Send the eggs home with the nieces and nephews?

I love egg salad, for the eggs you do end up with.

Deviled eggs. Either as an appetizer before, or part of Easter Dinner.

Salads - all kinds.

Added to a casserole!

Chopped up for a dog treat? Are hard boiled eggs okay for dogs?

Twelve dozen is A LOT. I'd ask each family member to take home as many as they want.

Oh boy, 12 dozen is a bunch. I think I've been to wedding receptions where 12 dozen eggs deviled fed the lot ;) So of course there are the typical - deviled, and egg salad sandwiches, chopped over salads. Quick look just now brings up this one that sounds good to me -

English muffin & egg 'pizza'

Ham salad for sandwiches, potato salad, macaroni salad, pea salad, and all of the above suggestions.

Sue

Wow...brings back memories of mom making creamed eggs over toast. Sometimes with diced ham in it! Haven't had that in many, many years......may just have to do that soon. Hubby doesn't like hard boiled eggs...more for ME!!!

You mentioned most family members won't eat them plain. I don't as an adult, but as a child I was encouraged to, and enjoyed them with a sprinkle of salt. If you have a couple kids who will eat them that way, maybe you can make it a "cool" thing? Use peer pressure for the good? ;)

I make Baked Scotch eggs for Christmas brunch. This is not my exact recipe but very close. Everyone in my house enjoys it. I prefer to bake than fry them, thus the recipe below. You can make them the night before, but bake the day of serving.

baked scotch eggs

Thanks for the great ideas! I guess I should have said that most family members REFUSE to take any home, so hubby and I will end up with about half of them. Over the past few years, about 1/4 to 1/3 got eaten over the weekend, then the rest got tossed out. What a waste! Unfortunately, the kids are finicky - as are their parents. Only my hubby and I eat "rerun" foods!

Over the weekend, we will devil some, and make "rainbow" egg salad too. The pea salad (I'd forgotten how good this is) sounds like a great idea for the crowd. I'm certain I will have left over ham so ham/egg salad and ham/egg casserole will be on the menu during the week.

I LOVE the baked Scotch egg idea! And also the "blown egg idea" too. Never thought of the egg pizza. Any eggs that get too old will be chopped up and frozen for the dogs. They love egg in their food!

Hate to sound like a scrooge but is really necessary to make 12 dozen hard boiled eggs?

Egg and spinach stuffed meatloaf.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Egg-and-Spinach-Stuffed-Meat-Loaf

Most years growing up, our Easter eggs were blessed, so we were never allowed to waste them. If any of us kids wanting to play another game of "epper", we had to be committed to eating the ruins!

Forgot to add- Sauce Gribiche.

Fran1523 - the reason for so many eggs is that each young niece/nephew gets 1 dozen eggs to decorate any way they want and then each batch is judged by an "astute" panel. Prizes are given for all sorts of categories -- lots of laughter ensues. It's quite the family tradition - each child gets some sort of prize. The family loves the game, but they don't like the leftover eggs!

Do you have friends/neighbors/co-workers who won't be doing hard boiled eggs this year? They might enjoy the 'donation'.

I don't see my grandchildren at Easter. If a neighbor brought me over some colored hard boiled eggs, I know it would make me smile.

Why not take them to the church for kids to hunt

Thereis a really good guacamole deviled egg recipe around. I have it at home. But I bet you could Google it.

I love all types of salads with them. Ham, chicken, tuna, pea, macaroni, you name it.

I like cut up eggs with some sliced tomatoes and parmasean cheese sprinkled over it with a drizzle of vinegar.

As adults, my kids hate creamed eggs on toast.......come to think of it, they hated it as children, too. Both DH and I liked it, so it was made. I still like it and if child should see me making it, they shudder!

Lots and Lots of egg salad or in salads. Here are some I found:

#1 Son-in-Law Eggs

A traditional Thai recipe for using boiled eggs is the delicious sounding Son-in-Law Eggs
I found at Rasa Malaysia. The eggs are boiled, then deep-fried and
covered with a spicy tamarind sauce and fresh herbs. I also saw more
Son-in-Law Eggs at Real Thai Recipes.

