Eggs on my face ;~)

I was wearing egg on my face earlier. First it was a custard then a meringue! Without a doubt farmfresh eggs make better -well everything! I have so many eggs that I had to do something with them AND I also had an entire gallon of expired (but not bad) milk. So I made a very delicious custard!

I am a recipe weirdo. I can't follow a recipe. I should rewrite that- I can't follow just one recipe.
I am always trying to take 4 or 5 different recipes and decide the parts I think are delicious and then I combine them to make a mega recipe. Sometimes it's a mega-flop other times it turns out good. This custard was a few recipes rolled into one and I think it is a good one. I'm writing it here for your palate's pleasure because it is damn delicious.

• 4 cups milk (I used skim because that is what I had)
• 1/4 cup cornstarch (you could use more if you want it thick- mine was thin)
• 3 cups sugar
• 12 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• vanilla to taste

I whipped together the milk and cornstarch, then put them on a med-low heat and added in the sugar. I let that cook and thicken while I stirred very frequently. While that cooked I seperated the eggs (except the one) and put them in a large mixing bowl. After my mixture on the stove got nice and bubbly and thicked up a bit I turned the heat down to low and ladled out 3/4 cup or so of the mixture. I let that stand a minute or so to cool and then very slowly -like a teaspoon at a time at first- I added that ladled out milk mixture into the egg yolk while I was beating like a crazy woman so my eggs wouldn't scramble. When it was all added in I added back the egg and milk mixture to the milk mixture still on the stove. I whipped that stuff like crazy continuosly and turned the heat back up to med and let it cook and thicken. (kept beating) When it was perfect consistency I took it off the burner, added my vanilla and then put it in the dishes to cool. Yummy in my tummy!

Then because I had the whites... I made meringues. I made some minty ones with crushed candy canes on top (they are actually still baking because they have to bake a long time) a good recipe is found at http://www.allrecipes.com/   just search peppermint meringues -there are alot of options- and you too can join in my insanity.

I am doing all of this because of my newest push to not be wasteful. Plus I love sweets! and to cook. But mainly, I want to use what I have and not take it all for granted. I am so blessed in my life. I have a great happy and healthy family, a beautiful farm :) , and a wonderful support system. I don't want to take anything for granted... I think it's easy to look around this time of year and say "I want" but I am stepping back and trying to just soak in all that I have.

So I still have milk left over. I had a large glass of vanilla milk while I pondered the next direction (tbsp vanilla and a generous tbsp of sugar mixed into cold milk) and thought. AHA! the chickens. The chickens will love the milk. I can soak some bread in it and they will think they are in heaven. I might even give a bite to the goats.
So everyone will be happy, nothing will be wasted -in fact 2 amazing things were created from what I already had. Now, I need to get some sleep because there is always something to do around here, and tomorrow will be no exception.