Pot luck Favorite - Deviled Eggs

Memorial Day marks the official start of summer, which means picnics, potlucks, and shared lighter meals. I took one of my favorite dishes to a family dinner on Monday - Deviled Eggs. I like to take deviled eggs because they're fairly easy and quick to make, I usually have the ingredients on hand, and there's never any left to bring home!

Deviled eggs are a family favorite, I remember my mother making and taking Deviled Eggs to covered dish dinners. So I wondered, why are they called "Deviled", that doesn't describe my mother's style! As I discovered, the 'deviling' refers to the seasoning, to be considered 'deviled', a food has to have a kick from something like Dijon mustard, hot sauce, tabasco, cayenne pepper or chopped hot peppers.

Eggs are also a good choice for a nutritious dish to take. They are good sources of protein and low in calories. Even those watching their cholesterol can usually sneak in half a deviled egg. And children love them! If you want to lower calories, use a light mayonnaise/salad dressing.

Everyone has a favorite way of preparing the yolks to 'stuff' into the eggs, mine includes light mayonnaise, a bit of light Ranch dressing, Dijon mustard, pickle relish, sour cream, and salt and pepper. I sometimes add other things that are handy and sound good - fresh snipped chives, bacon crumbles. There are lots of recipes available, this is one preparation I don't use a recipe for, just scoop ingredients and stir together. I spoon filling into the whites shells, but some like to pipe it in. An easy way to pipe it is to put the filling into a freezer plastic bag and cut a small tip of a corner off. My kids used to do a 4-H demonstration called "Eggs with Legs" that showed this easy way to prepare a dish to take.

The hardest part is getting the eggs hard cooked to just the right degree. Here are the directions for a fool-proof way to hard cook eggs:
Prick a hole in the bottom of each egg with a pin (to release pressure during boiling), cover with cold water in a saucepan and place over high heat. As soon as the water boils, remove the pan from the heat and cover for 17 minutes. Place the eggs in a bowl of ice water for 2 minutes to stop the cooking. Then, bring the pan of water back to a boil and add the eggs for 10 seconds to expand the shells. Return the eggs to the ice water and roll then around to crack the shells.

note: Fresher eggs will be harder to peel. Choose the older ones in your refrigerator for hard cooking.
Remember to keep eggs, and deviled eggs, refrigerated. Pack on ice packs for traveling to the picnic.