Eatable Alphabet: E is for Eggs

This is part of our Eatable Alphabet™ blog series developed in partnership with ChopChop Family. ChopChop Family collaborated with the American Academy of Pediatrics to create these amazing activity cards which get kids to engage with whole foods, one of the easiest ways to encourage healthy eating. ChopChop makes it fun, fun, fun and we LOVE what they do and hope you do, too!

An egg is a perfect meal in a shell! Eggs are delicious, inexpensive, and full of fantastic nutrients like protein and B vitamins. Plus, if you can cook an egg, you can make a meal. There are so many ways to prepare them! Try a few recipes, then make eggs part of your regular line-up of easy meals that your family can make. Another reason to love eggs? They offer a ton of opportunities for egg puns and egg jokes. Here are a few:

How did the hen get to work so fast? She used the eggs-press lane!
Where do eggs go for vacations? New-Yolk!
Where do you find information about eggs? In the Hen-cyclopedia!

Enjoy this post all about eggsquisite eggs and ways to get your kid excited about them! (And don’t miss the special offer at the bottom to get your very own Eatable Alphabet™ cards!)

3 Fast Facts About Eggs

You can determine what color a hen’s eggs will be by the color of her earlobe. Hens with white ears produce white eggs, hens with red ears produce brown eggs, and hens with bluish-green ears produce bluish-green eggs!
The average hen lays 300 to 325 eggs per year.
According to historians, humans have been eating eggs for about 6 million years, originally eating them raw from the nests of wild birds.

How to Choose, Store, and Wash Eggs

Select eggs with uncracked, clean shells. Open your carton of eggs in the grocery store to inspect them for breakage or cracks.
Refrigerate your eggs; they should stay fresh for about a month. Not sure if your eggs are still good? Place an egg in a full glass of water. If the egg lies flat on the bottom, it is fresh. If it stands up, it’s on its way to going bad (better eat it sooner rather than later!). And if your egg floats, toss it.
Most commercial eggs are pre-washed, so it's not necessary to wash them. Just take a crack at it (pun intended) and get cooking!

Oodles of Ideas For Eating Eggs

It’s been said that there are over 100 ways to cook an egg. Whether you like them boiled, scrambled, poached, baked, fried, shirred, coddled, you’ve got to admit that they’re an eggceptional food! Eggs aren’t only for breakfast–they make for a quick lunch and a protein-packed dinner, too. We love using eggs to make cookies, quiche, breakfast burritos, eggs-on-toast, and on top of salads. Yum! Here are 3 kid-approved ChopChop recipes:

Green Egg Bake – We like recipes where the oven does most of the work for you—and that’s true for this baked egg dish, an easy breakfast, lunch, or dinner that’s as good cold as it is hot.
Egg Quesadilla – This yummy breakfast dish is like a cross between a grilled cheese sandwich and a scrambled egg — and it’s packed with protein to energize you for your day.
Classic Egg Salad – If you’re a fan of egg salad, you’ll love this super-fresh version. And if you’re not? Maybe you’ll change your mind!

Find more recipes on Chop Chop!

Tips for Having Fun (and Learning!) with Eggs

Eggs are fragile, right? If you drop one, you’ll know for sure. But what if you squeeze one as hard as you can? Try it. Put an egg in the palm of your hand, wrap your fingers around it, and squeeze. Did it break? We didn’t think so! That’s because an egg is like a 3-D version of an arch, which is one of the strongest shapes in architecture. The curved form of the shell spreads the pressure evenly all over, rather than concentrating it at any one point where you’re pressing.
Dyeing eggs is an eggcellent activity–and it’s especially fun to make your own dye from fruits, vegetables, and spices! They don’t always come out the way you think: Cabbage, for example, looks purple but dyes the eggs pale blue. Experiment with other foods and spices: tea or coffee, paprika, grated beets, grape juice. Try painting on an egg with yellow mustard and then wiping it off. Try anything you think might work—and see if it does! Check out this guide.
Gear up for gardening by starting your seeds in eggshells!

Save your eggshells from breakfast and wash them inside and out with warm water (handle with care!).
Set the shells in an empty egg carton. Fill them with 2-3 tablespoons of potting mix.
Put 2 to 3 seeds in each shell. Lightly cover with more potting mix. Be sure to follow the planting instructions on your seed packet
Water each shell and set them in front of a warm, sunny window.
Once the seedlings sprout and have a few sets of leaves, transplant them into larger pots, or into an outdoor garden. Plant the whole thing! The eggshell will help fertilize the soil!

Do you have more ideas or recipes? Please share them in the comments below! And if you're interested in more Eatable Alphabet posts, click here.

About ChopChop Family
ChopChop Family, is the non-profit publisher of Eatable Alphabet Kitchen Activity Cards for Kids and the award-winning ChopChop: The Fun Cooking Magazine for Families. Their mission is to inspire and educate families to cook and eat real food together. ChopChop The Fun Cooking Magazine for Families is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and winner of the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for Publication of the Year. Visit their shop and use code HELLOBELLO15 for 15% off their Activity Cards, magazine subscription, and more!

About Eatable Alphabet

Developed in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, and with funding from the CDC, Eatable Alphabet™ teaches toddlers that cooking real food is fun.

The cards offer a portable, accessible way to: