Keeping chickens for eggs and meat has become quite a movement, especially in the last year. For us the reasons are many, to raise our own chickens. As Lacy recently blogged about, the eggs are so much better for you than store bought eggs. We like knowing what goes into the foods we eat. Our chickens are dual purpose birds. They give us beautiful brown eggs and home grown meat for on the table.

If you are just starting out with chickens, you will eventually find yourself asking this question one day when you look in the fridge. “What on earth am I going to do with all those eggs?” I’m going to give you some EGGcellent ideas on what to do with some of them!

First, you should never overlook the obvious choice. Tomorrow morning, instead of going for that box of cereal, make your family a wonderful cooked breakfast with eggs. I like to make a big batch of them scrambled. Break your eggs into a container. Add any seasoning that you might want like salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, red pepper, whatever you prefer. Beat them up with a fork and cook in a skillet, (I use no-stick for easy clean up) over medium heat. When the eggs are done, sprinkle with your favorite cheese and let set a few minutes to melt. YUM!

Another wonderful way to use up a few eggs is to make a quiche. GRIT has a great recipe for one in the current issue that I highly recommend!

If I want to use up a few dozen eggs at a time, I turn them into little devils! My family loves deviled eggs! They are very easy to make, and you can be so creative with them. First, you have to hard-boil your eggs. I recommend cooking plenty because they will disappear quickly! When they are done, peel and rinse. Now you simply take a sharp knife and cut the hard-boiled eggs in half and pop out the yoke into a bowl. Set the whites aside to refill later. I just use a spoon to smash the yolks, and then the fun part begins. You can add almost anything you can think of to the mix here. I start with mayo and mustard. I just spoon some into the egg yolk and stir. If it seems a little dry, I just add some more. I don’t use exact measurements. Then I start adding the “good stuff.” Add whatever seasoning you like and want to try. There are no rules. You can also add bacon, or chunks of ham, onion, green pepper … you name it. The last batch I made, I used bacon onion seasoning mix, dill, and some horseradish sauce. My husband approved of this mixture when he tested! When you are finished with your own special concoction, just spoon the filling back into the egg whites. Use them on top of a salad, or just serve them on a tray.

When I peel my hard-boiled eggs, I always have some that don’t look so pretty when I’m finished. Those eggs get chopped up and put into a separate bowl. They then get turned into another great way to use up eggs, egg salad. Like the deviled egg filling, you can be very creative with egg salad. To my chopped eggs I add once again, mayo and mustard. Then I like to add onion, and whatever other seasoning I’m in the mood for. I like to add ground red pepper for a little kick. Taste test as you go and adjust accordingly. Spread on some bread, add some lettuce, and voila, a yummy sandwich!

If you have a favorite egg recipe that you use all the time, please feel free to share. I’m always on the lookout for ways to use those eggs!

As we worked to teach our foster children simple living skills and boost their level of awareness, we found ourselves stumbling upon frightening tidbits of information that sent us first shivering, weeping, and thumb-sucking in the corners but then angrily protesting like marchers in a PETA parade (except we are clothed and omnivorous).

The following video contains disturbing footage and facts.  It may not be suitable for all audiences.  Please keep that in mind before watching.

Modern egg production practices seemed very Brave New World to me ... only less humane. At least in Brave New World the lower castes were periodically hosed with soma-gas to get high and thus forget how horrible their lives really were. No such luck for the factory-farmed egg laying hens.

But how do we keep from supporting these industries?  Labels?

Labels are so comforting, you know?  I feel instantly validated when I’m pushing a cart full of products plastered with labels declaring my support of free-range and organic animal products.  Labels are my friend, and I am guilty of trusting them.  Oh, and I should feel guilty because behind those labels lies a sad truth.

The only way to ensure that you are not actively supporting horrifying industrialized farming is to look for a local supplier.  Search for “pasture-raised” chicken eggs.  If you find eggs sold locally, ask to see the chickens and facility – they should welcome you with open arms.  Here’s the scoop:

• Cage free. No legal meaning, but some egg farmers think the term is less misleading than “free range” (see below), which suggests happy hens pecking for grubs in the barnyard. If the barnyard is in Minnesota and it’s January, that ain’t gonna happen.
• Free range, free roaming. Here’s the U.S. Department of Agriculture definition of these terms in its entirety: “Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.” In other words, there has to be a door, and it has to be open at least part of the time. The chickens don’t necessarily have to take advantage, and they often don’t. UK researchers studying commercial poultry farms say only 15 percent of chickens who have the opportunity ever leave the henhouse. The secret, they say, is to plant shade trees in the barnyard, under which the chickens can shelter. (Supposedly this reminds them of their ancestral forests. Whatever.) Others say, let’s not make this too complicated–if you want the chickens to go outside the henhouse, put their food outside the henhouse. Not that “outside” is necessarily any Garden of Eden. In January 2003, Consumer Reports noted, “When we visited one free-range chicken farm a few years ago, we found a penned, 10-by-30-foot patch of dirt topped with chicken manure and grass.” The USDA hasn’t established criteria for the size of the “range” or the amount of space per bird, so things can get nearly as crowded outside as inside. Free-range chickens are typically debeaked, just like the caged kind, and the males are killed as chicks, since they don’t lay eggs.
• Nutrient-enhanced. Claim to have higher levels of an omega-3 fatty acid, vitamin E, or protein because of ingredients added to feed. (Omega-3 content is boosted by adding flax, marine algae, or fish oils.)
• Pasteurized. Eggs are placed in warm water to kill bacteria, then shells are waxed to prevent cross-contamination.  Such eggs are sometimes used in hospitals and nursing homes and are suitable for recipes that call for raw eggs.
• White vs. brown. Color comes from the hen’s breed. In general, white hens with white earlobes lay white eggs, while hens with darker feathers and red earlobes lay brown eggs. Brown hens tend to be larger and need more feed, which can mean a slightly higher egg price. There’s no difference in flavor.
• Organic. Laid by hens whose feed is made with minimal use of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and commercial fertilizers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sets the standards. All eggs, organic or not, are free of hormones, and there’s no nutritional edge to organic.  This in no way implies that the chickens were not kept in concentrated confinement (read: battery cages).
• Vegetarian. The laying hens were not given food containing animal proteins.  This also has nothing to do with the humane treatment of these beautiful animals (who are, naturally, omnivorous).
• Pasture-raised. Hens eat feed from pastures but don’t always roam free.  They may be kept in pens that are moved around pastures or are free to roam the pasture within the fenced areas.  Backyard chickens often fall into this category (like our chickens, who roam around our back yard freely but are owned by non-commercial folks who won’t pay to have them certified as “free farmed” though they certainly qualify).
• Free farmed. This term, which has been trademarked by the American Humane Association, means that a farm complies with AHA standards to ensure that its animals are free of hunger, unnecessary fear and pain, etc. Earning the “free farmed” label involves an initial inspection and annual recertification. It’s the most rigorous program I’ve found, but unless you visit the farms yourself you’re still basically taking things on faith.

Labels to look for when searching for eggs from pasture-raised or "Free Farmed" poultry:

• Certified Humane  – This label is not easily obtained and by watching this video you will see why I am such a great fan of this certification.
• American Humane Certified – “Free Farmed” label – with the understanding that all animals should be treated with care and respect… one of the first organizations to become an advocate for the rights of those who have no voice
• Locally raised, farm fresh, beyond organic, chemical-free – Write down the information and contact them.  Request a tour and ask for their website.  If they don’t offer tours (which they may not do because they are swamped with work), conduct a drive-by investigation during the day.  Are there chickens hopping around an open field?  Do the chickens appear to be healthy and fluffy?  Is there adequate shelter, shade, and water provided

A recent article in Mother Earth News revealed the benefits of eating pasture-raised chicken eggs.  The numbers are staggering.  This is not the label on an overpriced GNC supplement — these are nutrition facts comparing eggs from pasture-roaming, bug-eating, dust-bathing, happy chickens to eggs from factory-farmed chickens.  Get ready:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• Two times more omega-3 fatty acids
• Three times more vitamin E
• Seven times more beta carotene
• Three-to-six times more vitamin D

This is HUGE.  HUGE, I tell you!  If this is not the “ah-ha” moment where you thunk yourself in the head and go… “I have a yard, perhaps I should keep my own chickens” or “I should find me some pasture-raised chicken eggs” then I don’t know what else to say except to reach through the computer screen and thunk you on the head myself.  Don’t think I wouldn’t do it, too.  :)

Or if we lived closer to one another, I would force you to take a dozen eggs home to simply taste the difference.  It’s truly remarkable.  The eggs our chickens produce are phenomenal.  The flavor, texture, and color of the yolks… *sigh* I want to write a love poem just thinking about it.

Of course, as a GRIT reader, you have joined a rare and wonderful network of people who genuinely care about animals and land.  A quick scan through the reader blogs on this site and it is blaringly obvious that GRIT readers and staff wish to be good stewards of the earth.  We are the caretakers of creation... not simply farmers, hobbyists, gardeners, growers, or enthusiasts. 

http://www.razorfamilyfarms.com

Time and time again I hear people complaining about the problems they think backyard chickens will bring if allowed into the backyards of their city. Some of the more common complaints that I hear are noise, smell, rodents, disease and property value. I would like to address each and every one of these complaints one by one.

I don’t think I've ever been to a meeting about keeping backyard chickens where the noise issue has not been brought up at least once. I often hear people complaining about the potential early morning crow of a nearby rooster. This is a very valid point, and I too would be complaining if a rooster were waking me up every morning at 4:30am, especially if I did not have to wake up until 7:00am or later. There are many advantages of keeping backyard chickens, but most urban chicken keepers want to keep backyard chickens for the benefits of having an endless supply of farm fresh eggs. Solution? You do not need a rooster to enjoy farm fresh eggs every morning. In fact, hens will lay better if there is no rooster around to disturb their routine. Roosters primarily have two jobs, which they do very well. They protect and fertilize. You only need a rooster if you want baby chicks running around in the backyard. I still hate to see cities ban roosters all together because there are ways to keep roosters in an urban area quietly and responsibly. I plan to share how this can be done at a later date.

Smell is another complaint that is often brought up when discussing chickens. Yes, chickens can smell just like dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, gerbils and even people, if not taken care of properly. We are not talking about a 300-foot commercial chicken house with 30,000 chickens next door. We are talking about six to twelve laying hens in a backyard setting. There are many ways to reduce the smell of your chicken coop and I will share how this can be done at a later date.

If you don’t think that you have mice and rats outside your home right now, you are living in a fantasy world. Many claim that keeping chickens will attract mice and rats and think they don’t exist until the chickens arrive. One client of mine who is entertaining the idea of getting some backyard chickens lives in the most affluent city in Georgia. She told me that her cat leaves her little "presents" at the back door almost every day. These "presents" just happen to be mice and rats. She also said that she has seen mice and rats run across her backyard and up a honeysuckle vine to get over the fence and into her neighbor’s yard. Yes, if you have chickens there will be another food source in your backyard, but there are ways to keep the chicken feed put away in mice and rat proof containers. I will share how this can be done at a later date.

About three years ago many were asking questions about the risks of avian influenza and keeping backyard chickens. I would always refer them to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website where it addresses this issue. On the Q&A page the following is posted. Question: We have a small flock of chickens. Is it safe to keep them? Answer: In the United States there is no need at present to remove a flock of chickens because of concerns regarding avian influenza. The U.S. Department of Agriculture monitors potential infection of poultry and poultry products by avian influenza viruses and other infectious disease agents. Enough said!

Many people who oppose the keeping of backyard chickens often sound off during meetings about decreased property values if the city allows the keeping of backyard chickens. All I can say is show me the proof. No one has ever shown up at a backyard chicken meeting that I have ever attended with any valid proof that someone got $10,000 less for their home because a resident in their city keeps backyard chickens.

To put backyard chickens into perspective I often tell people the following. On any given day I have more dog poop in my front yard from other neighbor’s dogs then they have chicken poop in their front yard from my chickens. I have more cat prints on my car from other neighbor’s cats then they have chicken prints on their car from my chickens. And I’m awakened at 2:00am more from other neighbor’s dogs barking then they have ever been awakened at 2:00am from my sleeping hens.

Keeping backyard chickens can be a fun and rewarding experience. If you would like to learn more about keeping backyard poultry I invite you to listen to the Backyard Poultry with the Chicken Whisperer radio show Monday through Friday at 12:00pm Eastern at www.blogtalkradio.com/backyardpoultry and on Saturday at 9:00am EST at www.americaswebradio.com.

Here I am, smack in the middle of an “I Love Where I Work” moment. At this time of year, I have a lot of those.

This morning a staff member for our sister publication, Mother Earth News, brought in his Barred Rock broody hen to be a foster mom for editor Cheryl Long’s fertilized Welsummer eggs that just arrived in the mail. As I got myself situated in my office, instead of hearing the usual coffee gossip, I heard the peeping of a brand-new chick and the oohs and aahs of co-workers peering into the box to get a glimpse of the mom and babies.

Throughout the day, the chicks have hatched and now we have six new Welsummers, ready to start their lives on Cheryl’s farm (and soon to produce those fabulous, dark-brown speckly eggs for which their breed is so famous.)

It’s like that around here. Every few days, someone in this building brings in a critter – often, these days, it’s Hank and his new puppy, Henry, who stole every heart on this side of the office the day he showed up looking for all the world like a baby hedgehog and not the ferocious Cairn terrier we’re assured he actually is. So far, poor Henry’s four little paws barely touch the ground when Hank brings him in because someone is holding Henry practically the entire day.

This time of year a lot of people are getting chicks and ducklings, so we’ll frequently hear lots of cheeping, since having chicks delivered to the office makes more sense than risking not being home when the USPS guy shows up. This year we have our famous Chicken Project, which Hank will talk about a lot more in his blog, The Daily Commute, and in the magazine, so I expect a whole lotta cheepin’ going on very soon. We’re testing incubators, brooders and, ultimately, for a few of our feathered pals, a plucker (I expect to be away on urgent business that day, thanks).

Puppies, kittens and stray animals of one kind or another are fairly commonplace. One spring, one of the women in Customer Care brought in her Babydoll sheep lamb twins, decked out in little disposable diapers to keep them socially acceptable. So far, we haven’t had any calves or piglets, but around here, you never know. I have threatened to have a metallic sign made for my car, “K.C.’s Roadside Rescue” for the number of stray dogs I pick up from the side of the road.

I do truly love working someplace where feathered and four-legged friends occasionally make up part of the workforce. This probably makes me functionally unemployable at most places on the planet. Good thing I love my job.

Come to think of it, my neighbors are getting some piglets in a few days. Hmmm … I wonder …

Chicken photos courtesy Troy Griepentrog; Henry photo courtesy Gina Souders.

Raising chickens this time around has certainly turned out to be quite an adventure for my husband and me! We received our adorable little fluff balls back in May. After changing our minds many times, we finally agreed on two different breeds of chickens to try. We got 27 chickens in all, 12 Welsummers, and 15 Delawares. It was very interesting for me to see the different characteristics of each breed as they grew. Although both are friendly, the Delawares are extremely tame, loving human contact.

Over the course of the last six months we have lost two chickens to unknown causes. The first was a Welsummer hen when she was very young. She was smaller than all the rest right from the start, and she seemed stunted. She never grew properly and got very weak, so we pulled her out of the flock. The second was just a few weeks ago, and was a bit harder on us than the first. Our beloved Henny Penny got sick. We don’t know why. We pulled her out from the rest of the chickens, and moved her into a pen in our basement. We tried to save her, and she improved for a while, but then she started to go downhill fast and died.

We also culled four roosters from the flock, and put them in the freezer.

The rest of the chickens are healthy and doing very well. We started getting our first eggs on September 24th. The Delawares were the first to start laying beautiful little medium brown eggs. The longer they lay, the larger their eggs got.

Then the Welsummers started to lay wonderful dark brown eggs! Every time I gather the eggs, it is a thrill to reach in and collect eggs of this color.

We get lots of compliments on the quality of these eggs with their orange yolks. There is such a difference in eggs when the chickens have free range to forage naturally.

Our latest surprise with the chickens happened a few days ago. One of our Delaware hens decided to go broody at only six months old and in the middle of November! We could not believe it! The place she chose to sit was not the best, so we tried to move her into a pen where she would be warmer and more comfortable, but it did not suit her! She wouldn’t stay on the nest, so we let her back out. She went back to the same place for about half a day, and then she moved herself to a better location where she can stay warmer and protected from the elements. She has been sitting on the nest ever since. She has four eggs under her. We are going to let her go and see how she does. If she hatches, we will move her and her peeps into our warm basement with a light. She should hatch sometime around December 8th, if all goes well. I am trying not to have high hopes, as she is so young, and it is so late in the season, but I keep thinking of the great pictures I could get for Christmas cards with baby peeps in a Christmas stocking!

