My email has a quote in its signature.

It has been there for years, since we started farming really. I love to cook but sometimes it is a chore. There are nights when we each go our own way rather than the extra effort to sit down together. 
I feel strongly that if we do more cooking as a family and sit down together as a family it would be good for our families. The reality though, is very different, especially when everyone has commitments that draw them away from the table.
If I could give one piece of advice for young families it would be to find a way to sit down to eat together more often than not. It is something you will have to work at and prepare for. It may mean *gasp* the occasional fast food meal but at least you can get out of the car and sit down together. 

We have extolled the virtues of farm fresh eggs for years. If you haven't heard it before then here is a brief overview:
The eggs found in the "big box" stores come from factory farms and are often stored for some time before you get to them. Even the Organic brands, though of a mildly higher quality, have traveled some distance to get to the grocer's cooler. There ARE some exceptions and if you must buy your eggs at a megamart you might take a look at the Cornucopia Institutes score card for eggs. You can find it by going to their website: cornucopia.org

Take it from me (Mary) the taste, look, and texture of an egg from a pasture raised hen is worth the extra effort as well as the extra cost. You will find that pasture raised eggs have a brilliant colored yolk. It can vary from a bright yellow to an orange and even a rosy shade all depending on what they eat. You will become very picky when you start to compare the yolk color to those from the grocery store. 

Moving on though to today's revelation. I had posted something about how fresh eggs were not a good choice for deviled eggs and using week old eggs instead.  A customer replied  suggested I try steaming them.  I was surprised. I had never heard of steaming eggs to hard cook them. Always willing to try something new I thought I would give it a try today.

Now, usually, boiling fresh eggs (as in days old, fresh from the farm) means egg salad. Fresh eggs lack the extra air space inside the shell that lets you peel the eggs without destroying the perfect shape of the cooked white.   Seeing how we always have fresh eggs I was glad to give it a try. 

I started by searching the web for  "how to" instructions. It wasn't hard at all to find simple instructions. The first item in the search looked like a reliable source and I can now say it was. You can go to that link here: simplyrecipes.com.

I cooked 13 eggs via the steaming method using the instructions from simplyrecipes.com. The first egg I cracked made me question the method. The egg was an Americana egg, known for its pale blue to green color, and while the shell came off easily it did take a bit of the white with it. I think that was a fluke though as the rest peeled (nearly) perfectly. 

I don't know if steaming somehow changes the egg shell but the shell did appear to be less solid and fell away easily. I was very pleasantly surprised. Several of the eggs cracked when they went into the hot steamy pan so next I will bring the eggs to room temperature before placing them in the pan in hopes of avoiding the cracking. 

Our eggs are probably considered "large" and I cooked them about 12 minutes which is the same as what I would boil them for. They were the perfect color. Bright yellow yolk, no green (a sign of being over cooked) and the white was perfectly cooked. Yeah! Now I can make deviled eggs anytime!