A handful of ways you can enjoy hard-cooked eggs

Come Sunday, you're likely to be faced with a couple of cartons of colorful eggs. Along with the tie-dyed and neon-toned eggs that you and the kids colored for the Easter Bunny to hide (assuming you found them all) are the ones the relatives brought over in pretty spring baskets.

You'll put deviled eggs out for the Easter feast, but then what?

Don't slide the carton to the back of the fridge and forget about it. I've got a dozen ways to enjoy hard-cooked eggs.

First things first

Before you can make recipes that call for hard-cooked eggs, you have to cook some eggs.

That's hard-cooked, not hard-boiled. The trick is to cook the eggs until the white and yolk harden - and that doesn't mean boiling the eggs. The boiling water rattles the eggs and can break the shells.

Techniques for cooking eggs abound, but I find the method outlined by Cook's Illustrated to be foolproof.

Place 12 eggs in a large pot and cover with water about 1 inch above the eggs. Put over high heat and bring to a rolling boil. Just when the water rolls, cover the pot, remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon to a bowl filled with water and ice cubes.

Cooling the eggs halts the cooking process and prevents eggs from getting that green halo around the yolk. Of course, if you've cooked the eggs too long, the green halo will be unavoidable.

If you just want to dye eggs pretty colors for holiday decorations, then fresh eggs will do just fine, but if you want to peel them for recipe use, you want cartons that have been on the shelf a while. As eggs age, the air cell between the shell and the top of the egg gets larger, allowing you to get a grip on the shell for easier peeling. Experts recommend buying eggs a week to 10 days before you want to cook them.

If you want the yolks to be nice and centered, forget spinning them on the counter or shaking them like maracas. Tilting the carton on its side the day before cooking allows the yolks to settle into the centers.

Let me count the ways

Deviled eggs and egg salad are the most obvious ways to use up hard-cooked eggs, but even those dishes don't have to be the same old, same old.

In "Deviled Eggs," Debbie Moose outlines 50, yes 50, ways to dish up the classic.

To a basic base of six mashed yolks and 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons each of mayonnaise and sour cream, you could add 41/2 teaspoons dry cream of spinach soup and dip mix, 1 tablespoon of garlic and herb seasoning or 41/2 teaspoons of taco seasoning.

Egg salad can take on those same flavors, or lean toward the wild side with the addition of salsa (drain it first), bacon and horseradish or a horseradish-mustard blend, or sun-dried tomatoes and black olives.

Serve it on spinach or mixed greens, roll it up in a tortilla or stuff it into a whole wheat pita pocket.

You can always slice eggs to garnish a salad, but I never like getting a mouthful of dry yolk. I avoid that by finely chopping the eggs. You can boost the protein content by sprinkling the chopped eggs onto salad, into omelets or over waffles, or stir it into creamy dips.

If you have a favorite way to use up hard-cooked eggs, share it on the Daily Herald Food fans page on Facebook.com.