These chickens have been a real pleasure for us to raise, and who knows what surprises they may have for us come Spring!

You all must be getting so bored with chicken talk, but it's so exciting for us. This is our first real enterprise on the farm and God has been blessing it in so many ways. As Andy mentioned before, we have a used job site trailer coming to us for virtually free that will be winter housing for the birds. We have a deal set up for two garbage cans full of bread each week in exchange for four dozen eggs. That cuts down on our feed costs about 25%. We have little advertising besides our roadside Free Range Eggs sign and yet we can't keep up with demand! We have only lost one hen so far and she was the unlucky chicken that decided to cross the road (I still don't know the answer to that riddle, because she never made it to the other side). We have been able to give dozens away to people as barter, gifts or thank yous. I think we have traded about 12 dozen eggs for babysitting time so far! Andy's parents are building a market in the Wisconsin Dells area (about an hour or two away) and we have been able to help out a fellow farmer with his eggs sales. Below, Andy's mother, Julie and I stand behind our egg demo counter at her Curves™ open house. We gave a photo slideshow on computer and had info pamphlets about our farm and the benefits of free range eggs. We even cooked up a bunch and served them to the health-conscious ladies as a little taste of what could be in their own kitchens! We sold out of 23 dozen that day and had orders for 21 dozen more the following week. It was amazing!

As word has spread, people have offered us their left-over meal scraps and egg cartons and all sorts of random food items for our chickens. We accept most things. (We do not feed our chickens eggs or any sort of chicken meat, but most other things are fair game; if they don't eat it, they scratch it into the ground. Chickens are excellent composters!) I think people like getting involved in something local like this. They are happy to take the drive to our farm rather than the store in order to be a part of this happening.

And that's just what we wanted. We want our farm to become our customers' farm. We don't even want to think of them as customers; they are becoming family. It creates a great atmosphere to be able to show them just where their eggs are coming from. Families will park their van and step outside to see chicken-rakes hard at work in the lawn. It's that connection, that sense of what's supposed to be on a farm that makes the experience so rewarding.

But we aren't doing it for that purpose. It is a wonderful by-product and certainly one that we hoped would happen. However, we work hard at our farm appearance and our animals' comfort because we have a sense of God's plan for creatures of the earth. We have accountability for our products and our overall farm health. The open door policy ensures that.

Every egg that leaves our property has been hand-picked by Andy and hand-washed and inspected by me. We eat the cracked ones and the eggs shaped too weird to be sent out. They taste just fine, but we don't want to scare off our customers – I mean family, with odds and ends. I take pride in cleaning and counting each and every egg. I love packing them in the cartons and "delivering" them to the garage. We have our egg business set up in our garage with our produce-traded refrigerator humming quietly.

Knowing that at anytime of day, someone could be here for a dozen or so eggs keeps us on our toes. But more than that, it's the accountability we feel from God himself that spurs us to have such high standards. We want to honor his creation in all that we do, in all that we produce and in all that we send off of this farm. As our business expands and our products diversify, we will strive to uphold the same level of animal husbandry and even raise the bar whenever we can.

This afternoon, Andy came home with another 117 laying hens from an Amish egg farmer in Dalton, Wisconsin. They are mostly Rhode Island Reds, and they are less than two years old. (That is still young for a laying hen). They have lived in a certified organic, cage-free building their whole lives. This means that while they weren't caged and de-beaked, they had no access to the outdoors, have never free-ranged and did not have roosts on which to perch at night. This evening, when Andy went in the barn to check on them (they are seperated from the current flock), they were all cowering in one corner. He had to physically pick them up and place them on the roosts! He said as soon as they settled onto the bar, they tucked in their little heads and closed their eyes. How precious and sad all at once! We have a lot to teach these little birds about how they were supposed to be living; it's going to be an interesting road. But the point of doubling our flock is to meet demand and exceed it. We haven't been telling many people about our eggs because we don't have enough to go around! Hopefully with these new birds, we can really expand our family and bring the farm-to-consumer mentality to ever more people.

