revealed

about half a second later one of those apples bounced and rolled over to my feet

I think she's trying to be nice to him...but it looks like she's poking his eye. :)

I couldn't resist adding this one

You can get a lot done in 4 hours

Since it's been so long between posts, I figured I owed my loyal readers (and by that I mean my mom...hi mom) an update and a goodly amount of pictures.

In the time since receiving our first few eggs, we have continued to get about 1 egg per day. Not exactly the egg-production that I was hoping for, but I don't think all of our chickens are pulling their weight yet. With this meager production schedule there has developed a little difference of opinion in our house. E believes that as soon as we have enough eggs to make a meal, we should enjoy said meal. I am more of the mind that we would be better served to store-up the eggs for a few days in order to develop a little inventory. Once we have a dozen, go ahead and eat a few, it means there'll be some for baking as well. We haven't been seeing eye-to-eye on this one.

In addition to the egg-eating/saving debate there was also disagreement (or discussion...tomato, tomahto) about running a light out to the coop. You see, chicken's systems are very in tune with their environment. When there is less light, it signals winter, thus the chickens go a bit dormant and egg-laying can drop significantly or even stop until the sun returns. You can, however, trick their bodies if you provide artificial light. I think it sounded like more work that E really wanted, so he was opposed to the idea.

It occured to me that our two disagreements were quite connected. You see, if E would compromise and run the light out to the coop, thus ensuring more eggs, I would compromise in my current hoarding of said eggs. So a deal was struck! For $14.00 we purchased an outlet timer with 2 on/off settings and a lightbulb socket with a plug. Now an energy-saving bulb is providing light to the chickens from 4:00 AM until 8:00 AM and again from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM. We will, of course, adjust the timing once we start adding daylight back into the schedule...whenever that happens again.

We had beautiful weather this weekend and definitely took advantage by getting a lot done outside. We accomplished all of this between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PMIn addition to the coop-lighting we also primed the outside of the coop (and plan to paint it next week), did the monthly coop cleaning (this is more in depth than the weekly cleaning), put trim around the coop window, replaced the little barrier that keeps the shavings in the hen box, organized the shed and put all of the feed, shavings and scratch in bins, and raked up all of the leaves in the back yard. Oh, and E replaced a light fixture above our kitchen sink...but there are no photos of that. Below are some photos to document the work. Enjoy! :)

Phoebe systematically destroying my leaf piles

This really is what they do 95% of the time...scratch, peck, swallow, repeat until bedtime

I'm pretty sure these two are up to something

Nice pose from Chick (I think, could be Phoebe)

Lady Catherine's tail makes a nice contrasting backdrop for this picture of Chick

All of the ladies getting in on the leaf-scattering action

Mrs. Dashwood

Here's something you may not know, chickens LOVE to take dust baths. I understand some hamsters and chinchillas do as well. Anyway, I like to call this next series "Foul Spa."

Here are Phoebe and Lady Catherine, they roll around and flip the dirt up on their backs, very bizzare

Lady Catherine getting down and dirty

Both Phoebe and Lady Catherine spent considerable time "bathing"

The fact that Phoebe's head can be at that angle (look for the red crop under her body) is crazy, Lady Catherine and Mrs. Dashwood seem to agree as they look on

Here is a view with the egg door open, the lower opening is where we collect the eggs

Closeup of the nest box

Here's the view from the opposite side with the cleaning door open

Here is E putting some trim around the window. Such a good husband!

We primed the outside in preparation to paint it next weekend. This should help with the swelling that occurs during the wet weather

the end result of cleaning out the coop...future composted fertilizer :)

I can't help but think it looks like a nightclub...can't you hear the techno beat?

an inside view into the private nightclub

Egg, it's what's for dinner

This should have been posted on 11/02/08, just to set the record straight. :)

Since we were so excited to receive our very 2nd egg, we decided to cook it up right away. I fried it in a little EVOO and served it on a nice piece of crusty bread. Mmmm, it was worth the wait!

In the pan

Ready to eat

Eureka!

Why so long in between posts? Well, a large measure of busy, a few tablespoons of lazy and a sprinkling of depressingly little news. But...you won't believe this...I barely believe this...a chicken, one lovely chicken amongst 3 lazy others has laid her first egg! There was a black feather in the egg box, so I'm guessing that it was Mrs. Dashwood but we may never know for sure. Finally! Congratulations Mrs. Dashwood!

As you can see, it's an itty-bitty egg...but it's a start.

Unfortunately, I didn't heed the advice of many of the blogs that I read and therefore didn't staple something soft underneath the hay in the egg box. So, this first egg ended up as damaged goods and will not be consumed. :( Better luck next time.

So pretty.

my kingdom for an egg

Okay, the chicks are no longer chicks...they are definitely chickens at this point. But, not an egg has been seen outside of the kitchen.

Lady Catherine and Mrs. Dashwood will be around 18 weeks this Sunday and Phoebe and Chick will be 15 weeks on Tuesday. If we aren't at the laying stage yet, we've got to be pretty close.

Starting next week they will begin their "big girl" food. Up until now they've been eating "starter grower" feed, but next week we'll start them on "layer pellets." Layer feed has all of the nutrients that they'll need to lay yummy eggs.

Looking forward to a future fritata...or quiche...or custard...

Phoebe...No, Chick...No, Phoebe?

We are starting to have a little bit of a problem. Phoebe and Chick look remarkably similar. At this point Chick is a little smaller than Phoebe and that's about it. What happens when they're both full grown?

Phoebe is on the left and Chick is on the right

Same here, Phoebe on the left and Chick on the right. Hmm, maybe we can just train them to always stand that way. That would solve the problem.

From peeps to clucks

During the week we don't get to see too much of the chicks. Just a peek in the morning to let them out and peek at night to lock them back in, the yucky weather doesn't help the situation either. So, when the weekend arrives, we are basically getting a look at 1 week of development from the previous week. This weekend I went out to let the ladies out and was very surprised to hear, not the usual "peeps" that we've been hearing for the last 3 months, but instead little "cluck-clucks." Mrs. Dashwood and Lady Catherine are looking more and more like they are fully grown...and now they are sounding like it too!

Mrs. Dashwood and Lady Catherine, big chickens with fluffy feet.

Ten paces, then turn and fire.

Phoebe and Lady Catherine

This is chick (haven't come up with a name more in keeping with her sisters).

Here's Chick, looking at the camera. I never really thought about the fact that chickens can't see in front of them really well. So, they have to turn their heads to look at something.

Pretty little maids all in a row.

The ends.

And Chick makes 4

We have a new addition to our little flock. A friend of mine was trying her hand at chicken-keeping this summer as well...in fact, her boyfriend picked up Phoebe for me when he got her 2 chicks (Chick and Egg). Unfortunately, Egg turned out to be a rooster. Bad news when you're living in a residential area...and you want eggs...not more chicks. So, after a lot of trying to figure out what to do with Egg (including posting a Craigslist ad and planning a possible drive-by chicken drop at the Country Village in Bothell), she was able to find someone to take Egg. Since chickens are social animals, Chick has come to live with our 3 girls.

The introduction has not been without some turmoil. Since Mrs. Dashwood, Lady Catherine and Phoebe had established a "pecking order" (yes folks, this is where we get the term) adding another contender threw everything up in the air. After a few hours together, it was clear we were going to have to put some separation between them so that they could get used to the idea. Phoebe was the worst offender, pecking at poor Chick and running and jumping on her. Chick had some battle wounds, so we partitioned the coop for her with her own food and water for a couple of days. When they are out in the yard, they seem to do better. Chick is able to run away if need be. They're still not as integrated as they will be eventually, but the war seems to have ceased.

The only problem we're dealing with now is that Phoebe and Chick look very similar...Chick is smaller, for now. We might have to give one of them a little bracelette or something. :)

Welcome to the family, Chick!

Mel the chicken-sitter

Mel, the world's best dog, is also a fantastic chicken-sitter. We have no worries leaving the chickens out in the yard when Mel is patrolling the fence line. He keeps the cats and crows away from the chickens and their food. His mere canine presence does the trick. He's got his summertime outdoor routine that he sticks to religiously. Ten to 20 minutes in the sun followed by 10 - 20 minutes in the shade, repeat as necessary.

It's a dogs life. Mel had his yearly checkup at the vet this weekend. In addition to several vaccines, he had his senior blood panel done. The blood panel shows that everything looks good, so this 12-year old dog will, hopefully, have many more years with us. :)

My very second blog post ever.

Saturday morning started bright and early with DH resuming work on the coop. You've never seen a motivated man until he's trying to get chickens out of his garage. The majority of the coop framing had been built last weekend, but there was a good deal left to do. DH did an awesome job with internet-purchased plans that were a little lacking in detail. It was definitely a learning experience for him.

DH and his tools

The old home - what started as a roomy home for the chicks rapidly became cramped quarters

The new home - this should provide them with plenty of room, it's designed to hold 5 chickens, so 3 should have quite a bit of wing room

The ladies running around the yard - they have been getting a bit more comfortable roaming around, nibbling weeds and catching bugs

The new coop in it's permanent location, behind St. Francis

DH finishing the roofing - the "sleeping area" is on the right side, you can see the egg door (in the not-too-distant future our little ladies will be providing us with very yummy eggs), on the left is the main access door to the coop

Melvin, world's best dog...though he's been going through some selective hearing lately

Here's our St. Francis statue and just to the right is where Charcoal is buried. Charcoal was my little kitty buddy for 20 years, we lost her about a month ago after a tragic run-in with the neighbor's dog.

This is our Mary statue in the front yard, when we get the rest of the yard under control, I'll plant some nice flowers around her