The other day my daughter and I were chatting about meal possibilities for an upcoming brunch that we're hosting. I suggested omelets. "Mom! Omelets are a dinner food. Sunny siders, frittata, poached and soft boiled eggs are for breakfast or brunch. Hard boiled eggs and egg salad are for lunch." Ahem.

We eat a lot of eggs in my house. It's one of the few things that all five of us regularly enjoy. There's joy in eggs. They're the glue that holds so many recipes together (like cookies, meatballs and muffins) and they are fabulous by themselves. Eggs can also be an inexpensive way to feed a family. I thought I'd push the envelope on my daughter's thinking with these Egg Eyes - I'd eat them with any meal. We've enjoyed various mini frittatas made similarly (affectionately called Egg Nibbles chez moi) but never the straight up baked egg. Not sure how that's possible, but it's the truth.

Success! The Egg Eyes have been proclaimed "adorable!" I used a small muffin tin, which doesn't hold an entire egg so six eggs made twelve egg eyes (six were whites only). My awesome babysitter took one look at the baked eggs in the tin and assembled them on the plate like this (hence the name):

Egg Eyes

6 large eggs
Vegetable oil or cooking spray for oiling the muffin tin
Mini muffin tin

Method
Preheat the oven to 350. Bake the Egg Eyes for approximately 9-10 minutes. If you like the yolk slightly more runny or slightly more well done, adjust the time as needed.

*Note: you can use a regular muffin tin for this too. One large egg makes one Egg Eye in this size.

Egg Salad

My mother makes the best egg salad ever. Consistently. Other egg salads seem like mayonnaise and salt concoctions with a touch of egg. My mom's is all about the eggs with a touch of mayonnaise. In my own home, I follow my mom's recipe but add fresh dill. We all love it. My kids love to eat this on seaweed rice crackers for lunch. Me too!

Egg Salad with Dill

Ingredients:
6 large eggs
Slightly less than 1/4 cup of mayo
1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt to taste)
2 tablespoons of fresh dill

Method
Place the eggs in boiling water and take them off the heat after 10 minutes. Rinse with cold water. Peel the eggs once they have cooled. Grate or chop the eggs (I prefer to use a boxed grater). Add the mayo, salt and dill and mix thoroughly but gently to avoid mushing the eggs.

Check out other New Years Resolution foods for kids right here.