A perfect hard boiled egg. Great for salads, deviled eggs, breakfast, protein source and more. Whatever use you have for hard boiled eggs, it is so easy to make them so they turn out perfectly every time. No green ring -- no rubbery white -- no stubborn shell that refuses to come off -- everything comes out right. Step 1: Place eggs in a single layer on the bottom of a large pan. For easy to peel eggs, choose ones that are at least five days old. New or farm fresh eggs are hard to peel and are notorious for taking chunks of white with them. I usually have older eggs in the refrigerator since they are one thing I always try to have on hand, but for Easter or when I know I will want to serve egg salad or have deviled eggs, I buy an extra dozen about a week ahead of time. Step ... [Read More]
Kitchen tips
How to puree a pumpkin
This big pumpkin has been on our front porch since early October. Time to make the change to Christmas decor so it had to go. Bytes has been the master jack o lantern carver, but was busy this year. So this super large globe survived Halloween intact and went right up to Thanksgiving. Nary a ding and only one surface blemish to mar its nearly twenty pound beauty. Could not just throw it away. You have to know, too, that Wheels has frequently worked on Thanksgiving. Not every year, but often enough that we haven't really established any traditions except a really good dinner sometime close to the fourth Thursday in November. But this year, he was home. And we had some time on our hands while the crockpot worked its magic with the turkey breast. See where this is going?? ... [Read More]
Cake Decorating Tip – just one
I'm taking a cake decorating class. If you've been to a Wilton class you'll recognize this as lesson 2 in the beginner's series. You can tell I need a little practice with smooth starts and stops. Maybe some practice with making smooth, even movements in making the edging. And my dots look more like pink chocolate chips -- just can't quite get that "stop squeezing the frosting bag and move to the side smoothly" step. See those freckles over there on the right? Teacher told us not to bring a chocolate cake - but guess what flavor of low sugar cake mix I had on hand at midnight? Not that low sugar matters with all that frosting, but it was also the only one I had. I did pretty well with the make this "one layer a torte" step as we started. Teacher handed me a coping ... [Read More]
Green onions and Pinterest
I recently signed up for a Pinterest account and am in love! What a fantastic concept: Allow people to save ideas discovered as they surfed the web, by pinning pictures of them to a virtual bulletin board. And make it possible to sort those ideas by having multiple bulletin boards for different topics. Then sheer genius! Not only can the user save and categorize the ideas they find, they can see, evaluate AND save the ideas others have found! Plus you can “follow” people who have saved ideas you really like so you can see when they save other new ideas you might really like. Whoever dreamed this up and made it happen deserves a medal, a lifetime supply of chocolate and season tickets for their favorite team! I repinned this picture on the right. It was originally from the ... [Read More]
How to Steam Corn in Your Microwave
A while back I was picking out a few roasting ears from the giant grocery bin. The woman next to me was furiously shucking her corn and loudly complaining because the store hadn’t provided a trash can for her husks. I picked up the pile of silk and green discards she threw in front of me, over my hand and the ear of corn I was holding and said “Corn stays fresher longer, if you wait to husk it until just before you use it” She glared at me with baleful eyes and I braced for impact. And then a sweet voice from her other side arose over the grocery din. “I do even better than that,” a brightly dressed woman said. The first woman glared at both of us then, threw her husked and bagged corn in her cart and huffed off briskly. “Tell you what I do,” the other woman confided to me. “I ... [Read More]
