Last Week and Beautiful Boiled Eggs!

bottle brush tree on our walking path

Last week was filled with time spent in the garden planting seeds and tending plants, taking walks, running errands and cooking as much as possible from our food stores.

In the kitchen, I made a yummy pork stir fry from meat leftover from the pork roast, using asparagus, rice that our DD brought home from a chinese restaurant when she ordered takeout, and other assorted veggies I had on hand.  Also from that pork roast, I made some sauteed cabbage and carrots to go with it, creating another meal. I froze the rest of the pork roast, still on the bone, and plan to make a pork green Chile recipe out of it and serve it with flour tortillas.  I also roasted some chicken legs that I found marked down, and after plucking the meat from the bones (which we enjoyed for dinner a couple of meals), slow cooked the bones in water for a couple of days to make a wonderful, rich chicken broth.  For a sweet treat, I discovered and made, a recipe for a no bake chewy chocolate chip peanut butter granola bar cookie.  I'm hoping to find, and add into rotation, more no bake recipes for this summer, to keep from heating up the house. Along that same train of thought, I'm also toying with the idea of cooking out on our grill more this summer.  But then that would mean that I  would have to be outside in the heat, so I don't know how that will play out.  It sounds good in theory though, as I sit here, comfy and cool in the artificially conditioned air of my cocoon.  We'll see.

Speaking of the kitchen, I found myself boiling a bakers dozen of eggs one evening and, silly as it may sound, I was giddy.  Why?  Well, because since finding a couple of techniques that have transformed the boiled egg process for me, I actually don't dread or mind, boiling and peeling eggs anymore.  

Occasionally, we like a nice platter of deviled eggs, or a vat😉 of egg salad (hey, I learned the art of bulk cooking when I had two hungry, growing boys to feed.  Can't go back now!) to eat in sandwiches, on crackers, or atop a beautiful bed o' greens.  In the past, my poor fingers would be sore from trying to wrestle the shell from the whites, and more often than not, hunks and chunks of egg white would be wasted.  What I would be left with is some mangled eggs that, when going into an egg salad, didn't make for an offensive presentation.  But for deviled eggs, well, you can only imagine the sickly sight. 

these eggs destined for egg salad, no egg flip involved

So, tired of the boiled egg debacles, I set off on a research mission.  Surely, there had to be a better way.  Many tips, tricks and techniques I had tried before.  But then...I found one, then two, that I hadn't.  With much trepidation, and on the verge of giving up boiling eggs for life, (yes, I am being melodramatic) I tried them.  Yes. Yes! YASSSSS!  Fool proof! Beautiful boiled eggs!

"So, tell us TJ!  Quit stringing us along.  What is this world rocking, boiled egg revelation?", I can hear you asking.  Well first, flipping the eggs the night before you plan on boiling them.  Twelve hours ahead of time will do.  It helps to center the yolk and get rid of that air bubble dent.  Just flip 'em upside down in the carton, stick 'em back in the fridge & walk away for the evening.  When the time comes to boil them, use The Pioneer Woman's Easy-to-Peel Eggs technique (thanks for sharing PW, you saved my boiled egg peeling life!).  That's it!  I will say, I would only bother with the egg flip for purty boiled eggs for deviled egg making, or any other time that you want perfect looking eggs.  

simply delicious. a couple of left over boiled eggs sliced on top of buttered, and pan grilled, homemade bread ends and pieces~waste not!

As an added disclaimer, I have only peeled the eggs immediately after boiling and ice bathing them, as per Ree's instuctions.  If you plan on using this info for your Easter egg dyed eggs, when they won't be peeled right away, I can't promise they will peel as easy.  I think that will be my next experiment with this easy to peel technique: leaving them in the shell for a day or two before peeling.  I will report back when I have need for another batch of boiled eggs...

Happy egg boiling and peeling! And...

Thanks for stopping by! ~TJ