#2 Scotch Eggs

Scotch Eggs
are hard-cooked eggs wrapped in sausage, then rolled in bread crumbs
and deep-fried, and according to Wikipedia they are best eaten fresh. I
found delicious looking Scotch Eggs at the Scent of Green Bananas, and vegetarian Scotch Eggs at Ellie May's Blog. Despite the name, Scotch Eggs actually originated in London, not Scotland.

#3 Pickled Eggs

Variations of eggs pickled in vinegar and seasonings are found all over the world. I liked the sound of Pickled Beet Eggs at Bearly Edible, Pickled Red Beet Eggs at A Chicken in Every Granny Cart and Pickled Eggs from Cooking Up a Storm. If you're not into beets, there is a different type of Pickled Eggs at Lindsey's Luscious.

#4 Tea Eggs

A
traditional way to eat eggs in China is tea eggs. Some versions start
with raw eggs cooked in tea, but you can also make them with pre-boiled
eggs. I was intrigued by the Lazy Easy Tea Eggs from Just Bento, and I also found Tea Eggs with Star Anise at Cafe Lynnylu.

#5 Salted Eggs

One of the more unique ideas I came across was the Homemade Salted Eggs from Lily's Wai Sek Hong. The eggs are preserved in salt and wine for 20 days to make a type of Chinese snack.

#6 Egg Curries

In
many parts of the world, cooked eggs are added as an ingredient in
curries, or a curry may be made with eggs as the main ingredient.
Seasonal Ontario Food shares Old-Fashioned Canadian Egg Curry, Quick Indian Cooking offers Quick and Easy Egg Curry, Treat a Week Recipes cooks Lemongrass Egg Curry and the Perfect Pantry has Coconut Milk Egg Curry.

#7 Eggs in Meatloaf

In case you think eggs tucked into meatloaf is an American idea, the first recipe I saw for this was Jac's Meatloaf from The Food Pornographer in Australia, and the second was Filipino Style Meatloaf
from The Asian Grandmother's Cookbook! The idea has been around a while
though, and Writing at the Kitchen Table used an old cookbook to
inspire Retro Meatloaf with a Modern Twist.

#8 Boiled Eggs with Rice

Kedgeree may be the most famous dish that combines eggs and rice, and Wild Salmon Kedgeree from Taste Buddies looks delicious. Also very tasty looking is Egg Pilaf, an Indian dish with eggs and rice from One Hot Stove or Egg Curry Risotto from Coffee and Vanilla.

#9 Eggs as a Garnish for Soup

This was an idea that hadn't occurred to me until I saw the gorgeous photo of Asparagus, Potato, and Dill Soup
garnished with perfect slices of boiled egg from What Did You Eat
(pictured in the photo above.) One look and you can tell this soup
wouldn't be the same without the eggs. Equally delicious looking is the Nettle Soup with Eggs and Herbs from Nami Nami in Estonia.

#10 Hard-Boiled Eggs in Cookies

Finally,
possibly the most whimsical use of leftover hard-boiled eggs (and a
great way to get the kiddies to finish them off) is the delightfully
lemony Hard Cooked Egg Cookies from Baking Bites. Nic says no one would suspect that there are hard-cooked eggs in the cookies.

Here's a good article from the Food Network about Easter Eggs with a number of recipes at the bottom of the page.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/holidays-and-parties/articles/easter-eggs-101.html

Here's the guacamole deviled egg recipe I sprinkled red pepper flakes on top

http://everydaydishes.com/simple-food-recipes/guacamole-deviled-eggs/

Joann -- the Cookies sound like a great way to use them in a longer term use! I can freeze those cookies for use much later on. I also plan on pickling a dozen or so in pickled beet juice. I wonder how long they will keep?

With all these good ideas, I should be able to eat/preserve/use up the extra eggs in no time!

