EGG-cellent

With Easter just a few days away, I thought to myself "Hey! We should dye some eggs." But with the Hubby out of town on work and our older girls with their mom it leaves just me and the tiny human to do it.  Tiny is a bit too tiny to help so rather than dyeing the eggs, how about a tutorial on the perfect hardboiled eggs?

You'd love one? That's what I thought. 

There really is nothing worse than peeling your beautifully decorated egg only to find a greenish gray glob of yolk in the center.  Follow these steps to ensure beautiful eggs, inside and out.

First, you will  need 6-10 raw eggs.  I usually get mine from a friend who's cute son sells eggs from their cage-free, hormone-free, organically fed chickens, but not today.  So any egg will do. 

6-10 Raw Eggs
1 Teaspoon of Salt
COLD Water 
Medium Size Sauce Pan
Medium Size Mixing Bowl
5-6 Ice Cubes
Slotted Spoon

1.  Carefully place your eggs in a single layer in the empty saucepan. Eggs should comfortably fit in the pan with room for no more than 1 to 2 additional eggs.  If your pot is too big (or too small) your eggs will not properly cook. If you want to cook fewer eggs, use a smaller saucepan.  For more, use a larger one. 

2.  Fill the pan with cold water until the eggs are covered by just over an inch of water. Add the salt.

3. Turn stove on medium-high heat and wait, and wait, and wait. 

4.  While you wait for the water to boil, fill the mixing bowl with cold water and add the ice cubes.  They will melt before you add the eggs, but this ensures the water is plenty cold when it is time to cool your precious eggs.

4.  Remove pan from heat as soon as the water reaches a full-but not rolling-boil. This is especially important if you are using a stove with an electric heat element.  You want the water to begin cooling at this point.  

5. Set your timer to 10 minutes and wait some more.

6. After the 10 minutes, use a slotted spoon to move the eggs into the bowl of cold water. 

7. Let your eggs cool completely in the water.

Be sure to store your eggs in the fridge and use within one week of hard-boiling them.  

I've been told that older eggs (7-10 days after purchase) will peel more easily.  My eggs are not that old, so I don't know for sure if this is the case.  If you know, please comment.  Also, any tips on cleanly peeling an egg would be appreciated!


Now that you have the perfect hard boiled eggs.  Here are some incredibly cute ways to dye them:

Super cute stamped eggs from Lovely Indeed

Water colored eggs from Spoon Fork Bacon

Neon Dip-Dyed Eggs From Oh Joy

So, I Hate Doing Dishes.

When I was 14 and 15 my chore was the dishes.  Not a big deal, right? Wrong. When you come from a family of 9 there is an endless pile of dishes that need to be washed. It seemed as soon as I'd finish cleaning up, another dish would magically appear in the sink and my chore would never be completed.  Well, here I am, years later, with that pesky pile of dishes lurking in my shadow.  My daily goal is to keep the baby alive and wash the dishes.

This is what my sink looks like. Ok, not really, mine is worse.

I have grand plans for organizing and simplifying my life.  I have boxes of crafting supplies (that  I don't know how to use) and fabric for quilts and other various unfinished projects.  I am a master at pinning some seriously delicious looking food, and some beautifully designed kitchens.  I intend to stop pinning and start making these beautiful meals, and organize my cluttered closets.  Join me as I try many of these "pinned" ideas and make up some of my own.  I expect to crash and burn on plenty of them.

This is what my sink will look like after I become an expert at cooking and cleaning and organizing and mothering and exercising and remodeling my house and everything else.

We will see if those dishes ever get done.