​I remember the excitement of Easter morning, not the going to Church bit or the long interminable lunch (although mint sauce helped!) but the joy of hunting for eggs. My sister and I were let loose in the garden with a little basket each and there they were, little flashes of bright tinfoil, nestled beside the primroses or perilously balanced on the birdbath. 

​The sheer joy of spotting another treat and seeing the little basket filling up as we raced about in the fresh air was intoxicating.  I wonder now whether it needed to be chocolate eggs. Would we have felt as much excitement had we been searching for chicken eggs? I almost think we would have done.

​Fast forward forty years and popping out in the morning to see if Mrs Chicken has laid me any eggs in the garden feels equally joyful. I have a basket in my hand, the sun is shining and nestled in the straw is a glorious brown, speckled egg, still slightly warm, smooth and beautiful…and so much better for me than the egg wrapped in tinfoil!

​The humble egg is one of nature’s most nutrient-dense foods. It’s packed full of protein, choline, omega-3s and antioxidants. Plus, 11 different vitamins and minerals, including iron, selenium, iodine, vitamins A, D, E, folate and B12 and the things you can do with it! Poached, boiled, fried, scrambled or mixed with butter and sugar or milk and flour, they are delicious. In bygone days, they were believed to neutralise a swallowed poison, to be soothing to diseased eyes, and to help dislodge fishbones in the throat!

​And eggs are so easy to come by. Every farm shop in the land has beautiful farm fresh eggs stacked on its shelves. Perhaps this Easter, these fresh eggs could be centre stage in the farm shop with the chocolate eggs as backing singers. Let’s draw attention to the humble egg..

As a busy mum, I know that if you put a box of eggs in my face with a little recipe card of ways to cook it, it’s going in my basket! Here’s 50 ways to have eggs for breakfast to get you started. 

​Happy Easter!