I love egg salad and will scoop it up with a Wheat Thin or Ritz cracker. Also like chopped hard boiled eggs in tuna (ham, chicken, shrimp) salad. And my family adores deviled eggs. My mom liked to add sliced hard boiled eggs to cooked spinach.

Good for dogs, too. I just chop one up in the pup's dinner every week or two.

When we were little, my mother let us have the Paas kits and make colored eggs...which were then cut up for the traditional chopped eggs and salt water at Seder.

I like sliced hard boiled egg sandwiches on crunchy toast, with mustard (mayonnaise optional), raw greens (spinach, arugula, or baby kale), and paper thin onion slivers.

You can also layer egg slices in any kind of layered casserole.

Here's an old KT thread about a recipe I posted for

Curried Egg Salad With Apples

How about donating them to a local food shelter or food kitchen? I know they would appreciate them.

This reminded me of a recipe I have had for many years, and somehow had forgotten about. I searched and found it in my documents/recipes folder. I'll definitely be using it again at Easter, and hopefully more often now that I've been reminded of it.

Petit Pois Salad

I pound frozen tiny peas, raw
1/3 cup chopped celery or water chestnuts
4 hard cooked eggs, chopped
3 dill pickles, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp prepared mustard
½ tsp hot sauce
Parmesan cheese, optional

Combine first 6 ingredients. Combine rest of ingredients and blend the two mixtures. Garnish with parsley. Cheese may be mixed with the peas. If so, use 3 Tbls. or sprinkle on each serving. Attractive served in a tomato shell.

I don't think the food banks will want them. They have been cooked by people they don't know and they don't know that the eggs have been properly handled or are even sanitary after how much they have been handled.

I don't like wasting food either. I know some people don't have a problem buying eggs, coloring them and throwing them away. The solution I came up with for my children was to aim for six colored eggs each. I actually used two dozen boiled eggs, but some always crack so I boiled a few extra. They had fun and could get creative, but theoretically we could eat that many eggs.

Not trying to change anyone's tradition. Just throwing it out there.

If they're for an egg hunt, buy the plastic ones and put money in certain colors. It adds to the fun.

I know the food banks and shelters around here can not take them. Thank goodness we don't use them for a hunt! No, they are just boiled, then decorated, then chilled in fridge until the "judging". With each kid getting a dozen, they can make "mistakes" that get eaten right away.

Ages range from 2-20, so the levels of decorating vary widely. The little kids just use PAAS packs. The older ones bring their own decorating items that include beads, waxes, crayons, markers, googley eyes, and felt. They dream up all sorts of things! My fave last year the "Grandpa Bob" likeness -- bald head, fringe of gray hair, and funny nose/eyes.

I'm glad you clarified that! I was cringing through the entire thread thinking about the eggs sitting out for days and people eating them. I won't. When people have them and give them to me I'll decline or if they insist, I'll throw them away. People blame mayo for causing illness at picnics in potato salad and egg salad when it's actually the potatoes and eggs that are making people sick.

But with you refrigerating them, you're much safer. For me, I'd still use the plastic ones or go ahead and toss them. They're not that expensive and not worth the risk to me

Set them outside for critters to snack on! Otherwise, if each family insists on each kid making a dozen eggs, the burden should be on them to dispose/use the eggs.

I love eggs as much as the next person, but that's a really unreasonable amount to expect one couple to consume.

With each kid getting a dozen, they can make "mistakes" that get eaten right away.

Just a thought: Couldn't it be just as much fun if each child had 6 eggs instead of 12?

Thanks for the good advice re donating to shelters. Never thought about them not knowing where/how they were handled. I was thinking about other "extras" that I donate (cookies, flour, sugar, etc.).

I don't have any idea for recycling into meals... but we had the best time ever with ours last year... after being unrefrigerated all day playing with them, they are inedible anyway, right?..... so we got the golf clubs out and smacked away at them. It was so much fun... The birds loved us the next day too.

From the Splendid Table: 31 things you can do with eggs:

31 things