We've had a lot of changes this week and a lot of cold, rainy weather. Photos will be forthcoming when we get a break in the precipitation...

For now, have a great night and think of at least five things you are thankful for. I know I can! – Becky

When asked about her potato salad recipe, Mom said, “As many eggs as potatoes,” and she went on to explain the rest of her recipe: celery, onion, perhaps celery seed (something Nanie, my grandmother, used most of the time), mustard, real mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

“I prefer chunks of potatoes,” Mom says, “kind of on the large side, and not overcooked.” She doesn’t like too much mayo, adds everything to taste, and uses mustard for its flavor.

When I asked Aunt Jean for her potato salad recipe, she said, “An egg for every potato,” and Mom and I laughed, then explained. Sisters!

Aunt Jean uses mayonnaise, mustard, a little onion, sometimes onion powder or celery seed, and she sometimes adds a little pickle juice in the mayo, and salt and pepper to taste. She says she always chills it a while before serving.

Next to be on the receiving end of my potato salad recipe questions was Aunt Mary Ethel. She prefers using new potatoes, peeled and chopped, a couple of boiled eggs, a tablespoon or so of dill relish, a half-and-half combination of real mayonnaise and sour cream, a good squirt of mustard, a half tablespoon of celery seed, and salt and pepper to taste. She says when she has fresh onion, cucumbers, celery or tomato, a bit of that will find its way into the salad, but not often. She likes a full bite of potato, so she doesn’t chop them much.

“There’s a different flavor with new potatoes,” Mary Ethel says. “They’re firmer and don’t need as much dressing.”

She doesn’t mind sweet relish in someone else’s potato salad, but she doesn’t use it.

Off to talk with Aunt Mary Kaye. One note before I go on, Mary Kaye makes the best pickles, particularly hot pickles. They’re terrific on a turkey sandwich!

 Mary Kaye’s recipe for potato salad goes like this: leftover potatoes, cool, and mushed with a potato masher. Add hardboiled eggs, onion, sweet pickles, dill pickles, hot pickles (I love this recipe!), some pickle juice added to the Miracle Whip (light), mustard, a “strinkle” of sugar to cut the tangy mustard, and salt and pepper.

My sister Katherine was next on my list. She leaves the skins on her boiled potatoes, adds hardboiled eggs, onion, dill pickles (yes!), as much mayonnaise as needed, a squirt of yellow mustard, maybe a little pickle juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Katherine likes her potatoes in larger pieces, and her salad with lots of eggs, dill pickles and onion.

Two e-mails later, and I am now the proud possessor of recipes from my sisters Tricia and Mary.

“Be happy to share my recipe except I don’t use one,” Tricia writes. “My typical potato salad is made with cooked red potatoes (sometimes new), hardboiled eggs and green onion. Use half mayonnaise and half plain low-fat yogurt with mustard, Mrs. Dash, salt and pepper. I try to cut the potatoes into bite-size piece before cooking them, and I try not to overcook the potatoes, but usually that’s just a dream. Nothing fancy, but it usually tastes pretty good. A little different because of the yogurt.”

Mary says she’s the only one in her family to eat potato salad. “I like it simple – boiled potatoes, mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper. Then I dress up the leftovers with diced ham, and maybe a bit of grated cheese.”

She, like others in my family, doesn’t buy potato salad in stores. Mary says it’s always way too sweet. Mom says another of her sisters, Anna Mae, used to bring store-bought potato salad home, only to doctor it to suit her taste.

My try (in photograph) this weekend came out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Red-skinned potatoes, hardboiled eggs, a few dill pickles (it really needs more), mayonnaise, a dash of pickle juice, and a large squirt of spicy mustard. I cooked the potatoes in the microwave, for about 15 minutes (in increments of 5 minutes), and they’re not too mushy this time around. I used four fairly good sized potatoes, and five hardboiled eggs – didn’t want to end the family tradition! I also didn’t go overboard on the mayo, something I struggle with when making these types of salads.

Until I asked about family recipes, I’d never thought to cut the mayo with pickle juice, sour cream or yogurt. Since I tried the pickle juice this time, with good results, I’ll try sour cream or yogurt the next time around. It’s time to expand my horizons!