JEFF TIEDEMAN: It isn't a picnic without deviled eggs and potato salad

• Jeff Tiedeman

Jeff Tiedeman

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• Picnic Tips
• EGG RECIPES: Deviled Eggs ... Old Fashioned Potato Salad ... Wasabi Deviled Eggs with Salmon Roe

Picnic season is officially here — and with it comes a lot of tasty food, i.e. burgers, baked beans and watermelon.

But for me, a picnic wouldn’t be a picnic without deviled eggs and potato salad. Whether it’s a family reunion, a holiday or a work event, those two dishes that rely heavily on eggs are among my favorites.

And I’m not the only one who sees it this way. According to a 2011 CNN poll, potato salad (38 percent) and deviled eggs (27 percent) are the preferred cold picnic side dishes of Americans. (They are followed by fruit salad, 13 percent; pasta salad, 11 percent; coleslaw, 8 percent; three-bean salad, 2 percent; other, 1 percent.)

We had deviled eggs on Memorial Day. The eggs came courtesy of co-worker Ann Bailey, who has 24 laying-hens and a rooster at the family farm near Larimore, N.D. (We also had zucchini bread that contained some of her eggs.)

Of course, if you’re going to have deviled eggs and potato salad at an outdoor summer event such as a picnic, they should be kept as cold as possible until eaten.

Adhere to the following tips, and you should be OK:

• Because they are usually made with mayo and such, deviled eggs may be kept for two to three tops, as long as they have been covered or tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

• Homemade potato salad can be stored in the refrigerator for three to five days.

• For transporting a potato salad to an outdoor event, blue ice containers (freezer packs) work well. I put it right in the middle of the deepest part of the salad to make sure it stays chilled. Chill a cooler and then put the salad container in that. You can also break the quantity of potato salad up into a couple of bowls.

• Pack deviled eggs in an insulated bag or cooler with ice or freezer packs. Keep the insulated bag or color in the shade and open it as infrequently as you can to help keep the eggs at 40 degrees or lower.

While eggs have gotten a bad rap over the years for their high amount of cholesterol, recent testing by the United States Department of Agriculture has reversed that. Since the last time it was tested in 2002, the amount of cholesterol in a large egg has dropped 14 percent from 215 milligrams to 185 milligrams, according to the USDA.

Eggs also are a good source of low-cost, high-quality protein, providing 6.3 grams of protein in one egg (13 percent of the daily value for protein) and only 68 calories.

Most recently, new research presented at the 19th European Congress on Obesity in Lyon, France, reported that eating eggs for breakfast is associated with greater satiety and reduced calorie consumption at lunch than eating wheat-based breakfast foods like ready–to–eat breakfast cereal.

A previous study by the same researchers demonstrated that an egg breakfast compared to a bagel breakfast of similar calories, increased feelings of fullness and reduced food intake at lunch resulting in a significant reduction in body mass BMI and waist circumference.

Roll out the deviled eggs and potato salad!

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